The SoapBoxers

This article is not about the Super Bowl, well at least not about the game.  As a Steelers fan it is just too painful to comment on the game right now.  I want to talk about the things that make the Super Bowl not a game, but an event.  Let’s start with the 24 hours of pre-game.  I know that Fox did not have 24 hours of pre-game by themselves, there was a hand off/overlap with ESPN.  We got to learn about every previous Super Bowl, all of the players, some of their wives.  There was the exceptional tribute to Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys, even though they were not in the Super Bowl (I wonder how the other host teams feel about that).  We were pummeled with how great Pittsburgh and Green Bay have been in the past; lots of black and white film for Green Bay, not so much for Pittsburgh as they were rather atrocious before 1969.  All of these segments were separated by musical entertainment, primarily from Keith Urban.

The real pre-game was actually very nice.  There were tributes to our armed forces, including a reading of the Declaration of Independence featuring players, service men and women, retired general and former Secretary of State Colin Powell and the Commissioner of Football.  Then came the singing of God Bless America and the National Anthem.  I feel Sorry for Christina Aguilera.  She missed one line of the Anthem and the morning media have been all over her about that.  Her apology seems sincere and she seems embarrassed about it.  All in all, I think the pregame was classy.

Fast forward to the half time entertainment.  A lot of people think that the half time entertainment is important.  I guess if you spent $4500 you would want a first class ride for the entire 4 hours.  Ever since the Janet Jackson event, I have spent half time cleaning up the food and hunkering down for the second half.  I caught some of the act.  The special effects and music were what you would expect from the Black Eyed Peas.  If you like them, you like the show.  If not, well I am glad I was not with my father for this half time.  I do not think I could have explained it to him.

So what else is there to talk about other than the game?  The commercials, of course.  My personal favorite was the kid dressed as Darth Vader starting the car with the Jedi Powers of the Force.  Although watching Roseanne Barr get wacked with a log was pretty good, too.  There were other interesting ads, and I believe there will be a special on TV to go through them all, or you can look at them on-line at www.superbowl-commercials.org. I enjoyed the entire experience, especially since it was over by 9:45.  I hope the NFL continues to have the early start to the Super Bowl for those of us who have to work on Monday.

I live in Iowa City, and the big news for about a week has been the medical problems faced by thirteen members of the Hawkeye football program.  The players were hospitalized with rhabdomyolysis, a disorder that is characterized by dark colored urine and can cause kidney problems in extreme cases (public service announcement – if your urine turns a strange color, see a doctor).  Not only were the players affected physically, but they were also taken out of the classroom for a week (after all, these student-athletes are expected to learn as well as play).

Blame has been cast in a number of directions.  Some suggested that the players had been taking drugs.  A parent of one of the affected players told the media that drug tests had been administered to the players and had come back negative.  Some suggested that a weekend after drinking may have exacerbated the effects of the workout.  Others have suggested that the strength and conditioning program itself is at fault (although some former players were quick to come to the defense of the staff).

The university announced that they will investigate the cause and report to the Board of Regents (which oversees the public universities in Iowa) within 90 days.  While I applaud this necessary step, I do wonder if it goes far enough.  As well intentioned as the investigation may be, there might be an inclination to absolve the university of any blame.

The way we should view this incident is as an opportunity to prevent future problems.  Some players have said that while the workouts were grueling, similar workouts had been done in previous years with no adverse affects.  While that may be true, the fact of the matter is that this year there were some extreme adverse effects.  If it were one or two players, I might be convinced that the players were at fault.  However, with about three dozen players participating at the workout that preceded the hospitalization of the players, this means that fully one third of the players were affected.  Something is contributing to the problem.  Perhaps a change in the supplements being taken by the players, or perhaps a seemingly small change to the workout routine.

It seems to me that the NCAA has a vested interest in this.  I’m not suggesting that they should investigate this incident with the goal of meting out punishment, but rather as a way to learn more about the causes of rhabdomyolysis.  Who better to serve as an independent body in the investigation?  Perhaps this is simply an isolated incident … but do we really want to take that risk?  I, for one, don’t want to see an outbreak of rhabdomyolysis at two schools next year and ten more schools the year after that.  Let’s nip it in the bud.

