Factoring In: 10/22/2009

- So the Bears signed franchise QB Jay Cutler to a huge contract extension that means he will be with the team through the 2013 season. Not a bad move considering its been since... well since Sid Luckman in the 1940's that the Bears have had a franchise QB. But is Jay Cutler a franchise QB? Don't get me wrong, he's good. He has a rocket arm and pretty good accuracy, but is he good enough to deserve this much. Have the Bears seen enough of Cutler to know he's their guy? I've always said that Chicago is where NFL quarterbacks go to die. The only thing worse than having a lousy quarterback is having one that is sucking up a lot of salary cap space and not making an impact as big as his contract. In Week One, Cutler was picked off 4 times. The 4th one coming in the final minute of the game with Green Bay sitting back in prevent defense and the game on the line. A few weeks later he barely passed for over 100 yards at home against the Lions. Just this past week, Cutler was in a similar situation to Week One where he was facing a prevent defense in Atlanta and needed to score a TD in the final minute. Once again, he failed. To me a franchise QB drives down the field in that situation and scores. I don't want to hear, "He doesn't have the receivers". A franchise QB finds a way to get it done with or without great receivers. The Bears are a 3-2 (a 2-3 team if Jeff Reed doesn't miss two FGs) football team right now and I can honestly say I don't think things would be much different if they had kept Kyle Orton instead. Jay Cutler is a good quarterback, no doubt, but is he a franchise quarterback? Well the jury is still out on that one.

- Every year the San Jose Sharks look great in the regular season, get into the playoffs, expect to go far and choke. Joe Thornton is one of the best playmakers in the game and his numbers have steadily dropped since overpaid flash in the pans like Jonathan Cheechoo and Milan Michalek were placed on his line. Wisely, the Sharks get rid of the excess baggage trade them to Ottawa and get disgruntled superstar Dany Heatley in return. Thornton and Heatley make up one of the most dangerous combos in the league today. However, this is the response I read from Sharks fans: "When Heatley scores, I'll cheer but for the team and not that SOB", "Why did we get this cry baby?", "Heatley is a cancer!". Dany Heatley is a two time 50 goal scorer that led the Ottawa Senators, a team like the Sharks that used to choke in the playoffs every year, to the Stanley Cup Finals. His shot, playmaking ability and hockey smarts makes him one of the most dangerous and underrated players in the game today. Shark fans, you should be thanking the hockey gods every day since the Heatley trade. You have two phenomenal hockey players, in their prime, playing side by side on the same line and you're whining about his past and how he left Ottawa, etc. Who cares? You'll have a lot of excitement, win a ton of games and eventually break through and lead your team to the Finals.

- A couple weeks ago the New York Yankees won a critical Game 2 against the Minnesota Twins in the AL wildcard round. In the top of the 11th inning, Joe Mauer sliced a hit down the left field line, it landed in fair territory, but the umpire made a mistake and called it foul. Had it been called correctly, the Twins would've had at least a two run lead, maybe more. Instead the Yankees got out of the inning and went on to win the game in the bottom of the 11th. A few days ago the umpires made another bad call that favored the Yankees. Neither Jorge Posada nor Robinson Cano were standing on the third base, Angels catcher Mike Napoli tagged both of them, however, for whatever reason, only Posada was called out. In this particular instance, the outcome of the game was not affected as the Yankees won 10-1, but the media is going crazy saying its the "worst call ever in all of sports". First off, the worst call in all of professional sports is the "New England Snow Job" back in Jan 2002 when Tom Brady fumbled and the referees said it was an incomplete pass. That bad call not only cost the Raiders the game, but the Patriots went on to win their first Super Bowl in the creation of their "dynasty". But I digress... All of you people that are up in arms about umpires helping the Yankees, get a life. Nobody cares about the Twins. Take a look around, you don't see people wearing Twins hats all over the country. You don't see people talking about the Twins as being one of the most storied franchises in all of sports. If the Twins managed to knock out the Yankees in the first round, it would have been a tragedy for baseball. The Yankees have the history, the superstars, the stories, and the interest of most the country. Whether its to cheer for them or against them, people watch when the Yankees are involved. If the Twins made it to the ALCS you would've heard this loud unified clicking sound. It would've been the sound of America changing the channel and no longer caring about baseball. As for the Angels, one bad call doesn't put the Yankees up 3 games to 1 on the Angels. So quit whining about a call that had no effect on the series, get that rally monkey off his ass and start praying for a big comeback.

