Special Insomnia-Induced Sports Edition
Here are a few nuggets about professional sports brought on by the fact that I cannot sleep.
1) Football - Alex Smith, formerly of the San Francisco 49ers, will sign with the Arizona Cardinals and, teamed with good receivers and a coach who knows how to coach an offense will come back and torch the Niners in their two games and win the division for Arizona.
2) Big changes are just around the corner for the San Jose Sharks. Look for a trade of Antti Niemi (probably got him to trade him during the season) for another D-Man. I would not be surprised to see Heatley go to an Eastern Conference team and, if things don't pick up soon, maybe the return of Darryl Sutter as coach. Don't get me wrong, I like Todd McLellen and the up-tempo offense and the idea of getting the D corps involved in the offense. But the way the team is playing, it needs a wake up call and a little bit of sand sitting behind them on the bench, They need a coach that won't let them go to sleep in the third period.
3) SF Giants - I think they are going to stand pat and hope for the best, which I think is a mistake. They seem to be hoping that Brandon Belt will be the next Buster Posey. Honestly though it's hard to fault them in standing pat from a salary perspective. Adrian Beltre just signed a sixe year $96 million dollar contract, which is a lot of money to pay a career .275 hitter.
4) Why have I not cared about professional basketball since the 1970's? Seriously the last team I remember following was the Knicks with Wills Reed and his leg numbed and taped up, hobbling out to take the tip-off in game seven of the 1970 NBA finals. Reed missed game six and Wilt Chamberlin went all Wilt the Stilt on the Knicks without the shorter Reed dogging him all game. Reed got a shot of a pain-killer just before game seven started and, with the entire arena thinking he was going to miss the game, hobbled outm started the game and scored the first four points of the game (the only ones he would score all game). Walt Frazier did his Clyde thing scoring like 30 points and 19 assists and the Knicks won the championship.
Then, somewhere along the line everything changed in the NBA. Things that used to be called travelling became highlight reel material and somewhere along the line the art of posting up, pick-and-roll and big time players (Michael Jordan aside) got lost in favor of high school kids who can't shoot a free-throw playing a game that owes more to the Harlem Globetrotters then the New York Knicks.
Where have you gone, Willis Reed? Your game needs you (and the Knicks could probably still use you).
1) Football - Alex Smith, formerly of the San Francisco 49ers, will sign with the Arizona Cardinals and, teamed with good receivers and a coach who knows how to coach an offense will come back and torch the Niners in their two games and win the division for Arizona.
2) Big changes are just around the corner for the San Jose Sharks. Look for a trade of Antti Niemi (probably got him to trade him during the season) for another D-Man. I would not be surprised to see Heatley go to an Eastern Conference team and, if things don't pick up soon, maybe the return of Darryl Sutter as coach. Don't get me wrong, I like Todd McLellen and the up-tempo offense and the idea of getting the D corps involved in the offense. But the way the team is playing, it needs a wake up call and a little bit of sand sitting behind them on the bench, They need a coach that won't let them go to sleep in the third period.
3) SF Giants - I think they are going to stand pat and hope for the best, which I think is a mistake. They seem to be hoping that Brandon Belt will be the next Buster Posey. Honestly though it's hard to fault them in standing pat from a salary perspective. Adrian Beltre just signed a sixe year $96 million dollar contract, which is a lot of money to pay a career .275 hitter.
4) Why have I not cared about professional basketball since the 1970's? Seriously the last team I remember following was the Knicks with Wills Reed and his leg numbed and taped up, hobbling out to take the tip-off in game seven of the 1970 NBA finals. Reed missed game six and Wilt Chamberlin went all Wilt the Stilt on the Knicks without the shorter Reed dogging him all game. Reed got a shot of a pain-killer just before game seven started and, with the entire arena thinking he was going to miss the game, hobbled outm started the game and scored the first four points of the game (the only ones he would score all game). Walt Frazier did his Clyde thing scoring like 30 points and 19 assists and the Knicks won the championship.
Then, somewhere along the line everything changed in the NBA. Things that used to be called travelling became highlight reel material and somewhere along the line the art of posting up, pick-and-roll and big time players (Michael Jordan aside) got lost in favor of high school kids who can't shoot a free-throw playing a game that owes more to the Harlem Globetrotters then the New York Knicks.
Where have you gone, Willis Reed? Your game needs you (and the Knicks could probably still use you).
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