[Editor’s note: Brian from BeBetterNow.org (a self improvement web site) follows up his Drew Brees article last week with an article that discusses the relative merits of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.]

In his recent love-fest article praising Drew Brees, Kosmo made this comment – “Manning will go down as the greatest quarterback of this generation (sorry, Brady, but you’re going to come up short in counting stats, such as passing yards and TDs).”

While Brady will come up short to Manning in passing yards and TDs, Manning currently comes up short in playoff record and championship rings. In addition you could look at Winning Percentage by Quarterbacks (there’s a handy sortable column there.) Tom Brady has the highest percentage in NFL history in winning 77.6% of his games. He is 3 percent better than the next best which is Staubach, who is 3% than a guy named Montana. Brady is 10% better than Manning. The difference there between the two is vast.

Manning also had a number of seasons passing to pro-bowl, possibly Hall of Fame quality receivers in Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne. Most of Brady’s work has been with no big names. He had two seasons with Moss and three with Wes Welker who, as an undrafted free agent, wasn’t exactly known as a great talent before playing with Brady. Finally Brady doesn’t get the advantage of playing half his games in a dome like Manning does… Brady plays in New England where the elements make passing more difficult. You don’t have to look too much futher than the Greatest Show on Turf or the Saints success of late to see that playing a dome is a different game.

When we look at quarterback efficiency (QB Rating), Brady and Manning are neck and neck with Brady having a slight edge. In addition, Brady has 2 of the top 5 best seasons. You may argue that QB rating is the best statistic. I would agree with that. For example, the statistic of touchdowns for quarterbacks is suspect. How many times have you seen a quarterback throw a 50 yard bomb to see the player get tackled on the 1. The next few plays are typically running plays to get the score. Should that quarterback be rated lower than the one whose receiver didn’t get tackle at the 1? It doesn’t make sense. However, the compenents of completion percentage, yards per attempt and interceptions make sense. Some may argue that interceptions can be deceptive as there are bad bounces, but those should even out for all quarterbacks. It shouldn’t be surprising that while Manning has great TD numbers, Brady has the far better interception numbers.

It seems you can get into the Hall two ways. You can be a Dan Marino win great stats (61,000 yards and 420 TDs), but be considered a post-season failure. You can be a Troy Aikman with a very mediocre stats (32,945 yards, 165 TDs, and a 81.6 QB rating) with three Super Bowl rings. I would suggest that Tom Brady is a more complete player at this point with the ability to put up the stats of Manning in any given season combined with 3 Super Bowl rings.

Johnny Goodman is out today, so I’ll be covering the sports beat.  In a move that is sure to shock Johnny, I’ll turn the focus to his favorite sport – golf.

Fan of golf have a unique power that is uncommon in the world of sports fans – they can actually affect the outcome of events.  Viewers of televised golf tournaments can actually call or email to notify the governing body of violations that occurred during the tournament.  The officials can then review footage to determine if a violation occurred.  There is a good reason why viewers can catch things that the tournament officials don’t –  unlike most sports where the action is concentrated at one physical location, golf has action occurring on every spots of the course.  Although officials are present, it’s not like an NFL game where they can huddle together to make a call.

The real issue isn’t really that a viewer can cause a player to be penalized a stroke or two – it’s that the infraction can cause the player to be disqualified.  If a player signs an incorrect scorecard, they are disqualified – even if they thought the scorecard was accurate.

Let’s take a look at a recent occurrence.  At the Abu Dhabi Championship on Friday, Padraig Harrington replaced his ball on the green and then inadvertently touch his ball when he removed his marker.  He thought that the ball not not move from the spot where he placed it.  However, a TV viewer emailed to indicate that it had moved.  The viewer was correct – the ball ended up in a different spot … but the width of 1-2 dimples.  Harrington should have penalized himself two stroke.  Since he did not, and since he signed a scorecard that did not include the penalty, he was disqualified from the tournament.  Prior to the infraction, he was one spot behind the leader.