Steelers > Patriots: Get over it

I was watching the CBS NFL pregame show yesterday and Boomer Esiason was asked "Which team would be better head to head? The Steelers or the Patriots?" and without much hesitation, Boomer said the Patriots. Why? Tom Brady. Its the answer everyone in the media gives whenever asked about the Patriots.

Who will win the Super Bowl?
The Patriots
Why?
Because of Tom Brady
What about the aging defense?
Tom Brady
What about the poor offensive line and the lack of a running game?
Tom Brady
What about...
Tom Brady

I'm sick of it! Enough is enough! Its been 5 years since the Patriots won their last championship and the media still talks as if we're in the middle of their dynasty. Ben Roethlisberger has won two Super Bowls since the last time Brady held the Lombardi trophy, yet every year, its "the Patriots are the favorites because they have Tom Brady". Instead of just blindly throwing out the name "Tom Brady" when asked about the Patriots, actually take a good long look at the team around him. Lets compare the Steelers and Patriots as they are right now:

Ben Roethlisberger vs Tom Brady:
Brady is a great QB. He owns the record for TD passes in a single season. He won three Super Bowls, two SB MVPs awards and was the league MVP once. But right now, he's a great pocket passer, that can't really move that well and his offensive line is old, slow and isn't doing a good job of protecting him. Meanwhile, Ben is a playmaker. If he's given time to sit in the pocket, he'll kill you. If the pocket collapses, he can run around, make a big play and kill you that way. Pick your poison. I'm not going to go as far as to say that Roethlisberger is better than Brady right now, but he's pretty close. Advantage: Tie

Steelers RBs vs Patriots RBs:
The Steelers running game has gotten bad over the past couple years, but its better than the non-existent one of the Patriots. Brady has thrown the football 100 times so far this season. For you math majors out there, that means he's throwing an average of 50 passes per game. Who could blame them though? The offensive line gets virtually no push and the guys handling the ball are an over the hill Fred Taylor and a never will be Laurence Maroney. Meanwhile the Steelers have Willie Parker, Rashard Mendenhall, and Mewelde Moore who are all victims of a poor offensive line, but should that line suddenly get better, these guys are a much better option than what's in New England. Advantage: Steelers

Steelers WRs vs Patriots WRs:
Randy Moss is one of the best in the game today and Wes Welker is a great underneath receiver that makes a lot of tough catches in heavy traffic. On the other side we just have a couple of Super Bowl MVP's. Holmes is really breaking out since the Steelers have decided to pass more and Hines Ward is the toughest receiver in the NFL and nobody makes tougher catches in heavy traffic better than him. The Patriots have a decent third receiver with Joey Galloway, while the Steelers have a great TE in Heath Miller. Really tough to decide this one. Advantage: Tie

Steelers OL vs Patriots OL:
What can you say about these guys? Neither can open holes for the running game. Neither can protect the quarterback that well. Advantage: Tie

Steelers DL vs Patriots DL:
Vince Wilfork, Ty Warren and Jarvis Green are good, but they're not Casey Hampton, Brett Kiesel and Aaron Smith. Hampton is probably the best nose tackle in the game and Kiesel and Smith are very difficult to contain and open up a lot for their linebackers. Advantage: Steelers

Steelers LBs vs Patriots LBs:
Ha!!! This isn't even close. The NFL defensive player of the year James Harrison, tackling leader and big run stopper James Farrior and two young dynamic LB's that get better each week Lawrence Timmons and LaMarr Woodley. Adalius Thomas is the only good LB on the Patriots defense. No question who's better here. Advantage: Steelers by a lot

