Max Scherzer made his first start last night for the Diamondbacks.  After pitching 4.1 IP with 7 K's out of the bullpen in his ML debut, I believe expectations for his first start began with complete game shutout and ended with perfect game with 27 strikeouts. 

What happened last night was a solid performance but not nearly the dominance he flashed out of the bullpen.  He allowed 5 runs although just 2 of those were earned.  His fastball sat mostly in the low 90's and he showed good control of his slider.  He may have been holding back a bit on his fastball because it was his first start but he was still able to throw it past several Phillies.

There's no doubt he deserves another couple of starts until Doug Davis returns.  Scherzer is still a much better option to start than Edgar Gonzalez.  I'd expect him to go back to the bullpen at some point and be a big weapon for the Diamondbacks in the second half of the season.

Until then, after one start, maybe we can dial down the expectations to a complete game or a strikeout.  One of the other.  Oh, and 10 K's.

Another year, another NFL Draft in the books and another 7 hours of my life that I will never have back.  But thats a good thing.  I watch the NFL Draft with such zealotry its eclpises most actual NFL games, in terms of the enjoyment I get out of it.  And to be perfectly honest, I'm not exactly sure why.  When I was asked recently by my girlfriend why I enjoy it so much, it turned into one of those "you wouldn't understand" answers which is basically code for "I'm embarrassed I'm unable to articulate why I dedicate an entire weekend to watching players who may or may not turn into productive NFL players".  Count me a victim of the NFL PR machine or just an absent minded sports fan who loves watching sporting events, either way, I'm a huge fan of the NFL Draft.

This year's draft was a bit different.  Roger Goodell decided to try and speed things up and in the process ruined any semblance of suspense at the top of the draft when you could clearly hear the loudspeaker at Radio City Music Hall informing the crowd that a selection was made, followed by a shot of one of the prospects celebrating and then 2 minutes later, Goodell formally announced the pick.  I wish some of these NFL Draft prospects had a sense of humor and just started faking a cell phone call and then celebrating wildly just to throw everyone off.  I don't care if that player turned into the biggest bust in NFL History, he would go down as my favorite of all time. 

Here are a couple of my other observations from the NFL Draft:

-- Apparently ESPN decided for a "Minority Report" - esque theme for this year's draft.   Didn't that movie come out like 5-6 years ago?  What, was the Matrix the backup plan?

-- Does anyone still like Berman?  He's become just like Champ in Anchorman when he starts rambling during lunch.  Hey Berman, why don't you sit the next one out, stop talking for while.  Everytime Berman started stumbling his way through a point and would finish, there would just be awkward silence from the rest of the panel.

-- Speaking of which, did all 5 of these guys just meet each other?  Even Bill Belicheck and Matt Walsh have better chemistry than those guys.

-- So Bill Belicheck wears a cut off hooded sweatshirt during some of the biggest games of his career, regularly conducts interviews in that same outfit but then busts out a pinke shirt/tie suit combo for 35 seconds of NFL Draft interview?  Someone's trying to do a little character damage control.

-- Joe Flacco, meet Kyle Boller.  Kyle Boller, meet Joe Flacco.   I can't wait to hear stories from Baltimore about how they were bowled over by Flacco's ability to throw a football 60 yards from his knees.

-- Chad Henne has the biggest chin I've ever seen on a human being.  He's like the personification of Quagmire from Family Guy.

Back with a couple more updates later this week...

NL West

1. LA Dodgers – I think I’ve picked them to win the last several years in a row.  They have the best rotation 1-5, depending on if Hiroki Kiroda not being pulling of a debut like Kei Igawa or Hideki Irabu.  Penny, Lowe, Billingsley, Kiroda, and Loaiza with Schmidt expected back in May and Clayton Kershaw in the minors is a deep and talented staff.  Plus Broxton/Saito are a great 8^th/9^th combo
   1. Offense: Rafael Furcal is going to have a monster year.  Andruw Jones is the key to this offense.  If he can bounce back after a disastrous 2007, offense could be very good but if he continues to ingest a dozen donuts a day seemingly, it could be lost money.  Also, the development of James Loney, Matt Kemp and Andre Eithier are very important.  Will the Dodgers be more Angels or Dbacks with their young players?  They need results now from their young players.
   2. Make or Break – Andruw Jones.  If he performs, it takes the pressure off young players and also gives them a bona fide cleanup hitter. 
2. Arizona Diamondbacks – The Diamondbacks will deal with the pressure of being the reigning NL West champions.  Whether they repeat that feat or not is probably decided by how they are able to replace nearly 400 IP lost off their staff.  The defection of Livian Hernandez may save money not only in salary but in food from the post game spread but it also hurts the Dbacks because of his consistency taking the ball.  Combined with the uncertain status of Doug Davis, who will miss most of April and May (at least) after thyroid cancer surgery, Arizona will need to replace both of those innings eaters on a thin staff.
   1. Offense: Complete opposite of the Rockies.  Most of their lineup probably had subpar seasons, save for Eric Byrnes, and yet they were still able to win the crown.  With the developing bats of Chris Young, Stephen Drew and Justin Upton, Arizona could have a formidable lineup.
   2. Make or Break – Micah Owings.  They showed they can win without a great offense, but they’ll need very good pitching.  With Davis’s health status and Livian leaving, Arizona needs Owings to throw 200 IP.
3. Colorado Rockies – They seem like a logical team to see a bit of a drop off from last year, considering just about everyone in their lineup had career years. They have a nice trio if young pitching in Francis/Jimenez/Morales.  Aaron Cook has only once had 200 IP in his career.  Plus, I think Francis will fall off a little bit and Morales is not quite ready for an entire season.
   1. Offense: They got amazing years from just about every regular.  It’s easy to forget that this team was in 4^th place for about 90% of the season.  They had to win 14 of 15 and win a play-in game to make the playoffs.  They are a much better team than anyone thought but I don’t think they are perennial pennant contenders…yet.
   2. Make or Break – Ubaldo Jimenez/Franklin Morales – They both need to pitch well for an entire season in the bigs.  Jimenez was electric in the playoffs, Morales was very inconsistent.
4. San Diego Padres – Their inability to land a big bat will cost them once again.  Though, had Chris Young stayed healthy this team probably wins the NL West.  At some point Hoffman and Maddux will falter and I think that is this year, although this is now the 5^th straight year someone has predicted that.  Both will be serviceable but not above average.
   1. Offense: I still can’t believe Khalil Greene hit 27 HR’s last year.  Is he buddies with Jose Guillen or Paul Byrd? With Adrian Gonzalez, they combined to hit 57 HR’s.  They also lost Mike Cameron and his 21 Hr’s.  I just can’t see this team surviving in the NL West.
   2. Make or Break – Kevin Kouzmanoff.  After struggling to start his rookie year, he ended up with 18 HR’s.  He’ll have to hit close to 30 to provide another big bat for their offense.
5. San Francisco Giants – I don’t understand Brian Sabean and the Giants.  They sign Aaron Rowand to a huge 5 year deal.  But this team is terrible offensively and have no hope in the near future to turn it around.  Barry Zito is going to always be a bust.  Only bright spot is Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum.  Their two best prospects are 19 and 17.  It would make sense to trade Cain and Linceum for a bunch of prospects.  Just because 2008 is going to terrible doesn’t mean 2012 does too.  It’s going to be a long couple of years.  Their offense isn't even worth discussing.
   1. Make or Break – Barry Zito.  If he’s awful, they’ll be the worst team in baseball.  If he’s just bad, they’ll be the worst team in the NL.

