2005 Recap

Yet another year in the books, and yet another action packed 365 days for sports fans. Another Sox curse has been broken, UNC basketball is a shadow of the team that brought home the NCAA title in April, and you probably wouldn't know it but the NHL is back in session. Terrell Owens and the Eagles are far from the dominant NFC champion they were a year ago, the Pats "dynasty" appears on the brink, and Notre Dame and Penn State football have finally returned to their respective places in the Bowl Championship Series. Pat Riley and Phil Jackson are back on the sidelines with the Christmas matchup between the Heat and the Lakers reminiscent of the Bulls and the Knicks circa 1993. Baseball saw a first ballot Hall of Fame lock have his greatest moment only to piss it away with a positive steroid test weeks later. Since, 500 HR / 3,000 hit club member and Viagra spokesman Rafael Palmerio has become the laughing stock of Major League Baseball and the punchline to countless jokes. Baseball has since come up with a serious steroid testing policy addressing a problem it turned a blind eye to during the late 90s surge of the 60+ homer season. One offseason later, the once champion Red Sox look anything but familiar and the Evil Yankee Empire has turned yet another former beloved Sawx star to the Dark Side. Peyton Manning and the Colts chased the '72 Dolphins and their infamous modesty only to be stopped short by a San Diego team that will go down as one of the best in NFL history to miss the playoffs. Hurricane Katrinia destroyed a sports mecca in New Orleans former home to the NCAA Final Four and the Super Bowl not to mention the Saints and Hornets. Right on the other side of the ball drop USC will show if it can '3-Pete' and the Irish and Nittany Lions will try to prove they're back for good with bowl game victories. Peyton's first Ring is so close he can smell it, but likely not before he goes through Brady and the Pats one last time. Here's to 2006.

A Little College Hoops

Alright, I was dead wrong. I really expected Texas to be the ones cruising to victory over Duke not the other way around. But the Dukies got up for this one and did plenty to quiet the skeptics. Let's face it squeaking out wins against Memphis, Drexel, Indiana, and Virginia Tech didn't exactly instill an invincible image. But JJ Reddick absolutely exploded today with 41 points - he was 9-16 from 3pt land. Thats goddlike. So Reddick stepped up for the biggest game of the year so far and #1Duke rode his performance to a 30 point win against #2 Texas. The next non-conference game that could really give them some trouble is Bucknell at home January 2nd right before ACC play begins. Texas will probably drop out of the top 5 - Iowa doesn't look like so much of a strong win after losing to Northern Iowa and Iowa State; and West Virginia handed Texas a W by not making any free throws. #4 Villanova and its 4 guards continue to live up to the hype. A solid 9 point win over then #5 Oklahoma and the Wildcasts handled a competitive Bucknell team that they matched up well against beating them by 19. #8Florida has surprised everyone -they've beaten Wake Forest, Syracuse, and Providence but easy with the National title talk. Since their run in the 2000 tournament this team never gets past the 2nd round of the tournament. Yes its ridiculously early for tournament talk but it was fueled by overhearing people talk about how the Gators are heading for the title game. Slow down - Syracuse isn't exactly looking too good right now, and Wake lost Chris Paul. But its a very impressive start seeing the players Florida lost last year. #10 Illinois is doing just fine without Luther Head running to 9-0. In a rematch of last year's title game the Illini got a bit of revenge with a 68-64 win against North Carolina. #16 Indiana suffered a tough loss to Duke when Marco Killingsworth ran out of gas with about 6 minutes left in the game and went on to lose to rival Indiana St. earlier this week. The Hoosiers seem to be regrouping and have a 16 point lead over #15 Kentucky at halftime. #20 George Washington had a very good 8 point win over #17 Maryland and will face fellow ACC member #23 NC State in their last non conference game before Atlantic 10 play begins. Second only to Florida's great start is North Carolina cracking the Top 25 at #24 with a completely different team. The Tar Heels rebounded nicely from its loss to Illinois with a 4 point win over then #10 Kentucky. Syracuse has dropped out of the Top 25 after losses to Bucknell and Florida. The Orange have the talent there's no question about that and they're even finding star production in surprising places like junior Demetris Nichols who has put up two 24 point games. But their defense stinks, their rebounding stinks, and Gerry McNamara has been stinking it up as well shooting under 30% from the field and outside the arc. To get this team going they either gotta have Terrence Roberts and Daryl Watkins hit the glass or run a small lineup out there a la Villanova hoping they can shoot the lights out. They Orange still have a little bit of time left to figure out how they're gona deal with their problems but Big East play is getting closer by the day. The Orange show up against UConn, Villanova and the rest of the Big East elite playing like this and they'll get run out of the building.