Steelers secondary vs Patriots secondary:
This is something that the Patriots keep patching together and it ends up working out, but I think ole Bill Belicheat is out of duct tape. They have never really been that impressive since Ty "I'm allowed to commit pass interference" Law left. The Steelers on the other hand have a great shutdown corner with Ike Taylor and the best saftey combo in the league by far with heavy hitting (just ask Wes Welker) Ryan Clark and the tasmanian devil Troy Polamalu. Not even close. Advantage: Steelers

You can feel free to dispute this, but you'd be wrong. The Patriots are a shadow of the team that won the Super Bowl in '04 and the '07 seems just as distant. They've lost a lot of key components; Mike Vrabel, Teddy Bruschi, Ty Law, Richard Seymour, Rodney Harrison, Asante Samuel and they've been replaced by garbage. Defense wins championships and the holes on the New England defense is why they haven't won one in 5 years.

So while the media keeps boasting Tom Brady this and Tom Brady that, reality will definitively show the world that Tom Brady is NOT the answer to everything.

2009 Super Bowl Prediction

At this time every year, every sports media outlet comes out with their "Super Bowl Predictions" and about a month into the season, most of those predictions are blown out of the water. If you want a good laugh, check out the Sporting News prediction for this upcoming season. Yes, the same Sporting News that predicted a Charlie Batch lead Lions team would win the SB one year. Lots of people picked the Patriots to win it all last year. Then Brady got injured... the end. The Steelers had the toughest schedule in football in '08 and were a 10-6 team in '07. They go on to win the Super Bowl. Predicting who's going to win the Super Bowl is like trying to predict the weather without any equipment. There's too many variables to be able to accurately predict something so unpredictable... but that doesn't mean I won't try. So without further ado, I'm going to make my SB XLIV prediction.

AFC East: The Jets regressed from Favre to a rookie QB, the Dolphins won't take anyone by surprise this year although they are headed in the right direction and the Bills are still the Bills. The Patriots win this division by default.

AFC North: This will be Brady Quinn's "get used to the league" year, so the Browns will be bad, but at least they're progressing. The Bengals will show the league for another year why no one takes them seriously. The Ravens will be a tough team, as always and if Flacco can build off what he did last year, they'll be a great team once again. However, the defending SB champion Steelers are still the class of the division and should claim the division title.

AFC West: You have to love this division. It was won by the Chargers last year via a tie breaker with the Broncos. Both teams were 8-8. The Chargers should be better this year. LT is healthy, Shawne Merriman is back while the rest of the division has gotten worse. The Broncos traded away their franchise QB for a serviceable starter. The Chiefs haven't changed much except for their coaching staff and QB. The Raiders continued their tradition of wasting high draft picks on "reaches", "projects" and "busts".

AFC South: Don't expect the Titans to repeat as division champs this year. They're a good team, but they will not be 13-3 this year. The loss of Albert Haynesworth is a big one. The Colts are the best team in the division, but its going to be a slug fest for the title. The Texans finally look ready to make a big impact with all of their offensive weapons, while the Jaguars feature one of the most versatile back in the game with Maurice Jones-Drew.

NFC East: I keep reading about how great the Giants are and how they're going to return to the Super Bowl. They stumbled through the second half of the season without Plaxico Burress then got knocked out by the Eagles in the playoffs. Without Burress or Toomer, who is Eli Manning supposed to throw to? The Cowboys will not be a better team without TO. Sorry, but they needed him. The Redskins upgraded their defense in a big way with Albert Haynesworth, but their offense is still boring and they're not going anywhere with Jason Campbell. The Eagles were the hottest team in the league at the end of the season and into the playoffs last year and playoff performances always seem to act as a precursor of things to come in the next year. The Eagles will take the NFC East.

