Georgia Tech? Seriously?

As I suffered through a few minutes of Gus Johnson commentary during the Big Ten title game,I heard one small nugget of rumor that made me scream-the biggest rumor is Georgia Tech leaving the ACC for the Big Ten?
Are you kidding me?
Georgia Tech?
The team that cannot even deliver the market that they play in?
That Georgia Tech?
Now,Georgia,I could see,but Georgia Tech?
Is the Big Ten that desperate to get to 16 teams?
First Maryland (arguable) and Rutgers (awful),but at least you can argue that the pair of them bring being the top team in their market to the conference,albeit the NYC market not caring anyway,but Georgia Tech does not even bring that.

Of course,I would not like any of the possibilities for the next two teams either.
There is no one in the leagues traditional "footprint" that makes sense.
Texas and Oklahoma would be additions that would be worthwhile,although disappointing,but the Big 12 has them seemingly locked up.
Florida State would make sense,but I am not sure they are an academic fit.
None of the SEC teams are going to leave that cash cow,so who does that leave that fits the academic needs,being a state school as well as expanding the league into new markets?
North Carolina?
Virginia?
Georgia Tech?
Do any of these thrill you?
Because I bet that two of these three are going to be the other two members of the Big Ten.

Think about that and the drop in Big Ten football quality.
The Big 12 has their contract signed to force teams that leave their conference for another one to pay them a percentage of their income from their new league back to the Big 12.
That will be a far higher cost to leave than the ACC's 50 million tag.
Texas,Oklahoma and maybe the prestige of Kansas basketball would all make sense,but unlikely.
Clemson and Florida State are not strong candidates from the academic side.
Miami would make sense to get into Florida.but their scandals might make that a tough sell.
Connecticut would not bring much to the table,although they would leap at the chance as would Cincinnati,but that market is covered with Ohio State.
Syracuse and Pittsburgh just wrote a check to leave the Big East,they aren't writing another one to leave the ACC this soon.
Boston College would bring a new market,but being a Catholic school,they aren't a fit unless Notre Dame comes with them,which isn't happening due to the Irish reluctance to join a real football conference.
If there are any other real candidates,I cannot think of any at this hour,so if I missed one-comment!

In any case,this is a looming disaster for a league that wants to improve as a football conference and nabbing the dregs of the ACC sure is not going to help matters.
I never favored Penn State or Nebraska,but you could argue that they brought tradition and strong programs to the table,which more than you can say for the two new additions and any of the likely two future schools.
In hindsight,Missouri might have made sense to grab with the St.Louis and Kansas City markets when they were interested instead of wasting time saying they were satisfied with 12 teams.
North Carolina would add the Charlotte market and the prestige of UNC hoops,but little otherwise,which is more than Virginia or Georgia Tech would.
Please enlighten on how Maryland.Rutgers,North Carolina and Georgia Tech helps the Big Ten?
Because I don't see it at all.

What I do see is the Big Ten fading my interest like the ACC did and that will be a sad day indeed.....

Why Thursday Night Football is a bad idea

Sure,I think my issues with Thursday Night Football start with some minor things (Like I never get to see the second half),but that is beyond the most important point that seems to be either something that the NFL did not take into account in planning or just plain did not care about when doing so..

I have some smaller points that I dislike the NFL Network's TNF broadcasts such as disliking Mike Mayock (I wince just thinking of the 1990's ESPN2 CFL pairing of Gus Johnson and Mayock),the awful pre-game crew (When Steve Mariucci is the best of the bunch-you have major problems),the less than strong visuals and the usually non-compelling pairings (Unless you have a team involved,it usually is not worth the time).

I am not always against Thursday football.
I have no problems with the Thursday game to start the season, I have no problems with the Thanksgiving tripleheader and if pressed,I might even go with a last 4-6 week run at the end of the season when the college season is over.
However,games every Thursday is lunacy.
Not just because the product can be more than subpar (thanks to the decision that every team must appear once on "national tv",the teams are often losing squads),other than the week two Packers-Bears game and this past Thursday's Saints-Falcons matchup,the games have generally been less than stellar.
Or that the league may be on the verge of reaching overkill with too much football.

It is because of the NFL's lip service on the issue of concussions and then force two teams to play two games in five days.
Boiling it down to its essence,the league (and Roger Goodell) seems to place money above the health of its players.
With the deluge of former players with legitimate health concerns from their career beginning the legal process for damages from the league,one would think that a league would be taking care of its current players by not wanting to lengthen the season or adding games on short rest.