I’m admittedly not much of a golf fan.  I do understand that golfers take the rulebook very seriously.  However, if you need to use slow-mo to find the violation (as officials needed to do), did the player really gain an advantage?  Another PGA golfer made an astute observation – the top players are more likely to have this happen to them, simply because they are on television more often.  That’s certainly a concern for me – I’d definitely want a level playing field.

What’s the answer?  Give the officials some flexibility in enforcing penalties.  Obviously, care would need to be taken to avoid having players push the envelope, but surely there is a way to do this.  In the case of Harrington, penalize him two strokes and perhaps an additional stroke for not having caught the violation himself.  But don’t throw him out of the tournament for an unintentional violation.  This would be akin to having a baseball team forfeit a game because the pitcher commits a balk.  Make the punishment fit the crime.

[Editor’s note:  Today’s article is written by Brian from BeBetterNow.org, a site devoted to self improvement. Today, Brian attempts to help me improve myself for telling me why I’m wrong about Drew Brees being a Hall of Famer in our midst.]

Recently Kosmo asked the question Is Drew Brees a Hall of Famer?. In it he brought up some comparisons to Peyton Manning and made a very good case that Brees belongs in the Hall.

Pass Happy NFL and Trust in your QB

Kosmo brought up a great point:

“Is Brees a product of a pass-happy era in the NFL? Sure. But there’s a reason why everyone isn’t racking up 4500 passing yards per year. Most coaches don’t trust their quarerback to throw the ball 650 times per year.”

It’s worth looking at the pass-happy era of the NFL. The rules for contact have been changed over the years. You can barely touch the quarterback any more. If you get near a receiver it is pass interference. If you are a defensive player and there’s a likelihood of getting pass interference called on you, you naturally are going to play off the receiver a bit more. This gives the quarterbacks more room to complete passes.

If you look at career passer rating you’ll note that 19 of the top 30 are currently active in the league. Four of the remaining 11 retired last year (Bulger, Garcia, Culpepper, and Warner). Clearly passing is easier in this day and age. Interesting fact, Shaun Hill, who has been a back-up his entire career has a better rating than Elway, Aikman, and the aforementioned Staubach. Clearly it is a game where it is easier to get TDs, avoid interceptions, and complete more passes for a longer average. If it is easier to pass in today’s game, it is hard to compare Brees to players of previous eras.

As for trusting your quarterback to pass 650 times. I don’t buy it. When Peyton Manning had his best season in 2004 (121 QB Rating – the best ever), he only threw the ball 497 times. In Tom Brady’s best year (117.2 rating – highest scoring offense ever), he only threw the ball 578 times. Brady only topped 600 attempts one time – in 2002 when the team was 9-7 and some wondered if Brady was really talented at all. Peyton Manning never had 600 attempts in his career. Brees has thrown 630+ passes in 3 of the last 4 season… the exception being the champion season where he threw only 514 passes. I don’t think anyone could claim that Manning and Brady aren’t trusted to throw the ball.

Why does Drew Brees throw so much? I think it is because the games have been close or they have been playing catch-up. When the Saints flirted with going undefeated they could build up a quick lead and run the clock out. This year they’ve had to come from behind and endured many, many injuries to their running backs.

When looking at the number of passes, we should look at another player, Drew Bledsoe. His career ended early with his last full year at age 33. However, he did put up 44,000 yards and 251 TDs in that time in a less pass happy NFL. He did this mostly by passing a lot. Some make an argument for him to be in the Hall of Fame because he ranks in the top ten in a number of areas and beats out a number of current Hall of Famers. However, I think this article correctly points out that high volume doesn’t mean high efficiency.

It appears that Drew Brees is a combination of volume and efficiency, but I would caution against using numbers such as yards and TDs that tend to skew towards volume.

Is Brees a Hall of Famer?