NFC North: Vikings and Lions and Bears, oh my! Oh yeah and the Pack too. The Lions are in for another long season, but it won't be an 0-16 season. The Packers always bore me, but they're dynamic offense and Dom Capers led defense could make a lot of noise this year. This division race will be between two teams, the Vikings and the Bears. The Bears drastically upgraded their QB and the defense is still solid, but the Vikings have the best RB in the game today, the best offensive and defensive lines and now have Brett Favre. Even if Favre is average, it'll be better than what they've had over the last several years.

NFC West: This is the division everyone likes to have on their schedule. The Cardinals, Seahawks, 49ers, and Rams. Ironically enough though, each of these teams have played in the Super Bowl in the last 15 years. So it can't be that soft right? The 49ers are getting better, but very very slowly. Too bad that Alex Smith didn't pan out else they would be there already. The Rams are clearly in a rebuilding phase. The Seahawks are clinging to their 2005 SB team and are slowly getting worse. The Cardinals made it to the SB last year and have a cupcake schedule this year. As long as Warner stays healthy, the Cards will romp through this division.

NFC South: This will be the toughest division to pick. The Saints have the most explosive offense in the game, but still no defense. The Bucs have a HUGE hole at QB although their RB situation is the best its been in a long time. I like the Panthers, but I have serious doubt about Jake Delhomme after watching him meltdown in the playoffs. The best team in the division coming into the year is the Atlanta Falcons. As long as Matt Ryan doesn't suffer from a sophomore slump, they should come out on top in the division.

AFC Playoff Seeding:

Patriots

Steelers

Chargers

Colts

Ravens

Texans

NFC Playoffs Seeding:

Vikings

Cardinals

Eagles

Falcons

Bears

Giants

Wild Card Round:

Chargers over Texans

Ravens over Colts

Eagles over Giants

Bears over Falcons

Divisional Round:

Patriots over Ravens

Steelers over Chargers

Vikings over Bears

Eagles over Cardinals

Conference Championships:

Steelers over Patriots

Vikings over Eagles

Super Bowl XLIV:

Steelers over Vikings

Go ahead, call me a homer, but I think the Steelers are one of the more complete teams in the game today. Best defense in the league and one of the best playoff QBs I've ever seen. The Steelers have a great shot at repeating as SB champs and if they do, they'll have as many SB championships as the Patriots in this decade leaving us with, "Who is the team of the decade? The Steelers or the Patriots?" But the people that know football, already know the answer to that question. Hint: It's not the team that got caught cheating.

Factoring In 8/28/2009

- Its being reported that Brett Favre's arrival to the Minnesota Vikings is causing problems within the team. Basically some people are happy to have him, while others would rather go with Sage Rosenfels or Tavaris Jackson. Look, I don't like how Favre acted like he was going to join the team, then re-retired, only to come back half way through the preseason and become the unquestioned starter either. However, to stand up for the Texans former backup QB or T-Jack, against one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game is foolish. This isn't like last year when the Jets discarded Chad Pennington for Favre. The Vikings QB position is sore spot on the team and has been for a number of years. Sports is all about winning. Its not about lessons or hurt feelings, its about winning. Brett Favre at age 40 is better than Rosenfels and Jackson in their prime. Brett Favre gives the Vikings the best chance to win a Super Bowl. Brett Favre is going to be their starting QB whether they like it or not so they may as well stop whining and focus on winning.

- Is anyone else as annoyed with Team USA's new hockey uniforms for the 2010 Olympics as I am? I'm all for nostalgia, but if you want to have a throw back jersey, just make it the third jersey, not your primary uniform. The light and dark jerseys are the boring and unimaginative. Now they do have a third jersey, that really appeals to the New York Rangers fans since its basically a carbon copy of their white away jersey, but to the rest of us its garbage. It was like the designers were sitting around at a table and one of them said, "Hey! Who's a red, white and blue team in the NHL?" Someone else says, "The Rangers!". "Perfect, we'll just use their uniforms, remove "Rangers" and put on "USA". That wasn't so hard!" I just feel bad for Scott Gomez who thought he would never have to wear that uniform again.

