Stars of the World Cup

by Coltrane

ESPN profiles the top 50 players in the upcoming World Cup.

#1-25

#26-50

Spain is stacked. Here it is broken it down by team:

Argentina (5)

#1 – Lionel Messi, F

#23 – Carlos Tevez, F

#26 – Gonzalo Higuain, F

#29 – Sergio Aguero, F

#36 – Javier Mascherano, M

Brazil (6)

#4 – Kaka, M

#14 – Luis Fabiano, F

#18 – Dani Alves, D

#21 – Maicon, D

#31 – Julio Cesar, G

#35 – Lucio, D

Cameroon (1)

#13 – Samuel Eto’o, F

England (5)

#3 – Wayne Rooney, F

#9 – Steven Gerrard, M

#22 – Frank Lampard, M

#37 – John Terry, D

#41 – Ashley Cole, D

France (6)

#12 – Franck Ribery, M

#28 – Thierry Henry, F

#40 – Nicolas Anelka, F

#42 – Patrice Evra, D

#44 – Karim Benzema, F

#45 – Yoann Gourcuff, M

Germany (3)

#30 – Michael Ballack, M

#34 – Miroslav Klose, F

#47 – Philipp Lahm, D

Ghana (1)

#10 – Michael Essien, M

Italy (4)

#17 – Gianluigi Buffon, G

#24 – Andrea Pirlo, M

#46 – Daniele de Rossi

#49 – Giorgio Cheillini

Ivory Coast (2)

#6 – Didier Drogba, F

#48 – Yaya Toure, M

Netherlands (3)

#20 – Wesley Sneijder, M

#25 – Robin van Persie, F

#32 – Arjen Robben, M

Portugal (1)

#2 – Critiano Renaldo, M

Serbia (1)

#19 – Nemanja Vidic, D

Slovakia (1)

#43- Marek Hamsik, M

Spain (9)

#5 – Xavi, M

#7 – Andreas Iniesta, M

#8 – Fernando Torres, F

#11 – David Villa, F

#15 – Iker Casillas, G

#16 – Cesc Fabregas, M

#33 – Gerard Pique, D

#38 – David Silva, M

#39 – Carles Puyol, D

United States (1)

#50 – Landon Donovan, M

Uruguay (1)

#27 – Diego Forlan, F

There are only 3 keepers in the top 50. There are almost no defenders in the top 25, period. Check out Argentina. The squad has five of the top 50 players. Of those, four are Forwards.

It seems that when youth coaches find a guy that can really play they don’t waste his talent on defense – they use him to put the ball in the goal.

The New Big Country

by Coltrane

Hasheem Thabeet is headed to the NBA Developmental (D)-League. Thabeet was the #2 pick in the 2009 draft. He becomes the highest draft pick ever to be sent to the D-League.

The popular comparison in the press is Darko Milicic, the #2 pick in the 2003 draft. I don’t think it’s the most accurate comparison. Milicic was drafted as an 18 year-old from Serbia. He has been in the league six years and he’s still less than two years older than Thabeet, who played four years at UConn.

The better comparison is Bryant “Big Country” Reeves. Reeves was the 6th pick of the 1995 draft. He played four years at Oklahoma State and was out of the league by age 27. Both Thabeet and Reeves led their teams as Seniors to the Final Four, which contributed to why they each got drafted as high as they did. Both had great size and were prolific shot blockers, but neither was mobile.

In a word, they’re both stiffs.

If there was any question that Thabeet would struggle at the pro level there’s a game that should have raised red flags in NBA draft rooms. The game took place late in Thabeet’s Senior year against Pittburgh and 2009 #39 draft pick DeJuan Blair:

February 16, 2009: Pittsburgh 76, UConn 68
DeJuan Blair: 10-17 FG, 22 Points, 23 Rebounds (6 offensive), 38 minutes
Hasheem Thabeet: 1-5 FG, 5 Points, 4 Rebounds, 23 minutes (5 fouls)

It was a direct comparison in a high level game. Blair completely dominated Thabeet. Somehow, the executives missed it. He must have looked great in individual workouts.