Let’s get back to Kosmo’s original question. I think it might be closer than he thinks. Let’s review the numbers that Kosmo has for Brees, which I believe are fair, and compare them to others in his class:

Notes on the projected stats:

• Philip Rivers – He is three years younger than Brees. Since we added 5 years to Brees, I added 8 for Rivers. Rivers has averaged 27.2 TDs for every 16 games he’s played, but in the last three years (when he stepped up his game) he’s averaged 30.6. I projected 28 on average for the next 8 years to account for some drop-off. Similarly Rivers averages 3930 yards per full season in his career, but over the last three years he has been averaging 4324 yards a season. I calculated a 4100 as his 8 year average.
• Aaron Rodgers – It is extremely hard to project him because he only has a few seasons due to waiting out the Favre fiasco. However, I felt it would be short-sighted to leave him off the list. At age 27, he projects to play 10 more years to get to the age of 37 that we are predicting for all quarterbacks. With at least 28 TD in every season, I continued that for 10 years. With an average of 4131 yards over his full seasons, I added in 10 years of 4000 to account for some drop off – though he could get better before he gets worse.
• Ben Roethlisberger – While he is age 28, he won’t be adding until his counting stats until he’s 29. Thus I’m going to pretend he’s 29 and treat him like Drew Brees – 8 years until age 37. Due to some injury problems and off-field issues, he’s averaged fewer games than some of the above players. He’s still averaging 3214 a season and 20 TDs. I conservatively estimated the next 8 years to average 3000 yards and 18 TDs.

Big Ben may look out of place, but because he wins games, I don’t think we can discount him as a potential Hall of Fame candidate. He already has 2 rings and could add a third before he turns 29. I think it is worth focusing on Rivers and Rodgers who are often mentioned with Brees in the next tier after Brady/Manning debate. Though we have to project Rivers and Rodgers more than Brees (and hence have less accuracy in our predictions), it should be noted that they might have very similar careers.

If you put one of them in the Hall, you may have to put them all. Are voters likely to say that we have 5-6 Hall of Fame quarterback in the league right now? Has Brees separated himself from the rest of the pack? I’m not sure.

If we see Brees in the Hall of Fame in a few years, I wouldn’t be surprised. If he puts up the numbers that Kosmo suggests and doesn’t make it, I wouldn’t call it a travesty either.

“Some people are going to be really surprised when Drew Brees stands up in Canton to give his acceptance speech.”

I’ve made comments similar to this a few times in the past year.  Even when speaking to knowledgeable fans, it’s often met with skepticism.  After all, Drew Brees is a nice guy, but he’s no Peyton Manning.  One friend even commented that he’s basically Dan Fouts, and that Fouts wasn’t good enough for the Hall of Fame.  I countered this by showing that Brees is better than Fouts was … and that Fouts is indeed enshrined in Canton.

Brees is definitely a nice guy.  He’s always involved in charity work and never in trouble – despite being the king of the party town of New Orleans.  In an article in Sports Illustrated, a Saints teammate pondered the question of how much trouble Ben Roethlisberger could get himself into in the Big Easy.  I do think, though, that Brees’ good-guy reputation may be preventing his greatness on the field from getting the recognition he deserves.

First of all, let’s stop with the comparisons to Peyton Manning.  Manning will go down as the greatest quarterback of this generation (sorry, Brady, but you’re going to come up shorting in counting stats, such as passing yards and TDs).  By the end of the 2014 season, Manning (who will be 38 at the time) will be the all time leader in passing yards and touchdowns (assuming that Brett Favre stays retired).

The presence of Manning, though, shouldn’t detract from the greatness of Brees, any more than the presence of Babe Ruth should detract from the greatness of Lou Gehrig.  Brees (who is nearly three years younger than Manning) has 35,266 passing yards and 235 touchdowns to his credit.  Let’s extrapolate a bit, assuming that Brees plays five more seasons.  (Yes, yes, we should be very careful when predicting future performance).

Brees has thrown at least 33 touchdowns in each of the past three seasons … but he’ll be getting older, so let’s assume a bit of decline.  Brees has seven straight seasons of at least 24 touchdowns – so let’s put him down for 25 more TDs in each of the next five seasons.  That’s 125 touchdowns to add to his current total of 235 – bringing the extrapolated total to 360.  In his five years as leader of the high powered Saints offense, Brees has averaged 4583.6 passing yards per year.  Again, let’s trim this down a bit, assuming for a bit of decline.  We’ll assume a still powerful Saints offense, but a “mere” 4000 passing yards per season.  That would add 20,000 passing yards to his total of 35,266 – bringing his extrapolated career total to 55,266.

