State of Miami

Canes Blow Easy Win Vs Tar Heels

2008-09-27T15:16:00.002-04:00

This game was a tough one to watch. It's frustrating to see a team with superior talent consistently lose to inferior teams. North Carolina has Brandon Tate and nothing else on offense. I don't care if that sounds like I'm a sore loser. Fact is, UNC has limited talent and still pulled off a victory today in our home stadium after being down 14.

Sadly enough I'm not surprised. I'm disappointed, but not surprised. We seem to be cursed for some reason. Doesn't matter who we play at what position or what coach we have, our boys just fall apart. The defense today was a joke. Where was the tough play against the Gators? Our defensive backs have been just awful. Thank goodness we've been picking up some good DB recruits of late for the 09 class, because guys like Bruce Johnson need to be shown the door.

The defense cost us the game today, and Patrick Nix reverted to the offense we saw in Gainesville. Sure it looked good when Cooper was breaking long runs, but at one point Marve was 12/15 for 80 or so yards. Throw the ball downfield man! Pathetic. Then we got conservative at the end and set ourselves up for the eventual collapse.

We need improved play from the defense. It hurt not having Forston in there today, but it doesn't excuse the fact we got torn up at several intervals during this game. The defensive backs allowed way too many big plays, particularly Johnson, who needs to lose his starting job to Brandon Harris sometime soon. I don't care how young Harris is.

The final INT was just a punch to the gut. Even after blowing the lead, it seemed for a split second we would have a great final drive to be the first of many in Robert Marve lore. Instead it was overthrown by an inch or two, and Kayne simply didn't get the job done. Hate to see the game end like that.

So much for an ACC title. After the defense's performance at UF and the offense's at Texas A&M, I looked at the schedule and realized it was easy enough for this team to go 11-1. Unfortunately, I knew this wouldn't happen. Despite the fact that no team left on the schedule (and this goes for UNC too) has a clearly better team than the Canes, I knew we would have to go through the growing pains of a young squad. This team hasn't built it's killer instinct yet, but there is plenty to look forward to. Expect a 7-5 or 8-4 season, as we will be competitive in most games but will probably blow some more leads or trip over ourselves while trying not to lose the game.

What I've seen from today is that Graig Cooper has finally come around to show his true potential. Robert Marve is the real deal, despite the 2 picks. He'll have some struggles, but I expect him to be a serious contender for ACC player of the year in 2009. I don't mind Shannon keeping his promise to Jacory Harris to give him playing time, but it is clear that Marve is the man and should remain so. The receivers are young but have loads of talent. I just wish Nix would throw it to them in the open field more often.

The defense is erratic. My biggest gripe is the lack of turnovers. Do we even have an interception yet? We are 4 games through the season and I can't remember us forcing any turnovers. I want to say we got some last week, but that seems like so long ago by now. The coaches need to get guys on the field who can make plays. None of this bend but dont break mentality. The front line will need an infusion of youth, we all know that. And the DBs need some big time work.

Really this loss was something we had to expect would happen at some point this season. It's disappointing because I still hold this university's football team to high standards. Scrub teams like UNC shouldn't come within 30 points of our UM teams, much less with a 3rd string QB. But this hasn't been the first such loss and probably won't be the last before this team is back on top. We'll have to take our lumps and let other fan bases have their way with us while we lose to their teams this season. The future is a muddled one. Part of me knows the talent is there and we have much to look forward to, but the mental mistakes and lack of killer instinct is giving me 2nd thoughts about Randy Shannon and has confirmed to me that Patrick Nix is not the answer at OC.

Thoughts During the Bye

2008-09-27T14:19:00.003-04:00

Like everyone else, I was absolutely stunned by the 38-13 destruction of the mighty New England Patriots. The Dolphins came out fired up and completely dominated both sides of the ball. Sure, Tom Brady was out, but the NFL MVP doesn't play defense.

I absolutely loved the Wildcat offense. Our Canes tried it against the Aggies last season and it worked well despite not being a frequently used part of our offense. It was pretty surprising to see that sort of formation work so well against such a well-taught defense at the professional level.

I wouldn't take too much from the game, as now it is unlikely that we'll be able to use that formation to that extent, at least successfully, for the rest of the season. I also think the Patriots just got caught in a snowball effect. We aren't 24 points better than anyone, much less the Patriots. Still, it was extremely exciting to see some production out of the offense and some big plays out of Joey Porter and the defense.

Chad Pennington proved that he deserves to stay the starter with a sparkling 17/20 performance. Henne can learn a lot from the veteran. Pennington can keep us competitive in most games. Expect to win 5 or 6 games at most, however. This team is still too young and has too many questions at too many positions to make a run at the postseason, even in the weakened status of the AFC East.