American League East

1. New York Yankees – They may end up with 3 rookies in the rotation by mid-summer, but that’s only a problem if the rookies aren’t very good.  Hughes, Kennedy and Chamberlain are 3 of the best in the game.  With Andy Pettitte, Mike Mussina, and Kei Igawa the Yankees also have some veteran SP depth.  Though I think Joba Chamberlain is better off in the bullpen providing that shut down 8^th before Rivera’s 9^th..  I also would expect them to make a trade for a veteran SP this season.
   • Offense: Development of Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera are important.  But Yankees really need resurgent years from Damon, Giambi, Abreu and Matsui.  Their offense will be a bigger question mark than their pitching
   • Make or Break – Andy Pettitte.  He has to be healthy most of the season or the starting pitching will crumble.  That and the guy who dyes A-Rod’s hair.  In order to play good, A-Rod must feel good.
2. Boston Red Sox – Injury to Curt Schilling hurts.  Beckett will start the year on the DL.  Wakefield, the Dick Clark of baseball, is in his 40’s.  Jon Lester has never pitched more than 150 IP in his career and only twice as eclipsed 100 IP.  Dice K is probably the kind of SP that year in and year out is 15-12 with an ERA close to 4 and not the ace he was expected to be.  Their bullpen is a strength with Papelbon the best in the bigs.
   • Offense:  Manny and Ortiz lead the way.  Pedroia, Youkilis, Ellsbury and Varitek all provide different contributions but are incredibly important.  JD Drew and Julio Lugo will try to justify their contracts again this season
   • Make or Break – Clay Buchholz.  After last year’s no-hitter, he was shut down.  If he can turn in a season long performance that is ace worthy, it could re-establish the Red Sox as the team to beat.  If not, they could continue to morph into the Yankees, just a couple of years behind.
3. Tampa Bay Devil Rays – Call me crazy, but when you get rid of a guy who attacked an umpire and get rid of a guy who texted a picture of a handgun to his girlfriend with the message, “You dead, dawg”, its probably going to improve the team chemistry.  Add in some veterans, specifically Troy Percival and Cliff Floyd and this teams talent should take off.  SP of Kazmir, Shields, Garza and other youngsters waiting could really elevate this team
   • Offense:  Led by Crawford, Upton and Pena the team has speed, power and everything in between and could get even better if uber prospect 3B Evan Longoria is called up in the first half of the season.
   • Make or Break – Scott Kazmir.  If he can bounce back and be healthy, Tampa Bay could use young pitching to acquire some more needs offensively or in the bullpen.  If not, they will have to continue to be patient.
4. Toronto Blue Jays – Team has been rife with controversy at the managerial position and in the GM spot.  That usually doesn’t translate to a whole lot of on the field success.  Roy Halladay and AJ “If he stays healthy for the whole season” Burnett will anchor the rotation, followed by McGowan, Litsch and Marcum.  You haven’t heard of them now and with the exception of McGowan, you probably won’t by the end of the season.
   • Offense: Rios, Wells, Hill, Big Hurt, Overbay could be one of the best in the AL or one of the most disappointing.
   • Make or Break - Vernon Wells.  Makes too much money to underachieve.  Toronto needs offense to be able to keep up with Boston and New York and then just cross their fingers with their pitching.
5. Baltimore Orioles – Add them to the list of teams that will flourish once their owner, in this case Peter Angelos, is no longer in office (Pirates, Royals and Twins fit that bill).  Until then, Baltimore will have some exciting young players in Adam Jones and Nick Markakis to watch and really not a lot of other reasons.
   • Make or Break – Adam Jones.  No, not Pac Man and it shouldn’t be held against him that he has the same name.  The former Seattle super prospect that was centerpiece of Erik Bedard trade has a ton of talent.  He could give Baltimore the most dynamic pair of OF’ers in the MLB or another reason for Oriole fans to hate their own team if he disappoints.

