Favre To Unretire Soon

The draft is over and NFL teams will be starting up their mini-camps soon... so that means only one thing... Brett Favre is about to unretire...AGAIN.  His first move to unretire was accomplished, get released from the Jets ... and now he will be able to sign with any team that he wants too.  Wild speculation his struck this region that Favre will be able to now sign with the Minnesota Vikings...the Packers were able to block that move last year, but now nothing can prevent Favre from signing with any team that he wants too...

I am keeping my fingers crossed that he does indeed sign with the Vikings ... because he sucks and there is nothing more funny then listening to the rabid Viking fans... right now the Vikes (as picked by said rabid fans) will go 13-3 and win the NFC Championship... with Favre (or any "decent" qb) the Vikes will be penciled in as the next undefeated Super Bowl champs ... so I enjoy watching that all come crashing down every season... and adding Favre into the mix would just make it even that much more entertaining...

I hope the Lions have a decent secondary that can play outfield and pick Favre off 6 times each game they play...

Draft ... Rehashed

Because the draft is this weekend and is rage on the sports talk...I figured I should at least acknowledge the draft's existence on my blog to have some credibility...so I will simply cut and paste my thoughts on the draft that I posted some time ago... 

I'm not a big 'draft watcher' and don't get into the draft hype that every sports program on the planet has been hyping for the past 2 weeks. All the hype surrounding new players and every fan thinks their team will hopefully make the right moves that will improve the team. Don't get me wrong, when I was younger, I use to watch and follow the draft as much as anyone, but after doing so for a few years a person begins to realize that after the draft day itself the draft holds little to no luster afterwards. Now begins the contract negotiations, hold-outs and injuries...all the feel good stories of the draft are instantly erased and it all turns to money now. 

Sioux Support UND's Use Of Name

I did a quick search through my blog and was surprised to see that I haven't commented on the University of North Dakota nickname battle.  UND's athletic programs are named the Fighting Sioux and because the NCAA is a hypocritical organization that puts money in front of any decision they make...will ban UND from any athletic post-season tournaments unless UND change's it's nickname or get the support of the two Sioux tribes in North Dakota, the Standing Rock and Spirit Lake tribes.

I have never thought the nickname is that offensive and, in fact, I thought that having a school use your name as a moniker would be kind of cool...even a memorial.  Also, the local protestors...at least the most vocal...always were non-Native Americans ... mainly white teachers and students.  It seemed to me that this group of people was more offended then the Native Americans themselves.

To prove that sometimes the vocal minority and the political correctness can oftentimes be just noise and not be true representatives of the truth...the Spirit Lake tribe voted in favor of having UND keep it's Fighting Sioux nickname by 67%...that's 2 out of 3 tribe members supporting the name.

The Standing Rock tribe has yet to hold a referendum, but the nickname supporters obviously focused on one tribe and will now set their sites on the Standing Rock tribe.  UND has until the fall of 2010 to get the support of the Standing Rock tribe and I wouldn't be surprised if a vote is taken there around this time next year.

Playoffs: NBA vs NHL

Playoff time is here the NBA and the NHL which means for the rest of April sport junkies, like myself, will be able to watch 'meaningful' games in both sports on a nightly basis until the later rounds deplete the schedule...

I have always contended that the NHL playoffs are second to none.  The NFL, sure, is my favorite sport and their playoffs is as good as any, but because the NFL plays so much fewer games and their playoff system is a single game elimination method, they don't have means to ratchet up the intensity of each game a team plays.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with the NFL playoffs nor am I advocating change, I would just like to preface my remarks to assure everyone that I think the NFL is, right now, the best sport for a fan top-to-bottom.

