Four for Fantasy

Today is a historic day at BaseballGuys.com. I’m going to, for the first time, hit on each of the four major sports in the same piece. I know, I know, it’s almost as exciting as the release of Twilight: New Moon on Friday, so see if you can contain your excitement long enough to read the entire entry.

I’m loving this Twitter thing which you can follow at Baseball Guys Twitter Account. I was slow to come around, but given the fact that I’m pretty much glued to my chair for 12 hours a day, I might as well share all the information in this big brain of mine.

MLB TALK

Zack Greinke completely deserves the AL Cy Young Award, and I love the fact that he has studied sabermetrics with Brian Bannister. But I think this story is a bit ridiculous. It’s not like Greinke discovered uranium, he merely was exposed to a different way of analyzing pitching. I mean, I know an awful lot about sabermetrics, and it’s not like I could hit the mound and have success merely because I can break down how to use BABIP, CERA and DIPS. Greinke had success because he is immensely talented and finally at peace with himself – it’s not like he needs numbers to tell him not to groove a fastball down the pipe when the count is 0-2.

Lord help us. The Yankees have thrown their hat into the Roy Halladay sweepstakes. At what point does baseball step in and say this just isn’t fair?

Jarrod Washburn and the Mariners might hook back up, or at least there is some interest there by both parties according to the pitcher. Don’t know why the Mariners would be hot and heavy about adding a hurler that went 31-49 with an ERA over four in four years in the Pacific Northwest.

NHL TALK

Ilya Kovalchuk has been mind numbingly good this season. If not for a broken foot that sidelined him for a while, he almost assuredly would be leading the league in goals. After all, he has 12 markers in just 11 games.

Alexander Ovechkin returned to the ice and scored a goal – what a shock. He has 15 goals in 15 games this season.

I wrote about the top-50 fantasy options in the game today in my column entitled The Power Play. Give it a read if you enjoy the sound of a skate blade slicing through a sheet of ice.

If you are looking for a few guys who might be on waivers, give David Rogers’ article Free Agent Finds a look.

NFL TALK

I touched on the JaMarcus Russell debacle yesterday in Hazy NFL Thoughts. Good to know that the Raiders listened as the benched Russell in favor of Bruce Gradkowski. Don’t know if that will help the Raiders much though given that Gradkowski owns a 53.1 completion percentage and a 58.7 QB Rating in 22 career games, but something had to be done.

With Ronnie Brown out for the year with his foot injury, I just fielded a bunch of questions on Live Advice about guys like Lousaka Polite and Lex Hilliard. Yeah, it was a rough two hours.

Speaking of live advice, we have a great instrument that people can turn to in trying to put together a great team down the stretch in fantasy football, and that is our Rest of the Way Rankings tool.

NBA TALK

Is it just me, or do you get the feeling that you are viewing an episode of OZ or Prison Break when you watch an NBA game? Honestly, I bet you could count the number of guys in the league that don’t have at least five tattoos on your fingers and toes.

Just like hockey, we have an article each week that talks about which NBA weapons might be available on waivers with Deep League Pickups. Hey, we are a one stop shop for you all no matter what your fantasy needs are.

By Ray Flowers

Hazy NFL Thoughts

JaMarcus Russell giving the thumbs up. After all, he had just completed a pass in practice, and that alone was cause for celebration.

Some days I sit here and I have a clear vision of the day. Other times I drift around in a bit of haze, inundated from all sides by a bevy of ever changing sports information (I know, cue the violins right – my life is so tough). Today I’m in one of those floating moods, so here is random sampling of what’s going on in my noggin.

Dwayne Bowe was suspended for four games for violating the NFL’s ban on performance enhancing drugs (he will be out until Week 15). Speculation is that Bowe, who came to camp channeling his inner Fat Albert, took some kind of diuretic to help him shed the 30 extra pounds he was carrying. Here is my advice – try eating less ding dongs, get some sleep, and avoid devouring every piece of food put in front of you. Really, for a pro athlete to put on 30 lbs in an offseason simply boggles my mind. I haven’t left my house in like 11 days, have been eating cheesy poofs and Butterfingers from Halloween, and I haven’t gained a pound.

Speaking of staying in shape, JaMarcus Russell could learn a thing or two about avoiding the all-you-can eat Korean buffets at 12:30 at night after you’ve pulled back on a baker’s dozen o’ beers. A noted workout fiend, and by workout I mean that he attacks the dessert menu with abandon, Russell has been historically awful this season. Through nine games he has completed 47.1 percent of his passes with two scores, nine interceptions, and an average of less than 119 yards a contest leading to a 47.9 QB Rating. I’m being totally serious here – I could literally practice for about two weeks and step in and do that well. I’m not kidding, I used to chuck a mean 15 yard out with that orange Nerf ball when I was a kid.

Didn’t you used to be Terrell Owens? After catching a mere 26 passes for 366 yards and a touchdown I could have sworn you were Roscoe Parrish. Perhaps you should have spent less time with that reality TV show that attempts to show you as a smooth ladies man and more time trying to build a rapport with his quarterback.

For those that think the NFL is the No Fun League, here is some further support for the position. Listed below are the fines you receive from the league for committing said infraction.

Exposing a knee, roughing the passer, chop block: $5,000
*** That first one refers to a player whose sock has slipped down his leg revealing his exposed knee, and no, I’m not making that up.

Oh, and the best one? How about a $25,000 fine if you wear a college hat on the sidelines. Are you kidding me? You get a $25K bill for wearing a hat from your school while chilling out, but you can chop block a guy, potentially ending his season or his career, and pay only $5K? Something seems wrong with that doesn’t it?

Is Brady Quinn really that bad? Through nine career appearances Quinn has completed 52.2 percent of his passes with three scores and seven interceptions. As awful as he has been in five games this season, his 51.0 QB Rating is actually a massive upgrade over the 36.2 mark of Derek Anderson. And you thought Russell was bad.

Oh, I forgot to mention above, when discussing Russell, that prior to the Raiders last game that their wide receivers had 28 receptions on the year, or literally half as many as the next worst team, the Bucs. Think of that. The Raiders entire wide receiving corps was 50 percent worse than the next to last team, not the first team, the 31st team. Pathetic.

By Ray Flowers