Cheaters with the Heat

      

  Today, we found out the Tom Brady will in fact be suspended for his role in Deflategate. It was kind of surprise to find this out. I believe it is the right call. How is it that Tom Brady is not punished for something he was directly involved? The Patriots have already paid the price, but not Brady.  There are still many questions to answer, but I really only have one: How will it affect his teams play? The Patriots play the Cardinals, Dolphins, Bills, and Texans. He comes back week 5 against the Browns.

   Everyone knows how the quarterback position is the most important position on the football field. More importantly, everyone knows how important Tom Brady has been to his team over the past 14 years. The last time the Patriots were without Brady (2008 season, Matt Cassel), the Patriots were 11-5 and didn’t even make the playoffs! In order to really salvage the season, the Patriots would really need to go 2-2. The big test is against the Cardinals. They have an elite defense, an MVP caliber quarterback (Carson Palmer), and they were an NFC Championship game away from the Super Bowl. Yes, the Patriots have Gronk, Martellus Bennett, and Julian Edelmen, but they don’t have a running to fall back on.

  Besides for the Cardinals, the Texans are probably the other potential lose in this equation. If healthy, they can have an elite defense. JJ Watt and Jadeveon Clowney manning that defense is scary. If Brook Oswiler is actually worth what they paid, he will be a nice compliment to them with the help of DeAndre Hopkins. It was already a test for Tom Brady with this defense, but for whoever is replacing him Good Luck!! The Texans proved to be scrappy last year and beat out Andrew Luck for the AFC South division title.

   If we know anything, Bill Belichick has enough time to come up with some tricks. He has been in this game way too long not to figure something out. Look what he did with Matt Cassel when Brady got injured in 2008. Everyone forgets that Belichick is a defensive mastermind. He was defensive coordinator for Bill Parcells Giants teams, who had Lawrence Taylor and Carl Banks, and won a Super Bowl with them. He has a lot of tricks up his sleeve.

   If you want my honest opinion, it is time that the Patriots starting thinking for the future. These 4 games could really show who maybe to step up for Tom Brady. If that backup performs well enough in 4 games, they could bring in extra draft picks or young players in a trade. We all know Tom Brady has 4 years left on his contract. If Tom Brady wasn’t always connected to scandals, he would have a cleaner record and there would be no “What-Ifs” for his team. Tom Brady is not stupid; he knows how the system works.

  The real question that presents itself: Why Tom Brady didn’t feel the need to be a team player in this case? Many people are probably thinking “What the hell are you talking about? He took a paycut for the team.” Yes you are right, but it was because of him that the team lost its first round draft pick, paid a hefty fine, and doesn’t have its established quarterback for the crucial first 4 games of the season. All for this for what exactly? Making the Super Bowl? If his teammates knew about this, I could almost but guarantee you they would not want him to do it. Let’s just hope, for the sake of Patriots fans, their season is not totally up in flames by the time he comes back.

Cold Draft or Hot Gamble. . .Teams Risk!

   

   What the hell is going on with the NFL Draft? We are over a week away and we already seeing fireworks. The Rams trading more than a handful of picks to Tennessee to the Number 1 overall pick, and today the Eagles trading with the Browns to get the number 2 overall pick. It is interesting to wonder if this is actually going to work out. Such actions like this are so hard to predict. We all know where the Eagles and Rams are going with these transactions. They would both like to take quaterbacks. Here is my question: Are any of these top prospects really worth it?

    Let’s look back a bit. In the past 12 years, we have seen a couple trades happen in these scenarios. Go back to 2012 draft and Washington had traded an arm and leg to get St. Louis’(now LA) draft to select Robert Griffin, III (which is ironic in all these, I’ll explain soon). How did that turn out for them? As well all know, during RG3’s rookie year, Washington won the division and he won Offensive Rookie of the Year. Now Kirk Cousins is the franchise quartback and RG3 is on the Browns, who traded down for the Eagles to get the number 2 pick. RG3 appears to be getting a second shot. You may be asking the question, was it worth for Washington to trade away all those picks? At the time, it appeared it was well worth it. It still appears it was worth it, to a lesser extent, due to the fact that they still found a franchise quarterback in Kirk Cousins.

   Now let’s go back even longer. We have the 2004 draft. The Chargers have the number 1 pick and the Giants the number 4 pick. Eli Manning refused to go to the Chargers. What happened? Draft and trade! It worked out well for both teams, but slightly better for the Giants (look at 2 SB banners). They both have their franchise quaterbacks. The Chargers had impact players for years to come and the Giants have won 2 unreal Super Bowls with Eli Manning.