- The future of Chicago Blackhawks franchise is riding on the young, super talented winger, Patrick Kane and he beats up a cab driver over 20 cents... soak that in for a second. A player that will sign a contract next summer that will make him a multi-millionaire. A player that is the face of EA Sports' NHL 10. A player with a very bright future ahead of him, pleaded guilty to the charge of disorderly conduct and was ordered to send an apology to the cab driver he was accused of roughing up over 20 cents. 20 cents!! You can find quarters laying on the street! There's people making dumb decisions while their young and then there's this.

- Former Steelers wideout Plaxico Burress has done a lot of dumb things. Spiking the ball after a catch BEFORE your tackled, leaving the Steelers right before they win 2 Super Bowls, driving without insurance and getting into an accident, but none of them were as big as when he shot himself with his own unregistered gun. He was charged with reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon. He'll now go to jail for two years with an additional two years of supervised release. So let me get this straight, Michael Vick can fund a dog fighting operation, assist in the brutal deaths of losing dogs and gets only 23 months in prison. Plaxico shoots himself and gets 24 months. Maybe its just me, but being stupid and accidently shooting yourself with a gun is no where near as bad as knowingly and purposely killing dogs in a savage manner.

- Speaking of Vick, the played in his first game last night to standing ovation from the Eagles faithful. So Philadelphia boos Santa Claus, pelts JD Drew with D batteries, booed Donovan McNabb on draft day, cheers for an ex-con. I would ask what's wrong with this picture, but then I think to myself, "Its Philadelphia". That pretty much explains it all right there.

-My favorite MLB team, the New York Yankees, have the best record in baseball, a 6 game lead on the Red Sux, and have as good of a chance as anyone to win the World Series... and I could care less. I watch SportsCenter to see if the Yankees won and if they did, I smirk a little, if they lose, I dismiss it quickly. With football revving up and hockey right around the corner, baseball season is already over. When the World Series is being played, I'll watch if the Yankees are in it, but if they're not and there's a hockey game between the Rangers and the Wild on, I'll watch the latter.

Factoring In 08/10/2009

- Despite owning a black Michael Vick Falcons jersey, I'm not a big fan of him. In fact, I think he's an idiot. He threw away everything and for what? Dog fighting. It makes me sick to think about what he did to those dogs and if it were up to me, I would've thrown his ass in jail for life. But its not up to me and now Vick is back and looking to get back into the NFL. Despite my dislike for him as a person, he is a great football player and can single handily turn a loser into a championship caliber team. He already did it once with the Falcons. People forget that he took a 5-11 Falcons team in 2003, turned them around into a 11-5 team in 2004 and led them to the NFC championship game and pretty much did it all by himself. In order to be successful in anything you do, you need to be willing to do whatever it takes. The people that are willing to do whatever it takes, will always have an advantage over the people that are not. Nothing Vick did off the field should be considered when making football decisions. He is an exciting, 3 time Pro Bowl quarterback and if I was running an NFL franchise and my QB position was in bad shape (like a lot of teams are), I would've been trying to acquire him the second he stepped out of the jail.

- "Super Bowl Champion Peyton Manning is the highest paid player in football". That seems about right. Three time MVP, threw for over 4000 yards 9 times, threw 30+ TDs 4 times in his career. How about if I change one word in it? "Super Bowl Champion Eli Manning is the highest paid player in football". What?? So let me get this straight. A guy that has never won an MVP award or passed for more than 4000 yards in a season or thrown more than 24 TD passes is the highest paid player in football? What a complete waste of money! He's a solid quarterback, but highest paid player in football? Really Giants? Really? You know just because the Yankees spend like there's no tomorrow doesn't mean you can. There IS a salary cap. Instead of wasting that money on Eli, maybe they could have saved some of it and acquired a wide receiver to replace Plaxico Burress. This is simply wasteful and careless on the part of the Giants and it will bite them in the ass down the line.