Footnote: Blair has no ACLs in either knee. That’s one reason that he was drafted in the 2nd round. Much like Leon Powe, he slipped due to concerns about his knees. The Spurs got a steal.

Ozzie Guillen and Twitter

by Coltrane

Ozzie Guillen has decided to join Twitter.

“That’s why the world is all screwed up,” he said. “I want to say [bleep] off, but I can’t. All of a sudden, we’re worrying about something that is personal. I wanted to do something that is fun off the field. All of a sudden, they’re making a big deal of this thing …

“I feel like I was doing something wrong. People are treating me like I was a murderer or something, or steal someone’s money or didn’t pay my taxes.”

Guillen said he spoke to Sox general manager Ken Williams about his new hobby, although Williams appeared to be caught off guard when a reporter from the Sun-Times asked him about it and he responded with a “No comment.”

“If this thing bothers the White Sox or Kenny or Jerry [Reinsdorf], then we’ll talk about it,” Guillen said. “I talked to Kenny about it. I said what it was. He can see what I say. If that thing offends anyone, beat it, because I didn’t do anything wrong.

“This has nothing to do with the organization or baseball. It’s my life. I don’t know why people are making a big deal of it. All of a sudden it’s Ozzie Guillen. I didn’t know how famous I was. That’s pretty interesting. I thought people hate me.”

Ozzie is well known to have a short path between his brain and his mouth. The odds are slim that this ends well, though it should be entertaining while it lasts.

It’s the Winter Olympics on NBC

by Coltrane

Whoever doesn’t fall down, wins!

The Summer Olympics are about succeeding and the Winter Olympics are about not failing.

The Winter Olympics:

Figure skating? Whoever doesn’t bobble or fall down wins.

Speed skating? Whoever doesn’t trip over somebody else wins.

Downhill skiing and any of the half-pipe/ moguls/ X-games stuff? Whoever remains upright all the way to the finish wins.

Luge/ Skeleton/ Bobsled? Don’t flip and you may win.

Biathalon? When shooting, don’t miss any targets. Missing a target pretty much ensures that competitor won’t medal.

The Summer Olympics:

The Summer Olympics is about being the best at something, whether it’s running, swimming, throwing, or whatever. When was the last time you saw an athlete lose an opportunity for a medal due to an epic fail?

A baseball era comes to a close

by Blaidd Drwg

An era in baseball is coming to a close. It is not something that you will hear people talking about for years to come, but it is more of an era that is defined by events in your lifetime. For me, 1988 really marked the beginning of what I will call the “Baseball Junkie Era” – I was always a fan, I had my heart crushed in 1986 by the Red Sox (it was not helped by living in NJ in a house with 3 Mets fans) and I had been to my fair share of games at Yankee and Shea Stadiums and the Vet in Philly. Why was ’88 so special? It was a coming together of several factors. It was the first time I played fantasy baseball. It was a head to head league and I managed to win a few dollars. It was my first trip to Fenway Park. It was a lousy, wet weekend in July when we ventured up I-95 to Boston to see the Sox play the Sox. It was in the middle of the “Morgan’s Miracle” streak. It was also when I realized that there was more to baseball stats for hitters than BA, HR and RBI, thanks to Larry Parrish (that is a story for another post).