The additional risk of injury should outweigh any financial gain,which mainly comes from having live games on the NFL Network and the fact that the games are between good teams or bad ones should be besides the point.
The fact that most would be the lower level games on CBS or FOX on Sundays makes them even more of a bad idea.
I don't see these as money makers and if that is the goal,I am not sure that goal is realized.

All things considered,perhaps the NFL might be nearing the point of overexposure.
Occasionally,a little less means a lot more....

Pirate Hooks/Russell Martin

I'll take a look at the Pittsburgh Pirates moves of the last two days shortly.


But first a disclaimer-I have suffered through a lot of losing as a Pirates fan and as a fan in general.

I am growing more and more aggravated with some of this and the main target of my frustration is the Pittsburgh Pirates.
To the point of just reaching the border of ambivalence,this frustration is eating away at my fanhood and I don't know why.
I suppose 20 years does that to a person.
Just a heads up....

The Pittsburgh Pirates brought in four new bodies through trades and free agency on Wednesday and Thursday.
The team addressed a need for the lineup,took a chance on an untested power bat and added two arms as well,with the type of chances that a lower level team needs to try on for size.

Pittsburgh should be taking more low risk high reward players that for various reasons have not panned out as prospects for their previous teams and I have knocked the Pirates in the past for not taking enough of these chances,so my kudos for trying a few out.

The marquee signing by the Pirates was the addition of Russell Martin to be the everyday catcher.
The national media is looking at this as the low income Pirates outbidding the mighty Yankees for the Bombers starting catcher.
Little of that is actually the case.
Yes,Pittsburgh's terms of two years and seventeen million must have been more than the Yankees offer.
Why?
Well,It's because the Yankees made no offer to Martin,despite severe questions about their catching situation,if Martin did not return.
So the trumpeting of the Pirates "outbidding" the Yankees is a red herring (not goldfish).

Martin might not be a huge improvement over last seasons regular backstop (and free agent signing) Rod Barajas either offensively or defensively.
Now listen,I was no fan of Rod Barajas,but I see some similarities in this signing to last years of Barajas.
Barajas might be quite as strong as Martin in throwing out runners,but it is in the same range and considering the Pirate pitchers issues in holding runners on,I don't think Russell Martin is going to fare substantially better than Rod Barajas in the running game unless the Pirates make an attempt to emphasize doing a better job in holding runners on.
Russell Martin has had his best power numbers of his career in his two years in pinstripes (39) entering 2013 just as Barajas entered 2012 with the best power numbers of his career (52 over three years).
The other common thread?
Both righthanded powerhitting catchers with pull power playing everyday in a bad park for righthanded pull hitters.
Adding all of this up and the bang for the buck,In my opinion,the Pirates would have been better served to spend that money at another position and just went with Michael McKenry,who possesses a decent chance to give the team what Martin might offensively at a far cheaper cost.
Nothing against Russell Martin,but he looks to me to have more valuable to the Yankees than he will prove to be for the Pirates...

I like the deals that the Pirates made with Boston and Kansas City better than the signing of Martin.

The trade with Boston brought former top prospect Zach Stewart for the ever popular player to be named later.
Stewart has moved around in various deals since his draft year in 2008 by the Reds.
Going from the Blue Jays to both pair of Sox,Stewart has never really gotten a full chance in anyone's rotation despite throwing in the low to mid 90's.
The knock on Stewart? No change of pace pitch to go with a decent fastball and strong slider,which might make a reliever out of him in the long term.
Considering the cost.I'm all for a flyer on Stewart.....

The Pirates sent two players from the Dominican league that have yet to play in the United States to the Royals in return for two interesting players in pitcher Vin Mazzaro and first baseman Clint Robinson.
Mazzaro has had mediocre numbers in four years with the Athletics and Royals after rocketing through the Oakland system in two and a half seasons.
Mazzaro's out pitch is a hard sinker and the Pirates like sinkerballers,so Mazzaro's appeal might be due to that.
I am not as high on Mazzaro being a servicable arm as Stewart's,but again considering the cost,I'm not against taking a look.

Clint Robinson is one of those AAA sluggers that never seemed get a full shot at the big time,unless you consider four at bats last season a full shot.
Robinson turns 28 in spring training,but the power numbers that he showed in the minors make me like this opportunity for a lefty swinger that might have the upside of a Garrett Jones.
As I wrote before,chances of players with huge minor power numbers are the high upside signings that teams like the Pirates need to take more of....

That catches up for now,I'll be back tomorrow with some thoughts on Thursday Night Football and why I don't like it...