AL Central

1. Detroit Tigers – 3 major off season acquisitions make this team really interesting.  Edgar Renteria, Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis make this team a competitor with the Indians and add to an arsenal of a team that just made it to the World Series in 2006.  Plus, we’ll find out if it was a change of scenery that was needed or basically an entire arm transplant for Dontrelle Willis.  The bullpen is a mess without Joel Zumaya, who is likely done for the entire season.
   1. Offensively, they are an absolute force.  Sheffield, Ordonez, Guillen, Granderson, Renteria and Cabrera. That’s ridiculous.
   2. Make of Break – Dontrelle Willis and Jeremy Bonderman.  If you went back 3 years, these two were on the verge of super stardom.  Now they are both on the verge of being journeyman.  If both figure it out, Detroit will be clear AL favorite.
2. Cleveland Indians – Very similar to the Tigers.  Lots of offense, some great pitching at the top but suspect in rotation depth and bullpen.  Sabathia will have contract status discussed all season and that impact could go either way with his performance.  Carmona will have to duplicate last year and Byrd will have to do it without HGH.  Joe Borowski in the bullpen is scary and no real attractive options to close other than Borowski..  AL Central may be decided by who is able to trade for Chad Cordero or Huston Street.
   1. Offensively: Grady Sizemore will continue to improve with Hafner, Victor Martinez and Jhonny Peralta.  More holes offensively with Garko, Cabrera, Jason Michaels and Franklin Gutierrez than the Tigers but still a very good mone.
   2. Make or Break – Joe Borowski.  Team has limited window with CC’s contract.  If the bullpen can’t nail down wins, it could be a long season.
3. Chicago White Sox – Seems like a team in turmoil.  Despite moves to trade Garland, sign Swisher and trade for Quentin, it’s not clear what direction this team is going.  Perhaps it has something, probably everything to do with their manager who wields too much power.  SP is strong at the top with Buerhle and Vasquez but after that a couple of questions marks in Jose Contreras and Jon Danks.  Bullpen has Bobby Jenks, who continues to be very good.
   1. Offensively – Thome, Konerko, Swisher, Dye, O.Cabrera give it a lot of juice.  They’ll all need to play well to try and catch Detroit or Cleveland.
   2. Make or Break – Jose Contreras.  Joining El Duque, Livian Hernandez and Dikembo Mutomobo, Lebron James and Greg Oden on the All- How Old Are They Really? Team.  If he can pitch as he did 2 years ago, White Sox could be right there with Indians and Tigers.
4. Kansas City Royals – 2008 will be remembered for the Royals and Rays getting out of the basement, well if you are a Royals or Rays fan.  Royals have some great young talent, some interesting arms and at this point a bit more hope than the Twins after the Santana trade.
   1. Make or Break – Gil Meche.  While he pitched effectively last season, it’s still no where near enough to justify massive contract.  Per financials, if he’s bad, Royals have no shot next 4 seasons at anything.
5. Minnesota Twins – Not only did they lose Santana, but they also traded Matt Garza and I’m not sure they have the depth to sustain both those losses.  Francisco Liriano starts out in the minors and they may have a strong second half but I think the purse tightening finally catches up to them
   1. Make or Break – Carlos Gomez.  If he provides to be a good to very good player, Twins fans won’t despair over Johan Santana, as much.

AL West

1. Seattle Mariners – Maybe the strongest rotation from 1-5 in the American League.  Erik Bedard, Felix Hernandez, Jarrod Washburn, Miguel Batista and Carlos Silva give the Mariners a bunch of reliable innings eaters to go with their two aces at the top.  JJ Putz and some other young arms make up a formidable bullpen.
   1. If Richie Sexson can bounce back and hit closer to career average of .260 than the Mendoza line, Seattle could have a potent lineup.  Ichiro, Beltre, Ibanez, Betancourt, J.Lopez, Jojima, Vidro and Wilkerson are all pesky players with some pop.
   2. Make or Break – Richie Sexson – Any Dback fans still want to complain about letting this guy go? 
2. LA Angels of Anaheim – John Lackey could be out for a long time, Kelvim Escobar is likely out for the season and after that there is lots of youth.  Jered Weaver, Dustin Mosely, Ervin Santana and Joe Saunders will make up rotation with Jon Garland.  Still a strong closer in K-Rod but their bullpen hasn’t been the same without an effective Scott Shields.
   1. Young hitters have not produced as expected, you’d much rather have the Dbacks than Angels at this point.  Torii Hunter gives team some more thump, but instead of spending all that money on Hunter and Matthews Jr last two year, it would have been better off finding true protection for Vlad Guerrero.
   2. Make or Break – Ervin Santana.  If he can pitch this season everywhere like he pitched at home (6-4, 3.27) Angels can survive early injuries.  If not, they make dig themselves into a tough hole.
3. Oakland A’s – Along with the White Sox, team may have biggest inadvertent impact on AL champs than any other team.  With Joe Blanton, Rich Harden and Huston Street all potentially available, lots of teams will be rooting for the A’s to struggle.  But if Harden is healthy, A’s may have a strong enough staff to compete well into the summer and push back any potential firesale.
   1. Offensively – They could be pretty bad.  They need Barton, Suzuki, Buck and others to develop this season to not be amongst the worst in baseball.
   2. Make or Break – Rich Harden, with Bobby Crosby and Eric Chavez not far behind.
4. Texas Rangers – Remember a few years ago when the Rangers had a lot of really good, young talent but no pitching.  Well, the KC Chiefs of MLB are now a not very young team with no real pitching after consistently failing to address those pitching needs.
   1. Make or Break – Josh Hamilton.  Could be 40 HR guy making offense really good or could be injury prone again and leave offense weak

AL Wild Card: Cleveland Indians

AL Championship: Tigers over the Yankees

AL MVP: Alex Rodriguez

AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander

Since the beginning of the semester, we have had two interns helping us out around the station and during my show.  Though they are not allowed to make eye contact or address anyone by their first name, so far they have been excellent in their abilities to answer phones.  As a reward for good behavior, I'm publishing Intern Tom's first blog on the Arizona Wildcat Basketball season.  He's a journalism major at UofA and one of the finest human beings I have ever met.  Actually, only one of those things is true.  Anyway, here's his first crack in the hyper competitive world of blogging...