My favorite part of the victory was Ronnie Brown's return to his high form. Last season, Brown was a fantasy superstar, leading the NFL in total yards before getting hurt. He has looked like anything but a guy coming back from a career-threatening ACL injury. Besides his dedication and hard work, I credit the fact his injury came while trying to chase someone down, not getting tackled. It had to help.

Ricky also looked great, coming just 2 yards short of 100. I just hope the front office isn't holding his debt to them against him. I would think he deserves some sort of lenience, and if he continues to do his job and produce, that they would just waive the debt. It never made much sense that he owes the Dolphins 8 million that was paid to him by the Saints anyway.

Miami Schedules Their Favorite Whipping Boys

2008-09-13T14:56:00.002-04:00

My personal favorite non-conference opponent to play against is the Nebraska Cornhuskers. 3 of our 6 national titles have come from playing them, including the finishing touch on the greatest team in college football history, the 2001 Canes.

It looks like it won't be that long until we once again have the chance to dominate the boys from the Midwest. The Hurricanes have scheduled a home and home with Nebraska in 2014 and 2015. Once again the series starts on the road, this time in Lincoln.

I really don't understand why recently our Athletic Directors can never get a home and home to start here. UF, Oklahoma, Ohio State, and now Nebraska. Only lower tier programs like USF and Texas A&M have even considered making the trip to Miami the first part of the schedule.

And that's if anyone will play us here at all. USC refused to play down here, asking for only one game, in LA. Michigan was especially bad, asking for both games of the series be played in Ann Arbor. Yeah, ok. And of course, Notre Dame refuses to play us at all. No big surprise there.

Here's to hoping both programs are back on top by the time the series rolls around. Despite my jabs, I have a great deal of respect for the Cornhuskers and they have never quite been the same since that Rose Bowl blasting at the hands of Ken Dorsey and Co. I also hope we get a chance to schedule other major programs to prove that we aren't scared of playing anybody. Bring back UF yearly. Take on Texas. Call up LSU and try to take some revenge for that Peach Bowl embarassment.

Thoughts on the UF Game

2008-09-11T22:41:00.003-04:00

So I went up to G-Ville last weekend for the inevitable end of the 23-year streak. My thoughts on the game: (warning this is long)

First off, I was mildly surprised by the lack of hostility by UF fans. I think much of it had to do with the fact none of these students have seen a real UM team in action and that the rivalry has been reduced to trifling between old school fans. New fans (of which UF has many/all) don't know the history between these two teams and simply didn't think much of this underwhelming Canes team.

You could tell that they didn't care from the lack of any hostile environment at the Swamp. It was my first trip to the stadium and while it is certainly a nice enough place to play a game, it was a little overrated in terms of size and certainly didn't feel like the toughest place to play a game in the country. It could have been that the fans didn't care as much (but more likely some combination of that and the fact their team was shockingly one play away from going down in the 4th quarter). But at several points during the 3rd quarter after our defense made a big play our section would start chanting and I guarantee you could hear us on the opposite end zone.

Regarding the UF squad itself. I wasn't impressed at all. The only guy who really impressed me, and this is expected, was Tim Tebow. I hate the guy more than anyone in recent college football history, but he is a slippery fellow. I made a comment that was later confirmed in the telecast that he reminds me of a massive Doug Flutie. Figures he would unknowingly be emulating another hated rival who played 24 years ago. We had him under attack the whole game but he kept slipping out of easy sacks and completing improbable passes. It's pretty clear that without him UF doesn't stand a chance in hell against us or anyone in the SEC.

The rest of the team was blah. Louis Murphy had his words shoved in his mouth until late in the 4th, and Percy Harvin was pretty limited by his injury despite his score. The defense I'd have to give an incomplete, because despite playing very very well, it is difficult to say who is to blame for their success. The front four seemingly played excellently against the run, but Marve's jersey was spotless throughout the game.

But that of course could be because he never threw the damn ball. And here comes my lasting impression of the game. Miami could have won. The score might not indicate that, but I truly believe the Canes had a chance and Patrick Nix refused to take it. The first half gameplan was beautiful. Run the ball and keep Tebow off the field. Keep it close until late in the game where the Gators would start panicking. However, the 2nd part of that plan would be to open up the offense and strike. That never happened.

It is the general consensus that Nix ran the same five or six plays. Shotgun delay run, i-form run, Shotgun delay QB sweep, PA rollout, and the quick screen out of the no-back set. Pathetic. The shotgun delay run for 1 yard had to be the most frustrating thing to see, ever. He must have called it at least 15 times. Could have been two dozen, but I lost track. Nix had to see at some point that it was not working and that they needed to start throwing deep. There is no excuse for your longest play being 14 yards from scrimmage.