How do those numbers stack up?  360 touchdowns would likely place him 4th or 5th all time (depending on how Tom Brady does during the same span) and 55,266 passing yards would likely rank 4th all time (Brees is currently behind Kerry Collins and Donovan McNabb, but I would expect him to be ahead of them at the end of the five years).

Bear in mind that my numbers are based on his retirement at age 36.  If he decides to play until he is 40, then 70,000 yards and 500 touchdowns might come into play.

Being top five in passing yards and TD would certainly punch Brees’ ticket to Canton.  Only three quarterbacks with more than 275 touchdowns are not in the Hall of Fame.  Two of theme aren’t eligible yet (Favre and Manning) but are locks to be enshrined – and the third is Vinny Testaverde, who took 21 seasons to toss 275 TDs.  Is Brees a product of a pass-happy era in the NFL.  Sure.  But there’s a reason why everyone isn’t racking up 4500 passing yards per year.  Most coaches don’t trust their quarerback to throw the ball 650 times per year.

Still, Brees must have some young gunslingers coming up in his rear view mirror, right?  Not really.  If we look at players younger than Brees, the leaders in touchdowns is Eli Manning with 156 and passing yards is Carson Palmer with 22,694.  That’s 75 fewer touchdowns and 12,572 fewer passing yards than Brees.

No matter how you slice it, Brees is one of the elite QBs in the game today.

We are just about to the end of the seemingly longer and longer NFL football season. This past weekend was filled with four games but I don’t think we really learned anything new watching any of the games. Here is a recap.

Jets vs. Patriots. – What we knew going in – The Jets are a loud mouthed smack talking bunch and so is their head coach. What we learned? Yep, that pretty much sums it up……

I was particularly entertained by Bart Scott going on a tirade following the game how they are all disrespected and that no one gave them a chance and everyone in the media is bad mouthing them. First off who is “they” Secondly, no one was disrespecting you in the media. The media has just pretty much been saying that the team you play for – starting with the head coach down to the 4th string kicker – like to run their mouths a lot. I guess you proved to everyone Bart after this weekend that YES – in fact the media had this one right all along.

Steelers vs. Ravens – What we knew going in – Flacco has never beaten Roethlisberger in the Playoffs. What we learned – Yep that pretty much sums it up….

Another old fashioned slobberknocker of a football game, but the main story here was the Steeler magic as the Ravens blow a HUGE halftime lead and get sent home, yet again, at the hands of the division rival.

Packers vs. Falcons – What we knew going in – The Packers are playing really good right now. What we learned? – The Packers are playing even better than we thought.

This was the most lopsided game of the weekend as Atlanta is good, they were at home, and they got whipped bad. This was not even as close as the score. This sets up a dandy this weekend with…

Bears vs. Seahawks – What we knew going in – The Bears live and die by the play of Jay Cutler – What we learned? This last weekend Cutler was pretty dadgum good.

Da Bears are not the 1985 Bears although the media has to ALWAYS go there. The defense is good, but nowhere close to the total stymie defense of 85. The offense is totally Jekyll and Hyde and that falls mainly on the fact the Bears have no good wide receivers, a limited run game, but the special teams and defense are good enough that it can keep them in most games, unless they become unraveled by the QB play. This one to me is the most intriguing matchup of the playoffs. Old School rivalry. Playing in the cold and the snow. Black and Blue division…..etc. Should be a good one.

I have the Steelers vs. the Packers in the Match Up next week. The Jets do not have enough defense to counter the power game of the Steelers and the Steelers defense…well…it is a WHOLE lot better than the Patriots.

In the NFC, I have the Packers moving on. I think they are playing better than anyone right now. Their defense is good enough, their offense is explosive, and most importantly I would take Rodgers over Cutler all day long.

Enjoy the weekend and some great football games.

Stay Classy Tucson!!