Why is this all important? Between 1988 and about 1992, a series of players broke into the big leagues, who, in one way or another, impacted the way that I look at the game and really made me the baseball junkie I am today. Everyone will recognize their names – Griffey, Bagwell, Biggio, Frank Thomas, Barry Bonds, Piazza, Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz, Thome, Palmeiro, Randy Johnson – the list goes on (and includes the extremely underrated Kevin Appier, Duane Ward and Jeff Montgomery). It was when I transitioned from cheering for teams (I still love the Cubs and Red Sox – just not the way I used to) to following players. Oh, sure, I could still recite the lineup for the ’84 Cubs in my sleep and still consider guys like Durham, Davis, Trout and Moreland some of my favorite all time players, but the guys I listed truly made the game special to watch. I could spend pages writing about my memories of seeing those guys play (As I write this, I am thinking which was more memorable – seeing Bagwell launch a HR off the Coke Bottles at Fenway and getting a standing O as he rounded the bases, or seeing Rafael Palmeiro rap a double down the left field line at Safeco for his 3,000^th career hit), but I am not going to do that. Through these players, I expanded my knowledge and understanding of the game, and it actually made it more enjoyable to watch.

So why the trip down memory lane? I woke up this morning, launched my browser to ESPN and saw this headline: Big Hurt decides to retire after 19 seasons. That, coupled with Glavine hanging it up made me realize, there aren’t many guys left from that era. Griffey is still around (but really looks like he should hang them up) and Thome is still hanging on, but the rest, well they are off to the links to enjoy the rest of their lives. Enjoy your retirement, Frank, and thanks for the Fantasy Baseball titles you helped me win in ’93, ’94 and ’95. We will see you in Cooperstown in 2014.

I am still as big a baseball fan as ever, maybe even more these days, I just don’t have the attachment to the players that I used to. Outside of Adam Dunn and Jack Cust (the 3 True Outcome Crew), Tug Hulett (don’t ask), Jason Kendall and Brian Giles (who are both looking like they should hang ‘em up), I just don’t really follow any individual player that closely. I really don’t know why. With the internet and the MLB package on cable, I can watch any game and find out any information I want. I would think that I would have a list of players that I would follow, but I don’t. I finally understand why people who I have talked to who grew up watching the game in the ‘40’s and ’50s told me the game was just not the same for them to watch later in life. You form attachments, you see them grow and develop and unfortunately, they end at some point. As much as you try to form new ones, they never are the same.

I am looking forward to the start of the season. It could be an interesting one for the M’s, I get to see the Cubbies come to town this summer, the Sox and Yankees will once again slug it out in the AL East and countless other memories will be created as the year progresses. I think when the Twins come to town and Jim Thome steps up to the plate, a single person a Safeco is going to give him a standing ovation with a tear in his eye, just to say “Thanks for the memories, Jim.”

The Rapaport Rule

by Coltrane

I finally got the chance to watch last weekend’s NBA All-Star Celebrity Game.

You may remember Michael Rapaport from the film “True Romance.” (He played Dick Ritchie, Cristian Slater’s clueless actor friend.)

During last year’s celebrity game Rapaport fouled the bejeezus out of anything that moved. He must have committed 20 or more fouls, and they weren’t even “good” fouls. He was just hammering down every time he got near the ball. When interviewed and confronted with the fact that everyone thought he was playing like a jerkwad, he responded by saying “No blood, no foul”. Rapaport was playing ratball and figured it was normal. Needless to say, that’s not really the way to play around former NBA, WBNA, and mostly B-list celebrities during an exhibition game.

This year Rapaport got invited to the game again. During the leadup to the game the celebrity ref (NBA announcer Mike Breen) said that there were two new rules this year:

1. Zero tolerance on backtalk to the ref.

2. A new “Rapaport Rule”: Ten fouls and you’re gone. However, the rule only applies to, you guessed it, Michael Rapaport.

I’ve now watched as far as the late 3rd quarter. Rapaport has been as docile as a puppy. (Not the kind of puppy that chews on the table leg or gets excited and pees on the floor; he’s been the friendly, mellow, good puppy that everyone likes.) Of course, in this case the puppy is a non-stop trash talker.

Evidently Michael Rapaport can take a hint.

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If the presence of guns in a movie doesn’t rule it out for you, True Romance is a great film. The cast includes Cristian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Christopher Walken, Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman, Samuel L. Jackson, Val Kilmer, and Brad Pitt as Rapaport’s stoner roommate Floyd. The movie is written by Quentin Tarantino.