The Hot Stove about to go up in Flames

So far the baseball offseason has been nothing short of exciting but with the winter meetings beginning in Dallas tomorrow, GM's around the league are just getting started. Some thoughts on a few early offseason moves:

Phillies sign Tom Gordon for 3 years $18 million: I'm very lukewarm about this signing. Yea the Phillies needed a closer since Billy Wagner left for the Mets but I would have rather seen them get Trevor Hoffman or maybe even let one of the younger guys like Robinson Tejada close games out. One of the keys to Tejada's success is that he was effectively wild - sounds like a closer to me. Flash is already lined up for failure - Philly is where closers who have had a slight amount of success come to die. Heathcliffe Slocumb, Jose Mesa, and Ricky Bottalico just to name a few. All these guys had some amount of success in their career but for the most part flopped in Philadelphia (Wagner being the obvious exception). Gordon seems to fit the profile of those first 3 guys. Gordon was fine as a setup man for the Yanks but in Chicago before that, he wasn't exactly a lights out closer for the Cubs. Not a huge fan of this signing.

Phillies trade Jim Thome to the White Sox for Aaron Rowand and two minor leaguers: It was about time. Nothing against Thome, he remained a class act throughout the whole ordeal but his time in Philadelphia had come to an obvious end. Ryan Howard is going to be a 40+ homer guy (22 in half a season) and this kid is the definition of a clutch hitter. Thome now that he's 35 and coming off an injury riddled season has got to be strictly a DH. He'll fit in perfectly in Chicago - he's a huge upgrade of Carl Everett. And ChiSox have prospect Brian Anderson fill the void left by Rowand in CF. The Phils get one of the best centerfielders in the game and Rowand has the potential to be a 20/20 guy. Also the two minor league pitchers the Phils got could be pitching in the big leagues within 2 years. Good trade for both teams but edge to the phils with the two lefty pitchers.

Mets spending like the Yankees to get Carlos Delgado and Billy Wagner: Maybe the Mets haven't been watching A Bronx Tale on the other side of town but someone should let GM Omar Minaya in on the fact that you can't always buy championships. No doubt Minaya is doing his best and by default New York has to be the front runner in the NL East. But starting pitching is still and issue. You can pencil Pedro in for 18-20 wins. But the rest of the rotation? Tom Glavine isn't getting any younger and isn't the Glavine the Braves knew and loved. Kris Benson may not even be in New York to start the season but if he is he's a decent #3 but not anything to write home about. And then what. Jay Seo? I seem to remember another New York team that had issues with an aging starting staff that typically trys to buy championships? Delgado, Cliff Floyd, David Wright, Jose Reyes, and Carlos Beltran (grossly underachieved last year). Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield, Alex Rodriguez, Hideki Matsui. And that was with Randy Johnson, supposed all star Carl Pavano, Chien Ming Wang, Mike Mussina and surprise stud Shawn Chacon. The Mets lineup is a little younger but I wouldn't buy those World Series tickets for the Amazin' Mets just yet. That being said a division title for the Mets would be a great success.

White Sox sign Paul Konerko to 5 years $60 million: There would have been a mutiny on the southside if the World Champs hadn't brought back their captain and clubhouse leader. It really wouldn't have made sense for Konerko to leave Chicago - He's loved by the fans, he's on a team that will contend to a repeat title, and he helped bring the southside its first World Series in 88 years. The Orioles never had a shot, who in their right mind would go to Baltimore. And allegedly the Angels were close to landing Konerko, but with that starting staff in Chitown the Sox have a better shot of contending for the title.

Rafael Furcal to the Dodgers. The Cubs seemed minutes away from landing one of the most coveted free agents and all of a sudden the Dodgers swept in and snagged him for their grasp. So Furcal lands in the city of angels but as far as overall impact, he's not gona put the Dodgers over the top. I wonder if those DUI's carry state to state.


Josh Beckett to the Red Sox. The Yankee killer lands in Boston and brings some help to a starting staff in disaray. Beckett has to stay healthy which has been an issue and he gets a lot of hype for being a career .500 pitcher. But he'll pitch a great game or two against the Yankees this year and every Sawx fan will love him if only for that.


Manny Ramirez and Bobby Abreu? I would love this trade for the Phillies. But its not going to happen. Ramirez and Ryan Howard would be like Manny and Big Papi all over again. Yes the Phillies need more starting pitching but Ramirez could legit hit 60 home runs at Citizens Bank. But these two could very possibly be in different cities by the end of the week.