The NHL and NBA playoffs essentially start at the same time and if you listen/watch the sports talking heads they will preview and 'break down' each sports playoffs and speculate who should, could or will win it all.  To illustrate one very prominent reason as to why the NHL playoffs are better than the NBA playoffs is the fact that there is true parity in the NHL.  The sports talkers, when talking about the NHL, a person could have read/listened to 10 different media talkers and likely gotten 5-6 different picks as to who they think could win the Stanley Cup.  You then also factor in that it is not uncommon for a #8 seed to upset a #1 seed or, at the very least, make a very interesting series out of the opening round of the playoffs.  With the NHL too, if a team has a 'hot' goalie right now, that alone could mean a deep push into the playoffs.  With the NBA you could have read/listened to 10 different talkers there and gotten the same result... this years NBA finals is (allegedly predestined to be) the Lakers vs the Cavaliers with the Lakers winning it all.  I do believe that is what most will agree will still the scenario after the opening weekend of the NBA playoffs but with the NHL playoffs, people begin to question and reevaluate their initial playoff assement.  

The intensity level in the NHL is also very evident, even in the opening games and series...whereas with the NBA, more than one team will easily dominate the inferior one and most everyone watching is seeing an uneventful, blasiase game ... even if an NHL game turns into a blowout, the action is still present during the game and you can still see an effort being put forth by both teams...with the NBA it doesn't seem as noticeable...

Sure, I'll watch the NBA playoffs but right now, I am watching as much NHL as I can and filling whatever 'down time' I have with the NBA...

The Rush For Glory And Profit

Anyone that has seen the national news the past few weeks know that this region has been fighting the high waters from several rivers from historical flooding.  The high water marks are the highest ever recorded for several of the rivers around here.  But the people of the communities in this region banded together to battle the water and for the most part, damage hasn't been as cataclismic as original forecasters feared... the effort was immense... schools closed for almost 2 weeks, the city of Fargo essentially shut down for 5 days with 1 day under near martial law...where travel within city limits was banned with the exception of emergency vehicles...so it was a pretty extraordinary event...

Things have begun to return to normal as the rivers began to return to their normal levels, so what does that mean?  It's time for one thousand and six 'Flood Volunteer Celebration' parties.  Just his week there are 2 "celebrations" honoring the community and flood fighters ... I'm not sure when I am going to host mine, I'm still lining up entertainment, sponsorship and getting the t-shirts printed, but hopefully I can make some sweet money off of an event that was essentially the adverting of a catastrophe...it seems like the fad.

2009 Charger Schedule Set

The 2009 NFL schedule came out yesterday so everyone can finally make their plans for the fall to insure they don't miss a game... at least that's what I do with the Chargers...

The Chargers' schedule doesn't look all that easy, playing the NFC East and the AFC North teams...

Here's the low-down:

Week 1 - at Oakland - The final game of the opening weekend, on Monday Night...NFL's kickoff to celebrate the AFL's 50th Anniversary

Week 2 - vs Baltimore - A team that went toe-to-toe with the Steelers in the AFC Championship last year

Week 3 - vs Miami - The cinderella story of last season

Week 4 - at Pittsburgh - The Steelers are the defending Super Bowl Champs - Sunday Night game

Week 5 - bye - The Chargers are again screwed with an early bye week.  Any bye week before November is useless

Week 6 - vs Denver - Chargers make their second Monday Night Football appearance against the most hated team in the NFL...the Denver Broncos

Week 7 - at Kansas City 

Week 8 - vs Oakland - All done with regular season games agasint Oakland before Thanksgiving...wow!

Week 9 - at NY Giants - Time to crush Eli one more time.

Week 10 - vs Philadelphia - I can't even remember the last game the Chargers played against the Eagles.

Week 11 - at Denver

Week 12 - vs Kansas City - No AFC West oppenents for the remainder of the season and it's not even December!?!?! 

Week 13 - at Cleveland 

Week 14 - at Dallas - Chargers get to visit the new Cowboys stadium

Week 15 - vs Cincinnati 

Week 16 - at Tennessee - On Christmas day...prime time

Week 17 - vs Washington

Seems like an odd schedule to me... the Chargers are essentially done with their divisional games by the end of November.  I was listening to John Clayton on Mike and Mike (ESPN Radio) this morning and he made it sound as if the Chargers first 1/2 of the schedule looked easy...but there are 3 tough games and thinking you are going to run the division isn't likely either...

I had high hopes for the Chargers last season and they barely scraped by at 8-8.  I think the AFC West remains weak, the Chargers slide by again and go 10-6...maybe 9-7, probably win the division...

