TouchedArtist's Studio- a BLOG on thelotd.com 7.30.08
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
11:39 AM
For you Colts fans out there, and I know there are a few of you around these parts… Here are some interesting articles regarding Payton Manning. Some of which are DATED but others not so much.
INDYSTAR.COM (Last Week) http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080724/SPORTS03/80724049/1100
ESPN.COM (Yesterday) http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/trainingcamp08/columns/story?columnist=kuharsky_paul&id=3506988
TWINCITIES.COM (Today) http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_10036479
(Why anyone in Vikings Country cares is a mystery to me)
- RE Derrick Burgess might be making the move to the left side this season. The 2 time pro-bowl DE has been working out in training camp on BOTH SIDES. According to the SFGate.com article http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/29/SPO6121G1Q.DTL
- Lamont Jordan was released by the Raiders and signed by the Patriots--- Seems Al Davis has his panties in a bunch about this one ;) http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=11&entry_id=28565 (interesting thing here is that the story has some CINCINNATI Ties- JOHN BOWIE played for the Bearcats)
- JaMarcus Russell was sidelined with a SORE throwing elbow during practices Yesterday. NOT A GOOD SIGN this early in the year. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/07/27/sports/s143331D11.DTL
Now, on to my favorite team other than the Bengals, the hapless OAKLAND RAIDERS www.raiders.com
AND for any of you that just can't get enough of the BRETT FARVE SAGA-
EA Sports is even getting into the action at this point. http://www.sportsgamer.com/content/1714/ea-sports-simulates-nfl-seasonwith-brett-favre-on-rival-teams/
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3168620 You can pretty much place him on ANY roster at this point too ;) It's funny because I don't ever remember this much to do about any player on the cover of Madden or any player that said I retire and then wanted to come back other than Michael Jordan 23/45/23… I just don't know that as good as Favre is that I consider him to be as good as a Quarterback as Michael Jordan was a 'guard'. And I'm tired of people saying that he was ONLY a PACKER during his Career- He was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons. Everyone can have their opinion on this topic- and feel free to disagree with me but I just don't see Favre's return as that big of a deal. Maybe it's because I don't watch as many NFC games as I do AFC. (could that be it?)
Mark Curnutte wrote a great piece on T.J. which was on Cincinnati.com this morning.
T.J. just taking things as they come
- I have some
thoughts regarding Ken Griffey Jr. and why people in this town are so hard
on him. As we all know Cincinnati
fans are 'fair-weather' which can be said about most fans in most cities
but, let's take a look at the Reds since they made the trade for Jr. February 10, 2000.
- 2000 W-85 L-77 GB 10.0
- 2001 W -66 L-96 GB 27
- 2002 W- 78 L- 84 GB 19
- 2003 W-69 L-93 GB 19
- 2004 W-76 L-86 GB 29
- 2005 W-73 L-89 GB 27
- 2006 W-80 L-82 GB 3.5
- 2007 W-72 L-90 GB 13
- 2008 (to date) W-50 L-58 GB 13.5 and in last place
- Almost all of Jr's Season Highs came in the earlier part of his career while he was in the AL.
- 3 of his 8 seasons in Cincinnati, he's been an all-star- prior to that, he was an all-star every season except his rookie season. Of his 3 all-star selections as a member of the Reds he did not play in two of those games. His all-star batting avg. - .440
- He did NOT win the Rookie of the Year award- he finished 3rd in the AL voting…behind Gregg Olson (Baltimore) , and Tom "Flash" Gordon (Kansas City) *Gordon is still in the league, pitching for the Phillies and is in his 20th season and is 138-125 lifetime.
- He is 2nd among active players in plate appearances behind Omar Vizquel (because I don't consider Barry Bonds active)
- 4th among active players in WALKS (because I don't consider Barry Bonds active)
In Baseball news the CALIFORNIA ANGELS (yes I still call them that) aquired
Mark Teixeira from the Braves and then their pitcher John Lackey went out and nearly NO HIT the Red Sox @ Fenway going 8 1/3 before giving up a hit.
The Reds lost again, falling to 10.5 games back in the wildcard race with their 5th loss in a row. Anyone care? 50-58 and at this rate, it looks as though the Reds are going to have another loosing season.
Now let me continue to say, I'm a Junior fan but I'm a REDS FAN FIRST. No player can predict injuries and no team could possibly know in advance that a player is going to have limited playing time due to injury. He was limited to playing only 70 games in 2002, 53 games in 2003, and 83 games in 2004 due to injury. He joined the Reds at age 30, no longer a kid by any stretch of the imagination but he still had some natural talent that others just didn't have. His swing is picture perfect…some say it's natural.
Interesting stats on Junior to ponder- Thanks to Baseball-Reference.com
People in Cincinnati expected Jr. to come here and pull this team out of the
funk that it had been in prior to his arrival and in 2000, they had a winning
record but were still 10 games back in the division. Since then, they have only had 1 season
where they had a chance to win the division and they lost the division by 3.5
games. I keep hearing, in different
interviews, the players on this team
believe they have what it takes to win but I keep seeing them with loosing
streak after loosing streak. If Griffey
doesn't come back to the club after this season it will not be a surprise to
me but I sure do appreciate the career that he has had, even if it hasn't
gotten the Reds over the hump. He's one
man and this is a 'team sport'.
- Just to add a little FUEL to the FIRE- Does anyone know how many times Jeff Brantley made the all-star team? 1 as a member of the GIANTS in 1990. Interesting thing is….he had 44 saves as a member of the Reds in 1996 which was the best of his career.
Ichiro got his 3000th hit last night also- CONGRATS
http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200807293219762&c_id=sea
High Socks=Base Knocks (Ichiro Video for you guys)
When Lamont Jordan was let go a few years ago by the Jets I felt they made a mistake as Curtis Martin was approaching 30 (the RB Wall). I felt if they could work one more year of RB by committee, he could take over the bulk of carries for Martin the following year. Unfortunately, the league has trended to RB by committee and Lamont never lived up to his "potential" as the lead back in Oakland. I am just not sure if he is that good of a back any more, but he has gone to the land where vets go to try to get their ring before they retire, N.E.
Rashied in Cincy03:34 PM EST