 INTERN TOM's BLOG

The 2007-08 season was a trying one for anyone who bleeds red and blue. From Lute going on a sabbatical to the early first round exit (again) it was a rough one to watch.

The guards for the ‘Cats were the bright points for the team. Nic Wise was the surprise of the season, after having to watch Mustafa Shakur for a year you would have figured that he would have regressed but he should that he could control the ball and run the team. Jerryd Bayless was the star of the team. He was absolutely dominant when Wise went out with the injury and showed the promise that many thought he when coming out of high school. Chase Budinger went from being the leader and returning hero of the team to Amelia.

The big men for UofA struggled, Jordan Hill was in foul trouble for half the season, Fendi is strong and good for 4 fouls a game, Jamelle Horne showed some promise when Kevin O’Neill let him out of the doghouse and Kirk Walters should have taken the shot against UCLA instead of passing (joking, why was he in the game at the point anyways?).

Now that the 2007-08 season is done (finally), it is time to see what lies ahead for the 2008-09 season.

Coaches

Lute Olson: The white haired one has said he is coming back and that he will fulfill his contract through 2011. Many people are excited to see Coach O back at the helm after whatever Kevin O’Neill was doing on the sidelines. Olson will bring the up tempo style back to UA that this team needs in order to score. Will we see zone defense? You better believe it.

Around the beginning of the school year, expect to see Olson announce that he will retire after the upcoming season. Olson did not want to retire with the disaster that was the 07-08 season and will want to go out with dignity and class. Plus it will help bring some closure to not only Olson but Tucson. There is a possibility of the team announcing a head coach in waiting. My sleeper pick is former Stanford coach Mike Montgomery. Which brings us too…

Kevin O’Neill: Au revoir, Adios, Hasta La Vista. No matter what language you speak there is no other way to put it, KO is gone. The body language, the avoidance of the topic in his press conference, everything says that he is leaving. Sure UA will have to buy him out and we will hear about how much money the athletic department had to spend to get rid of him but it is worth the money.

The riff between KO and Olson is too wide and mostly from KO’s side. Olson talked to players “behind KO’s back” and we heard about through “anonymous sources” (I wonder who it was? hint hint). The style of play between the two coaches clashed. KO offering recruits scholarships that Olson says he has no interest in even talking to. Even the style of calling timeouts, “TO” using them all up in the first half while Olson saves them and uses them in the last two minutes. Plus, how will KO deal with going from calling the shots one year to being a minor voice on the team?

Replacement: Former UA assistant and Oregon State coach Jay John

Josh Pastner: Pastner has a coaching spot as long as Olson is the coach. He is the best recruiter on the coaching staff and is probably the coach that players can relate to most. There has been rumors that he is up for the Rice head coaching job. This could be a good audition for him taking over the Arizona basketball program in 10 years, maybe even 5.

Miles Simon: Wow, did Lute blow the Reggie Geary thing or what? Expect him to leave due to “personal reasons”.

Replacement: I would like to see them right their mistake and have Reggie Geary back but another possibility is another former UA aide Jessie Evans.

Players

Jerryd Bayless: The best player from the team would benefit from another year in the program. His left hand is weak and can sometimes play out of control and take bad shots. OK, I’m getting picky but it would be nice to see him back. The downside of him coming back is 1) he gets hurt or 2) he does not get as many touches with Brandon Jennings at the point. Both of these could hurt his draft stock.

Bayless’ decision: With the fifth pick in the NBA Draft the _____ pick…Jerryd Bayless.

Chase Budinger: Chase was a ghost for half of the season. You did not know what you were going to get with Chase. Sometimes he would be lights out and score 25 and other nights Wilma the Wildcat showed more aggression on the court. Chase NEEDS another year to learn to become more of a leader and more aggressive on the court. Teams are licking their chops at getting an athlete that can shoot and jump out of the gym but the passion is lacking for Chase.

Budinger’s decision: Chase will be the feature on the Arizona men’s basketball media guide for his last season.

Jordan Hill: Hill is the biggest question mark of them all for these three and is the most important player for UofA to get back next season. Without him they have no proven post presence and their next best option is incoming freshman Jeff Withey. Hill could use another season to refine his low post moves and not rely on his jumper so much. Hill has off the court issues that could lead to him leaving. He is at best a second-rounder this season and would benefit greatly with staying another year when the talent in next year’s draft is worse and putting on some weight to bang with the pros.

Hill’s decision: He’ll be back and if Kevin Love and Brook Lopez leave, he’ll be the best big man in the Pac-10.

Nic Wise: There have been rumors that if the above three come back that Wise would leave because he would be coming off the bench again. Wise will most likely lose the starting PG spot to Brandon Jennings if Bayless stays but BJ would move to SG if Bayless leaves. Wise improved over the offseason and will only get better after recovering from knee surgery.

Wise’s decision: Wise will be the heart and soul of next year’s squad dishing assists and starting the break alongside Brandon Jennings for Olson.

Jamelle Horne: Most of you are thinking why are you putting a guy who hardly played in the top 5 question marks for next year? Well, Horne will play a big role and will either start or be the first one off the bench depending on what others decide. Horne was solid on defense but made mental errors on offense. Most of those errors can be attributed to being afraid to make mistakes and being pulled by KO.

Horne’s decision: 42 stays. He’ll play a big role for the ‘Cats coming off the bench to give the starters a breather, something they did not get all season.