- So "Big Papi" David Ortiz was outed for performance enhancing drugs. He appeared on the 2003 list of players that tested positive for drugs. I have been saying for 5 years now that Ortiz was on something and people looked at me like I just swore at the Pope. In 2002, good hitter, but by no means anything special. By 2004, he was giant, power hitting MVP candidate. Take a look at Ortiz prior to 2003 and take a look at him now. Huge difference in body type. Take a look at his numbers. In 2002, he had 20 homers and 75 RBI. After that year, his homerun totals increased fast (31, 41, 47, and 54). Once the league announced that they would punish PED users, his numbers suddenly began to drop, 35 HR in 2006, 23 in '08 and just 15 so far this season. Ortiz also had heart problems last year. According to BodyBuilding.com, heart problems can be a problem for steroid users. Now Ortiz is denying it. After all that's the baseball way. Deny, deny, deny and then when there's a mountain of indisputable evidence against you, you apologize, say you made a mistake and everybody's happy.

- Lots of people have been asking me "What do I think of the Red Wings off season?" expecting me to say "Ohhh we're doomed. We lost Hossa, Samuelsson and Hudler and now we have no one." The Wings won the Cup without Hossa in '08, Sammy has been replaced with Jason Williams, who already knows the Wings system and Patrick Eaves will be every bit as good as Huds, if not better. Plus, the Wings will now get full time contributions from Darren Helm, Jonathan Ericsson and Ville Leino who will be a Calder finalist this upcoming season.

- The New York Yankees own the best record in baseball. They have a $192 million payroll. The Pittsburgh Pirates have the 3rd worst record in baseball. They have a $49 million payroll. Baseball needs a salary cap. Despite there being 30 teams in MLB, in reality there's only about 6-8 teams while everyone else is simply a farm club for them.

Pirates starting over... again

I hate to write it. You hate to read it. We hate to experience it... again, but the Pirates are wiping the slate clean and rebuilding. Its not the rebuilding that bugs me as so much as it is the people doing it. When you rebuild, you start with good young players. Guys that will still be around when the rebuilding is complete and you are contending for a championship. What bothers me is every year at this time, the Pirates trade away everyone of any value and you're basically starting from the ground each spring. Rome wasn't build in a day and the Pirates won't be built in one season.

Lets take 2003 for example. That year the Pirates looked pretty decent. They were much better than the 2001 team that finished with an embarrassing 100 loss season. They had two great hitters in the middle of the lineup, Brian Giles and Aramis Ramirez. Pirates fans had heard about the greatness of Ramirez for years and how he was going to be one of the cornerstones of the franchise. In his first full season (2001) he had a big year with 34 HR and 112 RBI. The next year, his numbers dropped a bit due to injuries, but in 2003 he was right back to where he was. Management decided that with the team at 44-53 and 9.5 games out of first, nothing special was on the horizon and decided that they would trade away players. That's fine. Reggie Sanders was a 35 year old journeyman who was swinging a hot bat that year, plenty of teams would love to add him to their lineup for a post season push. Plus, he was playing with just a one year deal anyways. Kenny Lofton was another veteran having a solid year that could be traded for prospects. But instead of trading one of their older expendable players, they trade 25 year old Ramirez! The young cornerstone that you could build around. On July 22nd, 2003 the Pirates threw away a franchise player along with Kenny Lofton to the Cubs, a division rival, and in return received pitcher Matt Bruback (who never made it to the majors), 2B Bobby Hill (who was batting .167 in Triple A at the time) and SS Jose Hernandez who led the league in strikeouts. What a slap in the face. Not only did they trade away a critical piece to the rebuilding process, but they get the worst players the Cubs had in their organization.