Early PPM

With the Saints playing one of those wonderful Thursday games,the PPM starts early this week.
Since the college season is almost over,but the conference title games are this weekend,so I'll expand it to include all the title games for this week....

College

MAC Title
Kent State over Northern Illinois 31-25
Pac 12 Title
Stanford over UCLA 41-30
SEC Title
Alabama over Georgia 21-15
ACC Title
Florida State over Georgia Tech 37-16
Big 10 Title
Wisconsin over Nebraska 23-21

Pro
Falcons over Saints 35-30
Raiders over Browns 24-17
Game of the Week
Ravens over Steelers 17-7

Last Week 2-5
Season 52-31

Three more Goodbyes

Time to say goodbye to three recent passings, all of whom had various influences on me in my developmental years...

Actor Larry Hagman passed on at the age of 81 from complications of throat cancer.
To most.Hagman is more remembered as the man behind Dallas baddie J.R. Ewing,but to me,an avowed I Dream of Jeannie fan,I'll remember him more as Major Anthony Nelson and the "Master" to Barbara Eden's Jeannie.
The son of former Broadway star Mary Martin,Hagman did almost all dramatic acting after Jeannie and never again did regular comedic work.
That is quite the shame,as it was Hagman's work on the show that stands out.
Without Hagman playing that role,Barbara Eden might have been just another beautiful actress in a show lacking in talent.
For a silly (but very funny) gimmick related television show,Jeannie was always a guarantee to make me laugh and that is far from an iron clad contract from the television genre'.
As I have written before,growing up in the 70's in an extremely rural area made television stars a bigger deal to my brother and I than the biggest film stars of the day.
Between Jeannie and Dallas,Larry Hagman ranked right up there at the top.




Former Texas football coach Darrell Royal passed recently at the age of 88 after battling Alzheimer's for the last few years.
Darrell Royal was the king of the SWC with 11 SWC championships during his reign at Texas and the 1963 and 1969 National titles as the sideline boss of the Longhorns.
I have never been a fan of Texas football,but Royal and the iconic Longhorn logo on the helmet was a television staple at the Cotton Bowl on CBS in the days where every game was not televised.
Royal's teams helped me forge a love affair with the SWC that continued until the dissolution of the conference in 1995.
Now,it might have been because Texas was the bully of the block that I loved to see lowly Texas Tech (and Big 8 rival bully Oklahoma) upset,but those teams were influential on me as a fan.
Besides all the titles,Royal might be remembered best for two things.
One was the innovation of the Wishbone offense that ran roughshod over the college football world in the late 60's and early 70's with assistant and future Texas A & M head coach Emory Bellard.
The offense proved to be a double edged sword as rival Oklahoma would install the offense with superior speed and whip Texas throughout the 70's and 80's.
The other was for the gutsy pass call on fourth down in the Game of the Century against Arkansas in 1969.
Considering the less than strong passing game for the 69 Horns,the call was huge as James Street chucked the ball deep to Randy Paschall,who hauled it for a huge gain,setting the game winning touchdown in a 15-14 Texas win.




Hector "Macho" Camacho was shot in the head and died days later in Puerto Rico at the age of 50.
Camacho fought about every big name that you might think of in the 80's and 90's,winning some,losing others,but always bringing flash and controversy to the ring.
I won't remember that Camacho as that fellow was a safety first fighter,more interested in not getting hurt than winning and being fan friendly.

I'll remember the young 130 pound Camacho that was a tremendous machine that had the fastest hands in the game (think prime Floyd Mayweather type speed),terrific defense and underrated punching power as shown in the YouTube below winning his first belt over then rock-jawed Bazooka Limon.
That Camacho was well worth remembering as was Camacho's first few fights at 135 winning the Lightweight title with a shutout of Jose Luis Ramirez showing his stunning skills.
But he would leave and never be seen against as Camacho was hurt badly in two different rounds by power punching Edwin Rosario in a defense at Madison Square Garden in front of Camacho's home crowd.
Camacho escaped with a controversial decision that left the fans howling,Rosario never getting a rematch and Camacho changing his style permanently to a dance and grab fighter that would be less than visually pleasing for the remainder of his career.
Hector Camacho brought a flair to the ring that had not been there before and will be remembered for all of the above.
It is too bad that he could have been so much more...

On the Signing Front-More thank yous!

I try to catch up on the front with some more thank yous.
To my friends out there that have helped,if I missed thanking you or give someone else your credit-I apologize in advance.
I'll try to keep better track next year.