Athletic Director Jim Livengood: After he apparently wanted to let KO take over and let Olson go, he is second to KO on the hot seat. Lute has enough pull in the community to make anything happen, so getting on his bad side is not a good idea. Livengood has done a terrible job at hiring coaches (that’s an understatement), so why should he be allowed to hire a replacement? He shouldn’t and the University should start their first job search over the summer with finding an athletic director who has a good track record of hiring coaches. (Especially if the football team falls short, again.)

I couldn’t believe how many people were complaining about the NCAA tournament after the first day.  You can’t complain about the NCAA tournament.  That’s like complaining about Christmas gifts on Christmas Day.; its just poor form.  After spending an inordinate number of hours watching the first four days of games, here are some thoughts:

Biggest Upset: If I had to pick a game, it would be Davidson over Georgetown.  Stephen Curry, whose nickname should be Baby Stevie, drops 30 on the Hoyas after an opening round total of 40.  He looks like Jason Kidd’s son’s head on a college player’s body, it’s a little disturbing.  But he is a force from the outside.  Davidson will now take on Wisconsin in the Sweet 16 and as is the case with every opponent against Wisconsin, the biggest challenge will be not falling asleep.  I’m starting to think Kirk Walters caught his mono from the Wisconsin tournament game in 2006.

Biggest Upset that didn’t happen in a game:  I was shocked that  Mike Krzyzewski didn’t start gnawing on a wheel of cheese late in the game versus Belmont and West Virginia.  I imagine he winds down after a game by running on a giant enclosed wheel. 

Best Team in Tournament: Its hard to argue with North Carolina at this point.  Also, Kansas is doing a good job of making that case as well.  If this plays out as it should, and c’mon if March Madness is anything its predictable, UNC and Kansas will meet in the Final Four and we’ll be subjected to an endless barrage of Roy Williams vs. Kansas pieces when in realty the move likely benefited both Williams and Kansas.

Worst Team in Tournament: Vanderbilt.  The Commodores lost by 21 as a 4 seed to Siena.  Most college basketball fans probably couldn’t tell you which state Vanderbilt or Siena resides in but the Commodores nonetheless were able to embarrass whichever state they belong to (Its Tennessee, Vandy is in Nashville).

Worst Uniforms: Marquette.  Good lord, didn’t Marquette learn anything from the 95-01 Vancouver Grizzlies.  Where did those uniforms come from?  They look like someone threw up some Easter Peeps and they decided to keep it as their uniform. 

Biggest Letdown: USC.  Their athleticism neutralized by Kansas St. just muscling them all over the court.  USC was the biggest victim of Pac 10 officiating.  Protected all season by officials who do not allow the slightest bit of contact, the Trojans played a rough and tumble Kansas St. team, a team partially recruited by Bob Huggins, and didn’t know how to respond.  They needed to push the tempo all game and use their athleticism to spread K State out, but they didn’t know how to react to not hearing a whistle every 15 seconds.

Back with a breakdown of the Best Sweet 16 games later this week.

Andy Katz will join us on Happy Hour tomorrow, tune in at 5:25 PM.

I attended the Phoenix Suns vs. San Antonio Spurs game on Sunday, a game in which the Suns battled back from a 6 point 4^th quarter deficit to eventually win.  It was my first NBA game attended in person of the season and first one in 2 years that I attended as an actual fan and not a member of the media.  Everyone thinks getting media passes to games is one of the great perks of working in radio, but the reality is attending sporting events as a member of the media absolutely neuters you and desensitizes you to what it means to actually attend as a fan.  You remain emotionless and unbiased for so many games; it takes a long time to get back into heckling mode.  Regardless, attending the Suns game reminded me that so much of the entertainment comes from just watching and noting fan behavior.  Some notes from the aforementioned Suns/Spurs game:

• Courtside for this game was Muhammad Ali (rousing standing ovation) and John McCain (fans sort of confused whether to stand and applaud or not, most applauded).  Suns courtside celebrities are the only ones who actually exceed the age of 4 of their starting 5.
• A couple of rules to remember if you are attending a live sporting event, but specifically a NBA game

1. Don’t wear a button down shirt – I know the constant hip hop music blasting in the arena makes it seem like you are actually going to a club.  But you aren’t.  It’s a sporting event.  Dress like it.

2. Don’t tuck your shirt in - Same as above.  People are coming to games to be reminded of work, they are coming to escape it.  This especially applies if you are daring to wear jean shorts (jorts).  Never, EVER, under any circumstance should you be tucking something into jorts.  It’s not even acceptable to wear them if you are under the age of 35.

3.  If you are going to ogle the cheerleaders, sit down in your seat and do it – During one timeout, the cheerleaders came onto the floor and the smattering of dudes who were still standing and staring just came off as extremely creepy.  Windowless-van- with-airbrushed-castle-and-unicorn-on-side-creepy.

4.  Try to contain yourself for the free t-shirt – I don’t understand why people get so rabid over a cheap, screen printed t-shirt which will likely fade into the rag pile after about 6 washes.  Unless there are just thousands of homeless people masquerading as sports fans, there is no rational explanation for the behavior fans display trying to get a free t shirt. 

5.  If you are going to heckle, you either be bringing some decent heckling material or be prepared to be heckled yourself.  I would like to see all sub par hecklers heckled themselves if they have weak game.

6.  Whenever the “Everybody clap your hands” song comes on, DO NOT clap your hands.  It’s like a children’s instructional song masquerading as acceptable fare for a sporting event.  The more people that clap, the more it encourages teams to employ these insulting tactics. Only clap when you are reacting to what’s happening on the floor, not by some random, terrible song.

Back with more later in the week.