   It appears, at least from the outside, that the Browns and Titans definitely won these trades for the long term. Both teams are in the middle of rebuilding (over and over in the case of the Browns). The Titans already have their franchise quarterback in Mariota and traded for RB DeMarco Murray for almost nothing. Cleveland’s defense is not so shabby, it is their offense, especially their instability at quarterback is the issue. If RG3 pans out for the Browns, the Browns should build around him.

   If the Eagles and Rams take quaterbacks, as expected, it is for the long term yes, but also for the short term. Both teams feel they are capable to compete, but feel they are a chicken running around without a head. I feel that the Rams are more ready to compete than the Eagles. They have Todd Gurley already establishing himself as a running back. Their defense is also on the rise.

  In sports, trades of these types are so unpredictable. A great example is the Tigers-Braves trade that included John Smoltz. The Tigers gave up a hall famer for half a season of Doyle Alexander. Granted at the time of the trade, Smoltz was nothing special, it’s about how they are developed. Will there be any more craziness leading up to draft day? Who knows? It is starting to get exciting. It’s fun to watch desperate teams (especially the Eagles) panic and give up a lot to get an unknown. Let’s stay tuned!

Retirment...?

   

            

  When you think of retirement, what first comes to mind? Age 65? Social Security? Grandchildren? These are just some of things associated with retirement. When a professional athlete retires, they are not really necessarily retiring. You may be thinking, “What the hell is he talking about?” There are many of professional sports athletes who have done other jobs besides playing sports. Some of them are “Set for life”, just look at Peyton Manning, Kobe Bryant, and Derek Jeter. Peyton is set for life with Papa Johns, Kobe with Nike, and Jeter with Ford. The real question going around is who had the best retirement out of these 3 athletes? Honestly, it is hard to decide on this topic.

    Knowing all of these athletes, it is in their blood to win. They want to go out on top. For the 2012 season, Mariano Rivera was out for the season and that was the year in set out to retire. He said he was coming out in 2013 so he could go out on his own terms(and attempt at 1 more World Series). Peyton Manning only had 1 Super Bowl before the 2015 season. Midway through the season speculation was that he was going to retire at season’s end. He wasn’t playing like his normal self and he was getting older. Unlike Jeter or Kobe, he didn’t announce anything before or during the season. The Denver defense was beyond great this season, which is why the won the Super Bowl. Peyton figured that even though he was not on top of his game, he can ride this defense as much as he could without having his best season. At the end, they were Super Bowl Champions.

    At the very same time this Broncos team was riding high, we knew that the Lakers were not going to be very good this year, even if Kobe had a magical rebound of a season. Like Jeter before him, we knew that Kobe was not leaving the team he started with at the beginning of his career. There’s 2 things Kobe was about this season: 2^nd year of 25 million deal and the mentoring of these young players. He pushed through the season the best that he could do. Kobe knew he didn’t have much game left, but he still scored 60 in last game (even though it was on 50 shots)! It just so happens that Kobe was playing on the same night as the Warriors making history winning 73 games. Initially, people did not know which game to watch. The next morning more people tuned into the Kobe game. How can you not? 60 points and “Mumba Out!” Kobe had a game for the ages!! Definitely a way to go out.

   There are 2 things Kobe and Derek Jeter have in common: they stayed with 1 team for 20 years and they both have 5 championships. With that said, Jeter’s game to end his career couldn’t have been more scripted (not done on purpose) and unexpected. You may be thinking, “Kobe was more scripted than Jeter’s last game.” What I mean by this is that Jeter’ game is the way Jeter would have wanted to go out (but doing it Game 7 of the World Series.) It is the way that he wanted to do it. The reason why Jeter’s last game is the best was because he was so humble about it. There was no “Mumba Out” or “I’m going to go have a Bud.” He went out on the field, like any other day, to do his job.  He went out there to be “Mr. Clutch” without saying it.

   The great thing about all 3 of these athletes is that when it is time to go in their respective Hall of Fames in Cooperstown, Canton, and Springfield, they will be going on the first time. They are all winners and were at top of their games. They all finished in some top 10 categories in their sports.  I hope people of this generation realize what we are going to be missing. Derek Jeter is my all-time favorite athlete, I remember when he came up in 95 and his last game 2014. Peyton Manning is arguably the best quarterback of all time. Kobe is definitely a top 15, if not top 10 all-time basketball player. I remember watching Michael Jordan playing in those back to back finals against the Jazz and was like “WOW!” I would have loved to watch his career from beginning to end. We never know when we will come across these kind of athletes again. Yes we have Lebron James, but he doesn’t have the same likability that Kobe, Jeter or Peyton had when they played! Take advantage!