We start with thanks to:

Bob and Brenda Shafer,who took some stuff to West Virginia in their trip there.
The Powers early visit kept a lot of stuff from getting signed in Hagerstown,so they were very helpful.
The main hits were Robby Rowland on a Topps Debut,Rowland was not with the Power earlier and two cards for Jose Osuna and Nick Kingham on Bowman sets,,,,

Kendall Morris made a trip to Texas to see his sister and stopped by a Texas League game in Frisco.
Kendal helped with several cards,most prominently former Phillies and now Astros prospect slugger Jonathan Singleton.
Kendall also is a constant help to me in his travels...

Tom O'brien continued his help with the Eastern League and Indy ball.
Tom cleaned a few Altoona Curve cards that I missed with Tony Sanchez,Brock Holt and Brandon Cumpton leading the show.
Tom also got me a Jerry Martin signed when Erie was in town along with his usual array of Bowie BaySox players that I missed in Frederick.

Corey Cunningham was in Charlotte for a NASCAR race,stopped by the Charlotte Knights and nabbed me Phillies outfield prospect Domonic Brown for the collection.

Jason Christensen continued his help in Binghamton with two players that had eluded me for a while  in Brian Bocock and Jefry Marte as well as adding Josh Rodriguez and Greg Golson of extras that he had.

Bill Cover hit the Appy league and grabbed me several Cardinals,Royals and Rays players,the most notable being C.J. McElroy,Carson Kelly and Royals number one pick Bubba Starling.
These were all gifts from Bill as I didn't send him cards going down.

Tyler Chupak nailed me the big fish with Pirates top pick Gerrit Cole in Harrisburg among others!
More on Tyler later...

Jason Christensen returned with some more B-Mets,most notably Zach Wheeler,who was reported to not want to sign at all as the season went on.
Jason got all my Wheelers signed for me and they are appreciated,especially since most of them are in the Giants uniform...
Jason also made our annual swap of Hagerstown for Binghamton team sets as well
Other cool additions were Aaron Hicks of the Twins,Avasail Garcia of the Tigers and a great blue chrome card of Deck McGuire of the Blue Jays and another Gerrit Cole on a ball for the Pirates top pick collection!

Bill Cover was back as he did a Greensboro Grasshoppers team set for me when he was in Greensboro for his son diving meet.
Thanks again,Bill for your constant help!

Tyler Chupak did some cards for me in a trip to Lehigh Valley and got C.J.Nitkowski on a Japanese league card! Tyler says Nitkowski was friendly was asking questions about it.
Thanks to my buddy Brandon Siefken in Japan for bidding on the card and getting it to me so quickly in able for me to get it signed!

Tom O'Brien did our annual swap of Bowie for Hagerstown sets and helped me with a few Eastern League All Star stragglers most notably Jonathan Schoop of Bowie..

Craig Horvath did me a huge favor and traded me an Altoona set for a team of his choice (He selected Myrtle Beach).
Altoona was finished with Harrisburg early this season and without Craig,I would not have gotten the Curve done....

Bill Cover did the Akron Aeros team set for me while I was away taking Cherie for our 25th anniversary.
The Aeros had the usual suspects except for Ryan Rohlinger,who I had a bunch of Fresno cards for as well as his Akron card.

Jason Christensen finished up in Binghamton with a long held card in Francisco Pena,a few Richmond stragglers and Toronto top pick Marcus Stroman on his USA card....

Mike Oravec gives me doubles all year and he tossed my former Brewer infielder Tim Johnson,former Pirate outfielder Bill Virdon,former Indian outfielder Johnny Grubb among many others.
Mike also helped me with some Fresno Grizzlies and former Pirate SS Brandon Wood on a Topps Diamond card,which is Wood's only card in a Pirate uniform...

I want to thank three more people that help me throughout the year-Tyler Chupak,his dad Derreck and Brandon Diehl.
You guys help me so much on your trips to Frederick etc in picking up leftovers of mine and cool stuff as well-an example being Orioles top pick Kevin Gausman and phenom Dylan Bundy.
All three of you helped me with tons of stuff and I couldn't keep them straight on who got me what,so here is a blanket thank you for all that you did for me last season....

If I missed anyone that helped,again-my apologies.It is appreciated,I just didn't keep everything straight from everyone....

Two recent in the mail additions that were sent a long time ago came back with former Jets WR Al Toon and former Navy and Raider running Napoleon McCallum.
McCallum is the new record holder for longest return at 561 days,breaking the previous record of former pitcher Clyde Wright by eight days.

I'm not sure if I am going to do another signing front from the rest of my stuff.
Lots of things to put away,but if a story hits me as I do that,I might toss a post up.
I will be doing more minor league and autograph stuff though over the winter.
I had a few requests for more of that in our survey,so I want to do that.