Its been an NHL-like start to the NFL free agency period.  So many players, who fans have never heard of, signing big contracts without any real explanation other than “We’ve got lots of money”.  The NFL is truly an interesting financial specimen.  It may be the only league where rookies and free agents du jour are the highest paid players in the league.  Consider Alan Faneca’s new contract that makes him the highest paid offensive lineman in the NFL.  Or Calvin Pace becoming one of the highest paid LB’s in NFL history.  It just doesn’t make a lot of sense.  The worst position you can be in financially in the NFL is a veteran Pro Bowl player.  You’ll just become frustrated with all the money being thrown around.  Is it really worth it to be a Pro Bowl player in the NFL and spend the next 40 years of your life with knee and back problems plaguing your every step?  When you consider Cleo Lemon, Billy Volek and Todd Collins all got 3 million per year to be backup QB’s, the answer is a resounding “No!”

Seriously, aren’t they backups for a reason?  What characteristics do teams use to determine whether Cleo Lemon or Billy Volek is their guy?  How they look in a headset?  Clipboard skills?  Their ability to inflate the starter’s ego?  If I ever have a son, I want him to be just good enough to make the NFL and just barely not good enough to start. 

So if you’re counting, I’m hoping any potential children end up as highly paid assistant coaches or backup QB’s.  Set your goals about midlevel, kids.

         Overall I thought it was a very average year for the Super Bowl commercials.  I think this has a lot to do with the realization of ad agencies that smart, funny commercials work at any point in the year.  Due to this, companies spend more on commercials throughout the year and as a result it makes it more difficult for Super Bowl commercials to separate themselves from the rest of the year.  There used to be a huge difference in the quality of commercials during the Super Bowl and commercials you see on a random June night on NBC.  It was almost like preseason vs. postseason in terms of quality of play.  Now, it’s the post season year round.  Without further ado, here are my thoughts on every commercial that aired during the Super Bowl and my rankings of the 3 best and the 3 worst.

Best Commercials

n      These are the commercials that at the very least made me consider actually laughing.  Sometimes I actually followed through with a chuckle to a hearty laugh.  Some got the groan and some just a disgusted shake of the head.  Either way, at least they didn’t completely suck.

Bud Light – Breathe Fire.  This was the 1^st commercial and it was a decent start.  Wasn’t there a fast food commercial recently with a guy inadvertently setting the place on fire because of the hot food?  Still, it made me chuckle.

Diet Pepsi Max – Buck/Aikman.  Everyone was falling asleep in this commercial and I was envious.  If I could have fallen asleep for the 60 seconds of airtime, I would have loved that.  Just not very funny.

Bud Light – Wine and Cheese Party Beer Smuggling.  Standard fare beer commercial.  Not Super Bowl worthy but Bud Light isn’t going to knock it out of the park on every commercial.

Under Armor – A Name that Athlete Commercial, which is always fun; Oh, look there’s Vernon Davis.  Vernon Davis has made a bigger impact on Under Armor than he has for the 49ers.  If he they ever create a position on a football team that would enable the player to stand on the sideline in Under Armor gear, Davis would be an All Pro.  He’s the offensive Mike Mamula.  I was really hoping that commercial would have ended in “We must protect this house!”; that would have got me all fired up.

Bridgestone – Guy avoiding hitting a squirrel and rest of forest creatures are reacting; I believe this commercial is negated with some insight from George Constanza: “Squirrels?  We got no deal with them!”

CarMax – Shipping the Ships.  Pretty funny spot, especially using ‘ship’ in place of an expletive.  That’s always a fan favorite.

FedEx – Carrier Pigeons gone awry.  Pigeons seem to be making a comeback after this commercial follows on the heels of the 5 page Sports Illustrated article about pigeons.  Nothing can stop the pigeons from taking over now.

Cars.com – Ring of Fire wrestling match. Solid showing by cars.com.  If you are going to be selling used cars, might as well have people laugh at it to distract them from how painful it actually is to buy a used car.

Tide – Talking stain on shirt. Favorite commercial of the night.  I don’t know why but I laughed the loudest at this commercial.  It had the best payoff of the night after not knowing what was going on through most of the commercial.  Plus, the guy who was wearing the stained shirt was the strangest looking dude I’ve seen in awhile.

Budweiser – Dalmatian training Clydesdale a la Rocky.  Clever installment in the Clydesdale Budweiser series.  Here’s how bad it has gotten for me though.  I was immediately skeptical that the horse had used HGH.  We’ll never know, there’s no test!  That horse will live in suspicion for the rest of its life.

Toyota Corolla – Sleeping badgers.  The funniest car commercial of the night and the closest to being effective.  I would be interested in a car that is very quiet inside but probably not one that helps me avoid hitting a squirrel or one that apparently murders other cars, like an Audi.

Planters cashews – Perfume for ugly girl.  Why did the ugly girl have to have red hair?  This is a perfect example of the kind of treatment redheads have to deal with on a daily basis.  The biggest victory redheads have had recently was when the lead character for the ABC show Ugly Betty was not a redhead.  We still have much work to do however.

T Mobile – Barkley/Wade.  Next installment in this ad campaign.  I always enjoy the Barkley/Wade commercials and this one actually seemed like it was possible.  I could imagine Barkley bugging Wade constantly.  Only problem with this commercial is that even though it was the Super Bowl, there was probably a decent amount of viewers who didn’t know who Dwyane Wade was.

Pepsi – Justin Timberlake.  Mildly amusing but more annoying than amusing.  No matter how hard he tries, Justin Timberlake will never be forgiven for being a part of N’Sync.  And because of that, he will always be annoying.

Doritos – Mouse Trap with Doritos.  Giant mouse pummeling the guy was solid at the very end.  I was still miffed at Doritos for having a musical act in their first commercial

Cars.com – Witch Doctor as Plan B.  Again, solid showing for cars.com.  Nothing out of the ordinary just solid all around.  A Shane Battier performance, if you will.

Vitamin Water – Shaq as a jockey.  It’s actually more believable today that Shaq is a jockey than an actual NBA player worthy of being featured in a Super Bowl campaign.