On Twitter

Because I love to jump on the bandwagon (usually not) and I have a fair amount of free time that I wish to use on yet another internet item I decided to check out the 'Twitter'.

Twitter is just like most every other 'social' internet entity...the more populer the entity gets, the better it is and the more the communtiy participates, the better it is. Of course that is until it is eventually compromised and raided by spammers, bots and all the 'junk' that usually force there way into any popular internet activity.

Regardless...it is actually a pretty quick way to post up a quick thought, reaction or whatever... so anyways, if you can view my 'tweets' in the sidebar to the left...

Jay Culter Is A Whiny Cry-Baby

I was wondering the other day, when I would see another self-absorbed, whiny, cry-baby NFL player that could fill the void that, with the temporary retirement of Brett Favre, currently exists in the NFL.  And then the Jay Cutler drama was delivered.  

So let's review what has happened so far...

It all started out when the new Bronco head coach apparently tried to work Cutler into a trade that would get Matt Cassels to Denver.  Cutler puts his house up for sale in Denver, refuses to go to offseason team meetings and cries like a baby that how could the Broncos dare do this.

Next, the Broncos with new head coach Josh McDaniels, personally meet with Cutler, McDaniels even comes out and publicly states that Cutler is the Bronco's starting quarterback.  Cry-baby Cutler's next move was to demand to be traded from Denver and the Bronco's, I'm sure getting sick of his bullshit, are more than happy to oblige and begin to 'shop' Cutler around ... but now, today, Cutler says he didn't ask for a trade and wants(?) to stay in Denver?

So this situation couldn't have worked out better for the Bronco's... now they are willing to trade Cutler, but Cutler continues to flip-flop and basically display at what an immature, whiny person he is...so regardless of whether the Bronco's give a shit about Cutler's feelings - which at this point they shouldn't - do they want to continue to have this guy on their roster?  If you keep him, you obviously know what you got... a whiny cry-baby quarterback who led a team that had a 4 game lead in their division with 4 games to play and lost the division (only time in NFL history that has happened).  Is he really worth the hassle?  But now, he is essentially 'damaged goods'.  Every NFL team on the planet knows the situation in Denver has reached critical mass...the Broncos, again, I would have to think are sick of his bullshit and are going to trade him away.  So my secret wish is for Cutler to get traded to some shitty team...like Detroit or the 49'ers and for him to continue to suck and get the shit beat out of him via being sacked and knocked down 100 times a game.  But, and more importantly for my own personal delight, the Broncos need to get worse ... they need to draft a quarterback that sucks even worse than Cutler and become an even worse team then they were last year. 

A final interesting fact about this whole 'drama' is that Cutler's agent is the same agent as Brett Favre, Bus Cook.  And anyone that has done some quick reading on Cook can see a pattern of ineptness on the part of Cook in many of the clients he handles...with two primary exhibits, Favre and Culter, being prominently displayed the past 2 offseasons.  So, if I was to give any credit to Cutler during this whole saga, it may have a lot to do with the dolt he hired as an agent...but then who is dumber?  Cutler for hiring a moron or Cutler for listening to a moron...guess it all still is Cutler's fault and he is a whiny, cry-baby moron.

Let me conclude by saying I know of no finer organization for this whole episode to happen at than the Denver Broncos.  Regardless of how this whole thing ends, it is likely that the Bronco's team will have some aftermath that will hopefully effect their performance on the field and the end result would be that the Bronco's suck even more.  As I have publicly declared many times, my two favorite teams are the San Diego Chargers and whoever is playing Denver.  So this entire drama has been nothing but good news to me and I hope it only drags out longer and becomes more bizarre and complicated....just keep my Charger team away from it at all costs!

Countdown Is On!

The San Diego Chargers preseason is set... yippee... 4 meaningless games that a fan can take nothing from.  But the NFL did also announce that the Chargers will play the final game of the opening weekend as part of a Monday Night Football double-header against the Oakland Raiders.  So without further ado... the countdown to the kickoff for the San Diego Chargers 2009 NFL season has begun...