One final thanks to all of my friends for all of your help in this crazy hobby.
I have things that I never would have gotten without you,so you all have my deepest thanks!!!

Eight is Enough! Browns top Steelers 20-14!

It might have taken eight (yes,eight) turnovers and it might have taken 96 year old Charlie Batch taking the snaps under center for the Pittsburgh Steelers,but mix in the recipe of Pat Shurmur managing not to do anything too stupid and your net result was a 20-14 upset win for the Cleveland Browns!
Trent Richardson's 15 yard touchdown run in third quarter play gave the Browns the final margin as the score was the only points in the second half for either team.
The now 3-8 Browns travel to Oakland next Sunday for a showdown against the 3-8 Raiders.
Small group at my house for this one,Interested? Want to bring food?
Drop me a line! Anytime that the Browns beat Pittsburgh-its party time!
Or as close as a boring fat man that doesn't drink gets to that point....

Brownie Bits

1) I have some negatives later,but lets have a positive!
I don't care if the QB for the opponent is Ben Rothlisberger,Charlie Batch or Charlie Brown-Eight turnovers is a lot!
I know Steeler fans have the thought that if Rothlisberger played this would not have happened and they are probably right,as we will most likely see in Pittsburgh in a month,but it was not Charlie Batch that was dropping the ball on the turf like he was carrying a landmine.

2) Four Steeler running backs and four fumbles,one from each back.
On a day that the Steelers had to not turn the ball over in order to maximize Charlie Batch,the Browns pounded the Steeler backs and forced them to give it up .
It has been a long time since Cleveland out-physicaled (New Word!) Pittsburgh,but they did on this day....

3) The Browns run defense is ranked in the lower third in the league,but this team has become difficult to run on and I attribute that to the return of Phil Taylor.
I was not thrilled with the selection of John Hughes in the third round and I still think that the Browns could have gotten him later in the draft,but when Cleveland can rotate Taylor,Ahtyba Rubin,Hughes and Billy Winn at defensive tackle,this team ranks with the best against the run with their interior line in the game.

 4) Billy Winn's interception off a tip was the first of his career.
Winn looks to me to be capable of moving to end next season and considering where he was picked (sixth round) in the draft,Winn ranks among the top steals of the 2012 draft.

5) Trent Richardson's day was not spectacular (29 carries 85 yards 2.9 yards per carry) other than his fifteen yard bolt through the Steeler line for the game winning TD,but what he did do is this-run well enough and hard enough to make the Steelers respect him,keep the clock moving and put the Browns in position for makeable first downs.
That is what is takes to win in the AFC North....

6) Sheldon Brown handed the Steelers a touchdown with his pass interference call on Plaxico Burress late in the first half that set the ball at the one,but his third quarter pick of Charlie Batch set up the game winning TD by Trent Richardson,so I'll take the wash.
Actually,I thought Brown did pretty well against Burress other than the interference call....

7) One more positive,I liked the throw to Jordan Cameron for the Browns first touchdown.
Cameron has the type of athletic ability to make him a tough cover in red zone areas and he should be a threat in those situations.
I hated the fade pass to Cameron last week in Dallas,but the out route makes better use of Cameron's just developing skills

8) Brandon Weeden started slow with his tipped pick six to Lawrence Timmons,but otherwise did what you would hope-kept the team in the game by not making the big mistake.
Weeden left the game with a head injury as Colt McCoy took the snaps for the last two possessions (all run plays),so it will be interesting to follow to see the status of Weeden for the Raiders.

9) All too often,the Browns win meaningless late season games and as a result miss out on impact players in the draft.
I normally scream about this and when I saw the schedule,I saw the typical Browns late season run of games to cost them draft position.
The slate starts next week in Oakland and then sees Kansas City and Washington hit Cleveland before expected losses in Denver and Pittsburgh wrap up the campaign.
Keep an eye on this next week...

10) That said and as much as I hate dropping in the draft and possibly making Pat Shurmur look good to Jimmy Haslem and Joe Banner-I'll take wins in the division anytime!
They will not make the playoffs or anything,but inter-divisional wins are worth the hit.

11) One play that might have decided this game?
A long pass to a wide open Mike Wallace that hit T.J. Ward in the back of the helmet.
IF Charlie Batch gets that ball to Wallace,it would likely have been a touchdown and would have swung the momentum along with the panic type of Pat Shurmur play calling as well....

12) What a great weekend!
Ohio State over michigan,Browns over Steelers!
You cannot beat that!!!!

Photo Credit:Cleveland Plain Dealer