Bud Light – Caveman inventions.  We’ve seen the caveman spoof a few too many times but still worth a chuckle.

Bridgestone – Avoiding hitting Richard Simmons.  Is it bad that it would have been a better commercial if Richard Simmons would have actually been hit?

E-Trade – Talking baby with vomit at end.  If you are going to do a talking baby who sounds like an adult, this is the way to do it.  But again, we’ve seen this gimmick before.

Bud Light – Makes you fly.   Guy sucked into airplane after being able to fly.  Believing a beer can make you fly is okay but believing a man could survive being sucked into a 757’s engine is where I draw the line of believability.

Jack In the Box – Jack in hot tub.  I immediately liked it because I’m on board with everything Jack does. A Jack sandwich? They nailed it with the other couple, they were just gross.  Interestingly enough, it was the second commercial of the night that joked about making a sandwich with 2 other people, other being the Bud Light Carlos Mencia commercial.

Coke  - Stewie and Underdog.  Stewie and Underdog parade balloons battle it out for bottle of Coke balloon, only to lose to Charlie Brown.  I’m a sucker for nostalgia so I was fired up to see Charlie Brown and Underdog. 

Coke – Carville and Frist becoming buddies.  It’s hard to look at the screen when James Carville is on it.  He is just a frightening looking dude.

E Trade – Talking baby #2. Hiring a clown and then commenting on his creepiness was good stuff.  Definitely the better of the 2 E trade talking baby commercials.

Gatorade – Man’s best friend commercial with dog lapping up water.  I liked it, I’m a sucker for dog commercials.

Bud Light – Will Ferrell as Jackie Moon.  It doesn’t bother me that all of his characters are the same.  It still works.  Jackie Moon is Ron Burgundy sans moustache and on his lunch break playing basketball at the Y.

3 Best Commercials

1. Tide Stainstick

2. Bud Light – Will Ferrell as Jackie Moon

3. Coke – Underdog/Stewie/Charlie Brown

Movie Previews

n      If the SuperBowl is any indication of the kind of movies we can expect over the next year, you better stock up on DVD’s.  Uninspiring.

Wanted – Seriously, this movie looks like it’s for people that have a disturbing fascination with guns.  And Angelina Jolie.  Let’s just hope its Angelina Jolie.

Iron Man – Robert Downey Jr. as a comic book hero? I don’t think so.  Plus the comic book adaptation to movie just doesn’t work well anymore.

Leather Heads  - This is an HBO movie.  I would not go to the theatre or rent it but would probably check it out on HBO when I’m completely bored.

Chronicles of Narnia – I didn’t see the first one and won’t see this one.  I credit the Chronicles of Narnia of curing me of my fantasy book curiosity in elementary school.  I read them and didn’t particularly enjoy them and then I realized I didn’t like fiction fantasy books.  And my life has been better off ever since that revelation.

Wall E – I wonder how much Hanks and Allen got to do that commercial, reprising their voice work for Buzz and Woody? I’d guess at least a million or two.  What’s this movie about?  Are the Toy Story characters in it? What did that robot just do with the vacuum cleaner? Is that the robot from Short Circuit?  I could go on for 10 minutes.

Jumper - This movie looks terrible.  I don’t know how else to put it.

Zohan - First comedy of Adam Sandler’s that actually looks like he’s not mailing it in since The Wedding Singer.  Look at his imdb page.  Click?  Little Nicky?  The Longest Yard?  All terrible.  This could be decent and it was probably the best movie preview of the night.

Worst Commericals

n      These are the commercials that represent the biggest waste of money.  And I don’t believe that if you make a bad commercial people talk about it and that represents a good return in your Super Bowl investment.  Bad is bad.

Audi – Old man waking up with car grill in bed.  A Godfather rip off for a car company is a terrible idea.  Why am I creeped out by this commercial?  Why would this make me want to buy an Audi?

SalesGenie – animated spot.  Winner for least return on investment and company most likely to not be around for next years Super Bowl.  This commercial feels like it should be playing on the 12 AM – 4 AM schedule on Spike TV between ring tone commercials and dating hotlines, not the SuperBowl.

Doritos – Contest winner singing a song.  I completely forget her name because guitar playing singers are a dime a dozen.  And why does Doritos care about featuring young musicians?  What possible connection is there to ridiculously unhealthy but delicious chips?  By the way did you know in Japan they have Honey Butter – flavored Doritos.

Godaddy.com – Danica Patrick.  I’m shocked she doesn’t get the same respect as other drivers.  Godaddy.com’s entire existence is based on Super Bowl commercials.  It begs the question, would the company exist without the Super Bowl?  And is the whole meaning of the Super Bowl directly related to the existence of godaddy.com?  Chew on that for, oh 3 seconds.

Dell – Buy Dell, go Red.  Odd commercial, the first one that left me confused.  Go Communist?  Why is Dell supporting Communism?

Garmin – Napoleon.  Bad commercial.  One of the worst.  The whole car chase buildup, winding through obviously more modern European streets, leading to Napoleon getting out was just ill conceived.  I’m more concerned that there may be people out there that actually don’t know that Napoleon didn’t exist at the same time as the automobile.

Careerbuilder.com – Heart jumping out of lady’s chest and into boss’s office.  Tasteless commercial, I really didn’t like this one.  Worst commercial of the night.  Someone is losing their job over this one because the response is going to be overwhelming negative.  Careerbuilder.com may be the only thing that was an even bigger loser than the Patriots in this year’s Super Bowl.

Sobe – Lizards dancing to thriller with  Naomi Campbell.  Again, who cares about Naomi Campbell.  Isn’t she a terrible person who beats up all of her assistants?  Why is hiring her any better than employing PacMan Jones?

Bud Light – Carlos Mencia.  As soon as Carlos Mencia comes on my screen, I get negative.  He’s awful.