So let's fast forward to 5 years later. The team is still bad, but its showing signs of improvement. A 25th round draft pick named Nate McLouth was a godsend. He could hit for contact, hit for power, he was fast, he was good in the field, he was the total package. They also had the X-Man, Xavier Nady showing that he could be counted on to be an everyday outfielder. Catcher Ryan Doumit surprised a lot of people with his power and is one of the better hitting catchers in baseball. Despite not winning a lot of games, this team had a pretty good offensive lineup. Nate McLouth, Jason Bay and Xavier Nady were statistically one of the best outfields in baseball in 2008. Add Doumit and 2006 batting champ Freddy Sanchez to that lineup and 5 out of the 8 position players are pretty good. Just imagine if they had kept Ramirez. I was legitimately interested in the Pirates again. They weren't winning, but they had an offense. Going into the next year, all they would need to focus on is pitching. However, that optimism was short lived. On July 25th 2008, Nady was traded to the Yankees for prospects. Six days later Bay was traded to the Red Sox for more prospects. Then the following year, McLouth is traded to the Braves for prospects. Yesterday, Freddy Sanchez was traded away for prospects. Well, so much for that offense that you could have built around. Now instead of having hitting and no pitching, they have no hitting or pitching.

The few die-hards that are still with the team will argue, "They need prospects.", "Bay's contract was up and they would never be able to afford him", "The farm system is a mess, they needed to do this". Actually no, they need to build a winner! The Pirates have had high draft positions for the last 16 years, if you can't mold high draft picks into big league ball players, why is taking someone else's (questionable) prospects and sticking them in your farm system going to make it better? You had good players on your team. They had something to build around. Trading Bay and getting pretty much nothing in return gives you nothing. Nothing on the big club and nothing in the minors. I will concede that right now, trading Nady and Marte looks like a pretty good deal for the Pirates and I think trading Morgan for Lastings Milledge was a good deal as well. But trading Bay and McLouth was a waste of talent. They traded Bay, their best player and franchise cornerstone, and didn't even get one of the Red Sox best prospects. The same goes for McLouth. The same went for Aramis Ramirez. Could you imagine if they spent the last 7 years just accumulating and holding onto the talent they had instead of "trading it away for prospects"? The Pirates will now attempt to "rebuild" off players that have little or no major league experience. Plus, let's say for instance that all these prospects they acquired do pan out and turn into stars. What evidence is there that would suggest the Pirates will sign them? Its an annual tradition in Pittsburgh to trade away All Stars for more prospects. Why will the Pirates hold onto these players when/if they become stars? They didn't hold onto the other prospects they had that turned into stars. Why will these group of prospects be any different?

To say I'm throwing in the towel because the Pirates traded Sanchez, Wilson and Snell yesterday would be ridiculous and wildly inaccurate. I gave up on this team 6 years ago when the franchise looked every Pirate fan in the eye, said "We don't really care how well this team plays. We just want your money" and traded Aramis Ramirez. Since then, I've cheered for the Pirates to lose 100+ games in hopes that if they get bad enough the die-hards that defend this franchise and their bad moves will turn against the owners, quit going to games and maybe, just maybe, force the owners to either sell the team or stop giving away good players. Albert Einstein described insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." The Pirates have been trading away established talent for prospects for 16 years. The result has always been the same... a losing season. Continuing to do that is, by definition, "insane". I may sound like a frustrated fan, but the truth is, I'm far worse. I'm a former fan that has lost hope in the team and is losing hope in the sport altogether.

How do you solve a problem like Maria-n?

On July 2nd, 2008, my wife picked up my buzzing cell phone as I had just received a text message. It was from my brother and he was cursing out unrestricted free agent Marian Hossa. I figured, "Oh well, I guess he left the Pens. I kind of figured that might happen." Maria continued to read the message saying that Hossa was on the Red Wings. My eyes were wide open with shock, "What?!". Hossa had turned his back on the Penguins for a team that almost everyone in the city hated. Hossa leaving was one thing, but going to the Red Wings was another. The city was outraged, while I was excited to have a top notch talent added to my team.

It made perfect sense. Even before Hossa was traded to the Penguins, he expressed a desire to play in Detroit. The Wings system and his style of play were a perfect fit and his good friend Tomas Kopecky was on the Wings as well. They signed him to a one year deal worth $7.45 mil. With Zetterberg and Franzen set to become free agents in the next off season, I kind of figured that Hossa was on the team for just this year and I was fine with that.

