MLB overturns Ryan Braun’s 50 game suspension

Thursday, February 23rd –

In late October, 2011, Ryan Braun was tested positive for the use of a banned substance under baseball’s drug policy. In December, ESPN brought this news public. Braun’s suspension was to be for 50 games, and it was looking very unlikely that it would be overturned.

Well, today, MLB overturned Braun’s suspension, due to finding a minor technicality. Where was this minor technicality for Sosa, Clemens, Bonds and many more MLB stars who were tested positive? I don’t know, but I think I know what that minor technicality is.

Bud Selig, the commissioner of baseball, is the former owner of the Milwaukee Brewers. I believe he might still have a little stock in the Brew Crew. Nobody has ever gotten a steroid related suspension overturned in the HISTORY of MLB. Maybe Bud feared that his former team would fail completely in the 2012 season, following the loss of their centerpiece: Prince Fielder. Maybe he thought they wouldn’t sell tickets early June when the Brewers were 10 games under .500 because of the loss of their one-two punch of Braun and Fielder.

In summation, this suspension being overturned is something to definitely be suspicious about, considering Selig’s roots in the Milwaukee Brewer organization.

Manny Ramirez is an Oakland Athletic

Mon, Feb. 20th –
Yes that is right, Manny Ramirez, former World Series champion will return to the show in a green uniform. This is a huge surprise to people like me, who believe a GM like Billy Beane would even decide to acquire someone so “eccentric” like Manny. Manny won the World Series with the Boston Red Sox during that famous season that broke the curse of the Bambino in ’04.

Ramirez will still have to face his 50 game suspension without pay this season, due to his violation of the MLB’s drug policy. With no rainouts, Manny would be eligible to play his first game June 2nd against the Kansas City Royals.

Personally, I wish Manny would just realize that he is no longer important to Major League Baseball, and that the whole “Manny being Manny” charade, is over. I hope fans in Oakland boo him like crazy, because I believe he is worth nothing to the MLB.

Manny has apparently signed to a 1 year deal for $500,000 dollars, slightly over the league minimum. I’ll blog more about this later, when more information about the contract is leaked.

Kosuke Fukudome signs 1 year deal with the White Sox

Tues, Feb. 14th, 2012 – Former Chicago Cub outfielder Kosuke Fukudome has agreed to a 1 year deal, where he will receive $500,000 this season. The White Sox have a $3.5 million option for 2013 with a $500,000 buyout.

Even though I hate the White Sox with a burning passion, I have to say this might be a good thing for the South Siders, after losing a lot of their big name players this offseason. Kosuke was one of the finest lead off hitters the Cubs had since Ryan Theriot left the historic franchise to join the North Siders division rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals.

Advantages for the Sox
Kosuke was a pretty productive lead off hitter while playing for the Cubs, hitting just over .270 when leading off the game. He gets on base plenty, but his major problem wasn’t always his fault, due to the fact nobody ever really hit him in to score. This problem wasn’t as much as an issue when Kosuke was sent to the Indians, where he had more solid hitters in the line up with him.

Fukudome has one of the strongest arms I have ever seen in the outfield. I’m not saying he is Roberto Clemente out there, but I’m saying don’t try it if you’re rounding second, home is not an option.
Kosuke wasn’t just “Wild Thinging” it out there, he had precision accuracy, throwing out a number of runners at home plate last year.

Disadvantages for the Sox
Kosuke is no young man. On March 31, 2008, Kosuke made his Major league debut for the Chicago Cubs at age 31. Debuting at 31 is not always a good thing to see from a player. I do understand he had an amazing career prior to joining the MLB, in Japan, which brings me to my next point.

Kosuke hit a .327 batting average in April that first year of duty for the Cubs, fading each month, to the point of a .178 in September. Kosuke was clearly not use to having just a long tiring schedule, of non-stop baseball. Whether this be his age, or just not being use to the style of play, he is a liability in the fall.

My hatred for the White Sox may be high, but best of luck to you Kosuke!

Superbowl XLVI. Will Brady Get Revenge On The Brother of His Rival?

Thurs, February 2ND, 2012 – So it has arrived, the most exciting week of the NFL, Superbowl Week. Many questions float around about Sunday’s game, many that can not be answered until the final second ticks off the clock at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Who will the winner be? The New York Giants and New England Patriots are set to kickoff at 6:30 PM ET on Sunday, February 5TH.

Revenge?
Tom Brady and Eli Manning have been in this position before in the 2007 Superbowl. Tom Brady and the New England Patriots had a stunning 16-0 regular season record, and continued to go undefeated all the way to the playoffs. Not many believed that the Giants, who lost to the Patriots in the last game of the regular season 38-35 could take down the powerful Patriots. But they proved all the critics wrong. Eli Manning completed 19 of 34 passes and had 255 passing yards with 2 TD’s. This would be enough, helped by an amazing game winning drive led by Eli, to beat the Pats and win Superbowl XLII. Manning won the MVP award, and the hearts of all the people who let him play in his brothers shadow.