Sales Genie – Animated panda’s.  Again, worst commercials.  Thank you for reminding me of how much money you wasted Sales Genie.  Does your product sell tips on how to completely mis-sell products?  If so, that would be ironic.

Taco Bell – Fiesta Platters – Doesn’t work in Tucson.  If you are going to Taco Bell, there’s something wrong with you.

Careerbuilder.com – Firefly being swallowed by spider.  Just not a good showing for careerbuilder.  Might want to stop talking for awhile, careebuilders.com.

Icebreakers – Carmen Electra.  When are we going to get new models and actresses for commercials? Carmen Electra and Naomi Campbell?  I wouldn’t want to touch ANYTHING that Carmen Electra uses or has used.  What’s next? Cindy Crawford and Christie Brinkley? 

AMP – Fat guy dancing, jumper cables on nipple clamps.  Bad commercial.  Nothing more to say about that.

American Idol – Big Ben singing.  This is going to come back and haunt Ben Roethlisberger.  I would play this after every incompletion at any stadium he was playing at next year and just have the whole stadium laugh at him.  How embarrassing.

3 Worst Commercials

1. Sales Genie

2. Careerbuilder.com

3. Garmin

Harmless Commercials

n      These are the commercials that barely registered a reaction.  They are also the category of commercials for companies that spend exorbitant amounts of money on Super Bowl airtime but refuse to actually produce a Super Bowl quality commercial.  I don’t understand that at all.  Why not take the 2+ million dollars and just run these commercials many more times during less expensive programming?

G2 – Derek Jeter. Enough to get my juices flowing for baseball season.  Less than a month!

GMC -  Hybrid. Premise of the commercial was that no one ever thought it was possible to have hybrid vehicles.  Actually, most people have believed for years that hybrids were completely possible and the disbelief comes in how long its taken to actually get them.

Anti Drug commercial  - Started out with guy as a drug dealer and I was expecting it to be something funny, turns out its an anti-drug commercial.  There’s still something funny about that.

Hyundai – The fact that Jeff Daniels does the voiceover for the Hyundai commercials is great.  It would be even better if he did them as the Dude from Big Lebowski.

NFL Ad – Chester Pitts and Ephraim Salaam. Actually a really cool story and about 100 times better than any commercial that could have potentially starred Michael Strahan.

Sunsilk – Marilyn Monroe, Shakira and Madonna.  Why is the image of Marilyn Monroe being used to sell shampoo today?  It that a posthumous endorsement?  It was an odd trio of spokeswomen.

Toyota Sequoia – Downhill power wheel racing.  Looked fun, but not sure how big of a demographic the downhill power wheel racing people are.

Hyundai – Mentioning the USA Today ad meter – Don’t worry Hyundai, noboby actually cares enough about your commercials this year to rate them.  Except me, apparently.

Victoria’s Secret  - Standard.

Dodge Charger – Design Center.   Harmless but at the same time why would you spend this much on a Super Bowl commercial that no one will ever remember?

It has been an interesting off season for the coaching carousel in the NFL this year.  Several high profile coaches left the league (Bobby Petrino, Joe Gibbs) and several other new head coaches have been hired with resumes skinnier than an anorexic Tayshaun Prince.  The decision to take a chance on an unproven coach or splurge on a veteran coach is fast becoming a big debate in the NFL.  Do you as a franchise cultivate a potential star coach at a reasonable price like Mike McCarthy, Mike Tomlin or Sean Payton or spend big money and hope Marty Schottenheimer figures out how to win in the playoffs or Bill Cowher’s spit showers are enough to motivate your players to win it all?

Several teams have made the decision to hire veteran NFL coaches and promote them to Head Coach this off season.  Eschewing recycled coaches and even coordinators in favor of hiring position coaches is all the rage in some NFL circles.  Tony Sparano, Mike Smith, and John Harbaugh are all sitting in offices right now thinking to themselves, “How the bleep did I get here?”  At this rate sometime in the near future, there will be age limits to prevent teenagers from becoming head coaches at too young of an age.  It’s all spiraling out of control. 

The lack of successful, experienced head coaches to recycle has been dwindling for years and forcing teams to make tough decisions.  The past two years, Joe Gibbs and Bill Parcells have called it quits with Tony Dungy and Mike Holmgren soon to follow.  Due to the lack of salary cap on coaching contracts, sometime in the near future NFL teams will throw boat loads of money at Bill Cowher, Steve Mariucci or any coach with a decent resume and a pulse.  Coordinators will start making head coaching money.  Jason Garrett and Al Saunders have already cracked this barrier.  Fans across the league will be lead to believe that without a 8 million dollar a year head coach, their team can’t win.  It’s not inconceivable that over the next few years, the best head coaches in the league will be making close to $10 million dollars per year.  So now as a parent instead of hoping your child is a left handed pitcher or has a freakishly strong kicking leg, parents will hope their children has a propensity to watch game tape and carry around large charts of plays.  Kids will grow up hoping to be the next Holmgren or Dungy or Shanahan.  The only exception will be when a son tells his father he doesn’t want to be a QB, he wants to be the next Bill Belicheck. It will be like the son slapping them in the face. Scores of kids will wear suits to recess and a fake moustache and stay up all night breaking down game tape instead of doing a book report on the Boston Tea Party. 

What’s my point in all of this?  The choice of paying John Harbaugh 2 million dollars to run your team or Bill Cowher 9 million dollars will soon be as important of a debate as Manning versus Leaf.  As an NFL fan, brace yourself for an era in which head coaches are synonymous with star players and their salaries.  And if you’re ambitious, start putting video of your Madden mastery on Youtube, because you never know the depths to which a desperate NFL franchise will reach to find the next great NFL coach.

Back with some NCAA Basketball thoughts, Super Bowl thoughts and more randomness in the near future.

jody