Oh the controversy! With the NFL Draft just days away the anticipation has the air almost as thick with wild guesses as the days (weeks) leading up to the Super Bowl.
What is this strange new animal, the "Mock Draft" wherein "experts" endeavour to go telepathic on the decisions to be taken by teams which will, in most cases, have little to no effect on next season's Super Bowl? It's more media hysteria, more selling sport by creating artificial hype, more armchair experts making uneducated guesses in the hopes that they can point to their chests on Draft Day and say, see, I told you so...
Sports Amnesia harkens back to the good auld days before the 6 months of pre-Draft analysis, before the draft itself became like a national obsession of workouts, Rorschach tests, 40 yard dashes and bench presses. The days when a fan simply rooted for his team to make the pick of the guy they mistakenly believe will have the most immediate impact on their team's chances at Super Bowl redemption.
We're hoping the Jets take USC's Matt Leinart and we're hoping they do it without having to trade up. Is Matt Leinart the answer to the Jets myriad of problems? No. Will he only convolute the QB situation in NYC? Yes Should they take Vince Young instead with a look to an unpredictable future? Hopefully not. Leinart is merely a hope, a man who might sparkle on Broadway or flop like Moose Murders?
A former QB not in the talent-assessing business but astute nonethless, Phil Simms, evaluates the QBs available and of Leinart, he says: ..."he does lose control of the football every once in a while; the ball sails high a little, probably because he doesn't put enough rotation on his passes. This can be a factor in cold weather. Can he learn to improve this? Absolutely. But that would be my concern with him."
Of Jay Cutler, everyone's favourite darkhorse, he says "Cutler probably played in an environment that was most NFL-like for a quarterback. I watched about five Vanderbilt games, and he got hit a lot. He's used to making decisions and throwing from a position that is more like what he'll see in the NFL. By NFL standards, the safest pick of the three is Cutler. He's big and strong, has enough mobility and can make all the throws. Whether it's the West Coast, East Coast -- whatever offense he gets drafted into, he's going to be able to adapt to it. I'm not sure you can say that about the other two. There are offenses in the NFL that are not made for Matt Leinart, because they love to throw the ball downfield. That's not what he is going to be great at."
And of course, of Young, he says: "If you took the simplest offensive system among the 32 NFL teams, it's still extremely complex compared to college offenses. There is a tremendous amount of information in the NFL and quarterbacks do have to know it and it does come in handy. He can't just step out there and make plays. That's just not the way it is."
No predictions here but Matt Leinart has the pedigree. It doesn't translate into much in the NFL but USC has always been a QB factory, save for the Todd Marinovich disaster. The Trojans have seen 18 QBs head to the pros or at least be drafted and many of the names are very familiar. Players like Pat Haden, Pete Beathard, Vince Evans, Rodney Peete, and Bill Nelson all had long, productive pro careers, and Carson Palmer became the first USC quarterback to win the Heisman in 2002.
No matter how it pans out (certainly Reggie Bush will go #1, won't he?) the draft does promise to be more exciting than it has been in recent years with the load of uncertainty within so many of the top drafting teams. Lots o suprises, no doubt. And what's more exciting than the Jets taking things seriously and drafting D'BRICKASHAW FERGUSON instead. Be still my heart.
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The Baltimore Orioles are now 10-1 when leading after six innings. Meanwhile, Met reject, Mr Anna Benson, pitched his best game of the season, throwing five perfect innings and allowing just one hit after the second as the O's beat the Blue Jays in the second tier AL East struggle.
Fortunately for the Mets, Brian Bannister is not dead. The dodgy hamstring that saw him collapse at home plate in Wednesday night's dramatic 9-7 extra inning victory over SF, is not as bad as expected. The doctors told him he had a grade 1 strain, the least serious kind.
The Cincinnati Reds, a suprise? Well, they're hitting the hell out of the ball and at 15-7, they've got a suspicious yet good jump on the NL Central this season so far. Having taken three of four from the Brewers and swept the Nats, they aren't exactly beefing up against top quality teams but Sports Amnesia predicts a full swoon, stumble down the stairs in June, when they face in order, 6 road games against Houston and St Louis, a 10 game homestand against the Cubs and Brewers and then the World Champion White Sox, then back on the road for series' against the Mets and Cleveland before a buffet of Kansas City Royals to close out the month. If they survive June, they might have a claim to hope but until then, paper lions, baby.
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Anticipating the piss on the parade: MLB Used Car Salesman Extraordinaire, Bud Selig, everyone's favourite piñata, says there will be no celebrations if Bonds passes Ruth.
"Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's record," Selig said of the Steroid Star fast approaching. "We don't celebrate anybody the second or third time in."
When Aaron broke Ruth's record in 1974, commissioner Bowie Kuhn was not in attendance. Kuhn's absence rankled many, including Aaron.
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Meanwhile, quietly down in Houston, the Astros are rolling faster than ever.
The defending NL Champs have won six of seven series this year and matched their best start since 1986. They face the Reds on Friday in the opener of a three-game series in Cincinnati that is shaping up as an early duel for first place in the NL Central.
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Meanwhile, in the ongoing "If the Season Ended Today" series, the playoffs would look thusly:
NL:
Mets v Reds
Astros v Rockies (still surprising..)
AL:
White Sox v Angels
Red Sox v Tigers
no Yankees, whooopee!
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SI's Tom Verducci examines the auld pitchers:
"It's one of the more fascinating story lines of April, right there with the curious increase in home runs, the dominance of Albert Pujols, the comeback of Jim Thome and the rise of previously underappreciated Chris Shelton and Jonny Gomes. The 10 active pitchers with the most wins entering this season were a combined 23-11 after Monday's games. They are Maddux (4-0), Tom Glavine (2-2), Randy Johnson (3-2), David Wells (0-1 and on the DL), Mussina (2-1), Jamie Moyer (0-2), Pedro Martinez (4-0), Curt Schilling (4-0), Kenny Rogers (3-2) and John Smoltz (1-1). And that group doesn't even include Roger Clemens, who is likely to earn $10 million to make about 15 starts for the Astros, Yankees, Red Sox or Rangers."
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