Who is the better Manning?
With Eli getting ready to start in his second Superbowl, with the possibility of winning it, would that victory finally seal the deal on who the better Manning is? If Eli wins this Sunday, he will have 2 Superbowl rings, and be 2-0 in the most glorious game of the year, while his brother Peyton, has only 1 ring, and has lost in a Superbowl gaming giving him a 1-1 record. So what I’m saying is, you can have all the stats jacked in the world, but if your brother has more rings, how are you the better quarterback? To quote the movie “Moneyball,” “If you lose the last game of the season, nobody gives a shit about how good your record is.”

Winner?
I do strongly believe that Tom Brady will pull this one out, to spite all the critics that are telling him we are going to see a repeat of XLII. Tom has a lot to play for, including becoming the most winning-est QB in post season history. Most importantly, Tom would tie Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana in the category of most Superbowl wins with 4. Many are stating that the Patriots will hurt without their star TE, Rob Gronkowski. I do not believe this will harm them much, considering the Patriots team is so stacked, they have Chad Ochocinco warming up the bench during games. The Patriots have depth in Hernandez, Green-Ellis, Woodhead, Underwood, Branch, and my personal favorite, Wes Welker.

Patriots 28 – Giants 21

PRINCE FIELDER A DETROIT TIGER

Prince Fielder and son Jaden at Thursdays press conference at Comerica Park

Thurs, Jan. 26, 2012 – Prince Fielder was announced as a Detroit Tiger today with his son at his left at Comerica Park. Prince: “This is kind of a dream come true.” Clearly he is stating this due to all of the doughnuts he can now buy with his 9 year, $214 million dollar contract. Prince will earn $23 million in his first two years of the contract, followed by $24 million a year to finish up the 9 year deal. This is the 4TH largest contract in baseball history. Which is weird, because he is the 1st largest player in baseball history. Only kidding, of course.

PRINCE HAS PUT UP SOME BIG NUMBERS IN HIS CAREER SO FAR

GP – 998
AB – 3527
R – 571
H – 996
2B – 200
3B – 9
HR – 230
RBI – 656
BB – 566

With these numbers clearly high, what will happen to Detroit Tiger Superstar Miguel Cabrera?
Tigers Manager Jim Leyland stated that Miguel will return to his original position of 3B, and Prince will take over at 1st. When asked who would take over at the DH position, Leyland had no definite answer yet. He said that position would change a lot, until there is a good fit found. Leyland also stated how they will use that part of the lineup for someone who is tired, but they still need their bat in the lineup.

TIGERS LINEUP LOOKING STRONG
The Tigers lineup although not definite, looks to be the favorite to win the American League Central.

CF – Austin Jackson
RF – Brennen Boesch
3B – Miguel Cabrera
1B – Prince Fielder
C – Alex Avila
LF – Delmon Young
SS – Jhonny Peralta
DH – Ryan Raburn
2B – Ramon Santiago

Young SS Jhonny Peralta should be a big part of the lineup this year, surprising a lot of people last year hitting for a .299 AVG, getting 157 Hits with 21 long ones.

PITCHING
Detroit Tigers rotation is headed by Ace pitcher Justin Verlander. Verlander had 24 wins last year with only 5 losses. He fanned 250 batters with and ERA of 2.40 and low WHIP of 0.920. Verlander isn’t the only good pitcher on the staff though, with probably #3 pitcher Doug Fister wanting to prove to the MLB he is a dominate pitcher.

2012 PREDICTION
I believe the Detroit Tigers will take control of AL Central, and end up being American League Champs on the very large back of Prince Fielder, and arm of Justin Verlander.

My Teams Achievements and Disappointments in 2011

Well it is now officially 2012, which means a new year for great sports achievements and busts. I’d just like to discuss some of my favorite teams Achievements and Disapointments in 2011.

Chicago Cubs – Clearly I shouldn’t even be mentioning that I’m a Cubs fan while living in the south side of Chicago. But I do have pride! I will admit the Cubbies did suck big time this year, despite the “overwhelming excitement” of signing 1st Baseman Carlos Pena, and the potentional of young Darwin Barney and Starlin Castro. All though they ended up blowing the season, all Cubs fans now have alot of hope for next year (that sounds familiar) after the Ricketts family made Theo Epstein the president of Baseball operations. Theo in less than a month hired a new GM in Jed Hoyer and manager Dale Svuem. Bring us to the promise land Theo!