As the season started the addition of Marian Hossa proved to be big for the Wings as they were dealing with a Stanley Cup hangover and the usual dominant Detroit defense was sloppy, creating a lot of high scoring games. Hossa was up to the challenge as he bailed out the team on several occasions. He finished as the teams leading goal scorer with 40 goals (8 game winning) and was becoming a fan favorite. He did everything. He scored, he back checked, he even got into a fight with the Predators Ryan Suter at the Joe Louis Arena to chorus of cheers. The players, coaches and fans were embracing this player that passed up big money elsewhere to come to Detroit and try to win a Stanley Cup.

Despite his actions, Wings GM Ken Holland opened up the franchise checkbook and locked up, future captain, Henrik Zetterberg for life with a 12 year extension and power forward Johan Franzen with an 11 year extension. Fans were a little worried that with the salary cap, this would squeeze Hossa off the team, but Hossa said time and time again that he would be willing to take less to stay with this team and Holland said he would reach out to Marian with the best offer the team could make.

As the playoffs got underway, Hossa looked nothing like his regular season self and looked more like the poor playoff performer he was labeled before going to Pittsburgh. His defense was good, but his offense was non-existent. He scored just 2 goals in each of the first three rounds of the playoffs. Despite his absence on the score sheet, Detroit was able to make it to the Finals for the second straight season and play his former team, the Pittsburgh Penguins. In this championship round, Hossa went from being a playoff choker to a playoff joke. No one had more pressure on him in that series, but still he failed to score a single goal in the seven game series as his team lost by one goal in the final game. A crushing loss for the Wings, an even more crushing loss for him as he got to watch his old team hoist the Cup.

I felt bad for the guy. He passes up more money because he wants to win a championship so badly, comes to Detroit and falls just one game short and now his former team and fans gets to rub it in his face. There was always next year though. The team will be more focused, better defensively and will have their hunger back. Ken Holland offered Hossa a deal that would keep him a Red Wing for life. It was somewhere around $4 mil per year cap hit, which means he'd still make around $6 or $7 mil for the first 6 years of the deal, then it would trail off to lower the hit. At that point, he would either retire, get bought out or renegotiate a new deal. For a guy that has expressed such a strong desire to play in Detroit, it seemed like a no brainer. Then it happened. On July 1st, 2009, less than one year after he signed with the Wings, Hossa turns on his old team yet again and joins a team that his old team and fans would hate... the Chicago Blackhawks.

I don't get it. I don't get it from every point of view. I don't understand why he would leave the Wings, a team that he fit in with and came within one game of a championship with, to join the Blackhawks, a team that the Wings beat in 5 games without Datsyuk and Lidstrom. I don't understand it from the Blackhawks angle. They're a good young team with a lot of young superstars whose contracts will be up for renewal at the end of the the 09-10 season. They have their own version of Crosby and Malkin with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. With Hossa's contract on the books for 12 years, they risk losing these players along with a few other good young players. I don't get why Hossa would sign a lifetime deal with a franchise he's never played with before. Typically, if you sign a long term deal like this, you know what you're getting yourself into. In this situation, he doesn't know the city, the management, the coaches, the players, or the system. He could flop right out of the gate. Its a bizarre move for both Hossa and the Blackhawks and another tough loss for the Wings less than a month after suffering a tough loss in the Finals. No, Pens fans, the irony isn't lost on me.

Before July 1st, I said I would support and cheer for Hossa even if he left the Wings because I didn't want to be like the Pens fans were this past season with the hatred towards this nice, quiet, "shys away from confrontation" kind of guy. But blowing off the Wings, to sign with their rivals for just a little more cash... I can't do it. He could have signed with the Kings, Wild, Rangers, Sharks, Bruins, whomever. But the Blackhawks, nope. Can't do it. He's even making the same stupid mistakes this time around as well. When asked why he left Detroit, he said, "They have a chance to win the Cup". Hasn't he learned anything from what just happened to him this past season? Now he gets to play his spurned former team at least 6 times a year for the rest of his career. Will this guy ever learn? Now I along with other Wings fans can join Pens fans in bashing this mercenary that just keeps making one bad decision after another with his career.