The conference championship games are now set; the New York Jets will be visiting the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers will be visiting the Chicago Bears. Both are #2-#6 seed match ups. Some of the games this weekend were messy. Each provided the coaches, even the winning coaches, plenty to teach this week.

In the Pittsburgh – Baltimore game, we learned you play to the whistle, as a Baltimore lineman picked up the ball and ran in for a touchdown on a fumble that no one else noticed, they were just standing around with the ball sitting on the ground. In the New England – New York game we learned that when you are going to run a fake punt, pay attention to where the ball is. In the Atlanta – Green Bay game we learned not to hurry at the end of the half with short dangerous passes. And finally, we learned in the Chicago – Seattle game, we learned that you have to run your pattern and actually catch the ball to win games. I am sure that you can see many more teaching opportunities (like do not commit stupid penalties at critical points in the game).

All four of the teams in the champion ship games have been to and won at least one Super Bowl, so no new story line there. None of these teams have matched up against each other in the Super Bowl before, so some interest there. The Steelers already have six Super Bowl Championships, the Jets are undefeated in the Super Bowl (but only have one appearance). Only one #6 seed has ever made it to the Super Bowl, Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XL, which they won. The #2 seed has made it to the Super Bowl 22 times, winning 11 and losing 11. Two #2s have met only once in the Super Bowl. Two of the teams come from large markets, the other two have storied Super Bowl history behind them.

The New York Jets beat Pittsburgh during the regular season in their only meeting. Chicago and Green Bay split their two games. The Jets beat Green Bay but lost to Chicago. Pittsburgh did not play either NFC team this year. I am sure that the pundits will have plenty of stories and angles to comment on.

The good new is that one of the New York teams made it to the Conference Championship. Why is this good news? About 95% of the talking heads predicted a possible NY-NY show down in Dallas for Super Bowl XLV. In week 2 of the season, most of those same experts called the both NY teams’ seasons over, so much for predicting 4 months and 16 games out. I guess that I get some juvenile pleasure out of seeing the experts proven wrong.

I was glad that Seattle won in the first round of the playoffs against the New Orleans Saints. I am not bashing the Saints, but there were so many people on talk shows saying that Seattle should not be in the playoffs because they did not have a winning record. I disagree. The rules as they stand today are that you have to win your division to get to the playoffs. If you don’t do that, there is the gift of 2 wild card spots for teams that played well, just not well enough to win their divisions. It was not that long ago that there were only three divisions and one wild card for each conference, now twelve teams out of the 32 get into the playoffs. My objection is the demand to change the rules in the middle (or near the end) of the season.

I still have a horse in this race, so I am pretty excited. I will be having a Super Bowl party regardless of the participants. The Super Bowl is usually a good game and there are those commercials. My friends and I usually skip the half time show, ever since Janet Jackson was exposed in front of my young children. American style football has produced great entertainment for years, with the Super Bowl being there grand finale each year. I do no expect to be disappointed this year.

Did you collect baseball (or football, basketball, hockey, etc) cards when you were younger – or perhaps you still collect today?  Then you might be a candidate for an exciting new book that will published in 2011!

Hyrax Publications, LLC, the parent organization of The Soap Boxers, is actively seeking contributions for Cardboard Canvases: An Anecdotal History Of Sports Card Collecting in The Modern Era.  The book will be published in electronic format in 2011.  Depending on demand, there may be a subsequent printed edition.

The book will contain essays from 100 sports card collectors.  The writers will share their experiences in the card collecting hobby.  Cardboard Canvases should be an enjoyable read for anyone who has ever busted open a pack to see what stars lay inside.

What Can I Do To Help?

We already have firm commitments from around thirty writers, including some popular internet-based writers.  However, we still have plenty of spots open.  We’d love to include your story.

We anticipate that most essays will fall in the range of 500 to 2500 words.  However, this is not a hard-and-fast requirement.  If your story happens to fall outside this range, that’s fine.  Quality is much more important than quantity.