Chicago Bears – With being NFC champions so close last year, but being beaten by the hillbillies from the north, clearly there was a lot of hope in the 2011 season. I was one of the people who actually stuck with our franchise quarterback Jay Cutler through the injury and everything he went through. Although the season did not start off to hot, my boy Jay got it going after his incident being caught saying to Mike Martz, “Tell him to f**k off” on SNF. After that, the offense took off. Cutler to Bennett, Cutler to Bennett. The old Vandy boys. It was working! With a 5 game win streak under their belt it looked like they were going to win out, and even beat the almighty “Pack.” Sadly, Jay Cutler, contrary to popular belief, being tough, goes to tackle somebody, breaks his thumb on his throwing hand is out for the season. I don’t even want to talk about why we didn’t go to McCown sooner, and why Hanie was even an option. Sure, I had faith in Hanie, but after he played, he sucked, so why not go to Enderle then get McCown? I guess I’ll say it like they do at Wrigleyville. “There’s always next year.”

Chicago Bulls – Where do you start with this one? The only real “disappointment” is that they didn’t beat the big 3 to go to the finals. Derrick Rose is all I have to say. Just watching the man makes you feel like Jordan is on the court again. But the difference is, Rose doesn’t have an attitude problem like Air Douche Bag. Now that the lockout is over, we can cheer on our boy Rose, and the bench mob to the NBA Championship.

New Jersey Devils – The Devils did not start out the season to hot, losing their star Zach Parise to an injury. The greatest goaltender of all time, Marty Brodeur was also hurt. This was not a way to start a season. But after the all star game, The Devils went on a run that was so close to getting them to the playoffs from the bottom of the Atlantic Division, that I was so pumped that they were gonna make it. Sadly it they were to far down though, and couldn’t make it all the way to the top. One of the main reasons is because Zach Parise, who averages over 30 goals per season wasn’t there to give them those 30 goals. Johan “Moose” Hedberg was a solid goaltender in the second half almost taking them to the playoffs. Once again, better luck next year.

Northwestern Wildcats Football – NU had to start out their 2011 season without their Heisman Candidate QB Dan Persa out of Bethlehem, PA. WR Kain Colter took over the job in the season opener against Boston College. NU beat Boston College 24-17 with Kain under center. The season started to have hope, despite not having Danny Persa in the Depth Chart. The defense looked solid, including the secondary, led by senior safety Brian Peters. Next came a non-conference again Eastern Illinois at Ryan Field in Evanston. NU beat up on EIU 42-21. The first half showed no life for the EIU offense, but in the second half, NU’s secondary started to slide, a sight we would see all season. Week 3 NU traveled to New York to play Army, where NU was a huge favorite. Army ended up beating NU 21-14. Week 5. NU played #22 University of Illinois. Northwestern had Dan Persa back in the depth chart and were still underdogs. Northwestern was looking FANTASTIC with Danny back in the QB position. It didn’t even look like the leg injury he suffered at home last year against Iowa was bothering him. NU led 35 – 17 after the 3rd quarter. But, that secondary came back to haunt them, Dan Persa went out injured, and they gave up 21 points in the 4th quarter to lose 35 – 38 to Illinois. NU went on to lose 3 more games to overrated Michigan, Iowa and Penn State. NU got screwed big time on a lot of calls in the Michigan and Penn State games. (Don’t worry, nobody got “screwed” in the Penn State game.) NU then played the bottom of the Big 10, Indian on the road and destroyed them 59-38, with SR. TE Drake Dunsmore catching 4 TD passes. The following week NU was heading into Nebraska to face the new Big Ten members the Huskers. To NU fans, this was our bowl victory. Nebraska was favored so much I’m surprised anybody could believe NU even scored. NU went on to beat Nebraska in a thriller 28-25. NU returned to Ryan field and beat up on non-conference Rice 28-6, then beat Minnesota 28-13 to become bowl eligible. If NU beat MSU the following week at home, they would have played at the New Era Pin Stripe bowl at Yankee Stadium in New york. Sadly they lost 31-17, in a game where the secondary showed its “true colors.” Northwestern got elected to play in the Meineke Car Care bowl in Houston Texas against Texas A&M on New Years Eve. This was the first year I remember where the ESPN analysts actually thought NU was going to win the bowl game. Texas A&M had a lot to play for, being their home stadium very close to the Texans Stadium in Houston, and having one of their Offensive Lineman dying 2 days before Christmas. Apparently that was all the motivation that A&M needed, who beat NU 33-22. This keeping the monkey of not winning a bowl game on NU’s back going for a 63rd year in a row.

As you can see, none of my teams really did to hot, but I really do have hope for next year, because, in the end, I’m always going to have a Cubs fan mentality!

Happy New Year!

Jimmy Adamek