Some suggestions for topics in the essay include:

• How you got started collecting
• Why you quit collecting
• Your favorite cards

This is not intended to be an all-inclusive list.  You have freedom to pursue topics of your choice, as long as they are relevant to your experiences collecting sports cards.

It is anticipated that many of the writers will be male, 30-40 years old, and residing in the US.  If you don’t fit this demographic, we are particularly interested in your story – as it will add variety to the book.

You don’t have to write like Hemingway, nor do you have to boast a collection that contains a T-206 Wagner or a 52 Mantle.  Simply tell us your story.  Submissions will be edited for spelling, punctuation, and grammar.  However, we will make every effort to ensure that the essays still maintain the unique writing style of the writer.

I Have a Friend …

Maybe you’re not a collector, but have a friend who is?  Please make them aware of Cardboard Canvases – just click this link to share via email.

What’s In it For Me?

Every writer will be given a free copy of the PDF version, of course.  Honestly, this is a great deal.  You spend a small amount of time reliving your youth, and get the complete book as compensation for your time!

Additionally, there will be revenue sharing.  You will make money on every sale!  I’m not going to go into great detail in this post, but I’ll be glad to send you a copy of the submission agreement if you email me at kosmo@ObservingCasually.com

Can I Pre-order?

If you don’t plan to submit an essay, but are interested in purchasing a copy of the book when it becomes available, send me a note at kosmo@ObservingCasually.com and I’ll put you on the mailing list.  We will not take your money until the book is ready to ship.  Our goal is to get it out the door during the first half of the baseball season.

Here are Johnny Goodman’s Top Eleven Sports items to keep an eye out for in 2011.

11. – Cam Newton – What will be the eventual fallout of all of the alleged financial improprieties? Will this be another case of Reggie Bush – meaning the real facts will come out years after the allegations? Will the penalties be as severe, or is everything clean as a whistle? One thing is for sure. Cam Newton proves that just like Vince Young at Texas, you can’t mess up good players even with sub par coaching

10. – Tattogate at O State. Why the heck did the NCAA not ban these players from the Bowl Game? Just shows the favoritism that the NCAA gives certain schools (thuh ohio state) while other schools (Georgia) get thrown under the bus with similar acts of conduct of players selling school issued item for money (immediate 6 game suspension for future Star NFL Prospect Green)

9. – Will Tiger Woods return to being a force on the PGA tour, now that he has apparently put all of his troubles of 2009-10 behind him? I am saying yes to this one. Woods appeared to play pretty darn well later in the year and in the Ryder Cup. I fresh start in 2011. I will lay early odds that he will be the favorite when we tee it up at Augusta this Spring.

8. – Will the Miami Heat win it all? They started the year slow, and now they are on…well….a heater. They have all the talent, all the hype and all the expectations. This will be fun to watch come August, or whenever the heck the NBA playoffs actually get over with.

7. – Can ESPN land any more deals to cover any more football games? We had to put up with the crazy schedule that had some games starting at 10 pm on the East Coast, all to fit the programming of the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network. However, I sure don’t miss the constant Fox Sports showing 38 shots of the band in the stands every game.

6. – Will the big name acquisitions of the Boston Red Sox lead them to another World Series Title? They have ponied up big bucks this offseason to bring in some talent, namely Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzales. Should be another fun year in Beantown.

5. – Will The Huskies repeat again and women’s NCAA Champs? Now that the “streak” is over and we no longer have to listen to the ever spewing of Geno the hut, I am curious to see if Stanford or Baylor led by Brittany Griner can knock off the Huskies this year come tourney time.

4. – As more and more players from the “steroid era” in baseball are coming up for consideration for the Hall of Fame, will they continue to be turned away by the BBWAA?

3. – Will Hoodie and Tom Brady come away with another Superbowl Title early this year? Does it really seem like they went 14-2?

2. – Will the Nittany Lions Volleyball team win an unprecendented 5th straight title?

1. – What will happen with the new collective bargaining agreement for the NFL? Rookie contracts need to be restructured as it is ludicrous that rookies who have never played can make more than a guy like Peyton Manning or Tom Brady. Will there be a lock out? Will the league move to an 18 game schedule? All key questions for the most popular of American sports.