I don't care what Randy Shannon says about receivers not getting open, I didn't see a single deep post, slant, curl route. I saw nothing but flares and outs and little dump out plays. Robert Marve is a redshirt freshman, but so was Sam Bradford. If you really have faith in him, let him play and see what happens. I wouldn't blame him for throwing a couple of picks in the Swamp against a great team in his first start. But I do blame Nix for never giving him the chance. If Marve is truly great in adversity, then let him prove it on the field instead of babying him and Jacory Harris through the game.

What did Miami have to lose as a 5-7 team with no shot to win the game? All we care about is titles down here and that wasn't happening. The game has nothing to do with ACC standings, so why not throw caution to the wind? Try to WIN the game, not prevent a loss. I read someone on a board call this offense the "prevent offense," which is exactly what it was. Pathetic. We had a chance to pull off something special and simply didn't bother.

Down 13 in the 4th, they didn't change a thing and ended up getting run out of the building. Down 20 they did the same and ended up punting with 8 minutes to go. Why?! If you have already conceded defeat then so what if you don't convert on 4th and they score again. Screw it. Give us SOMETHING to be excited about. Absolutely terrible decision making by the coaching staff in that situation.

It's sad because they wasted an amazing effort by the defense. They held what was supposed to be the top offense in the country to basically 0 points going into the 4th. UF's first TD was a gift from Matt Bosher, and the special teams was to blame for that safety. Finally UF got rolling in the 4th but by then I wasn't mad. At some point they were going to get their's and the defense had to be tired and demoralized by the lack of offensive production. Regardless of the outcome, this is a Top 10 defense and is good enough to keep us in every game down the road. If Nix can get us to muster 24 points a game, which is reasonable considering the schedule, there is no reason Miami can't go 10-2 or 11-1. Unfortunately we know this won't happen and we'll go 7-5 somehow.

The result is just a sickening reality that we wasted a good chance to pull off the upset and never tried to step on the gas once UF finally solved our defense. However, I was pleased to see how well Harris and Marve played all things considered, and that our young defense is absolutely amazing. Bill Young is just sick. Sean Spence is the real deal and is the next big thing out of the real Linebacker U. He spun Tebow around like a ragdoll for a sack and Tim outweighs him by more than 30 pounds. What a player.

There's so much more for me to say, but this is getting pretty long. My final thoughts are regarding the final field goal and Randy Shannon's reaction. I personally didn't care for the kick, but knew that if they went for it they would be villified anyway. Nobody would kneel in that situation. It was dumb to keep Tebow in and risk injury, but whatever. Losing to the cocky Gators was a tough pill to swallow, whether it be by 1, 20 or 23. But Randy Shannon should have kept his mouth shut.

Don't cry foul about running up the score. If your offense had any semblance of effectiveness the field goal wouldn't have been an issue. We saw teams from BYU, San Diego State, and Ohio show more offensive firepower than we did with all our stud recruits. Pathetic playcalling, because I don't think it had all that much to do with our players (although the OL was a disappointment in run blocking). That aside, we all know Urban Meyer is a slimy scumbag. The field goal doesn't make him any better or worse. Calling him out makes you look like a pansy, and now with Warren Sapp chiming in, the U sounds like a bunch of excuse makers. Take care of business and it won't happen. Simple fact.

Thankfully nobody has complained about refs, which arguably was an issue. SEC refs? Come on. Several plays went wildly in UF's favor, swinging the momentum their way. However, it wasn't so bad that it prevented Miami from doing enough to win the game. If anything it should have amped them up to stick it to everyone. No excuses.

The good news is that things look promising, pending the offense gets opened up. Assuming Nix is gone by years end and we finally break the bank for a real OC, this team will compete for a national title in 2010. No doubt in my mind. Maybe even in 2009 if players develop quickly. So far I haven't seen proof that Shannon can coach, but there is no doubting his recruiting ability. There is some impressive young talent on this squad. We'll see what happens from here. But if we can't beat down Texas A&M, then I will officially give up on the season and maybe the coaching staff.

So Far So Good For Dolphins Draft

2008-09-05T19:30:00.000-04:00

It's EXTREMELY early to bring this up, but considering the colossal failures of our recent drafts, I figured why not.

The big optimism with this new regime is the supposed expertise of the guys making personnel decisions. I have to say, so far they have been right on target with many of their decisions. I could go into their free agent pickups, but that's probably for another post. Here, I want to go into a very preliminary grade of their first draft. I'll start with our first 4 picks.

Round 1 Jake Long OT Michigan

This is looking like an A pick right now. We haven't seen him play a down, but so far Jake Long has shown that he belongs on the starting line. Much remains to be see of Long, a fact that remains true for all our rookies, but I am very optimistic about his potential.

Round 2 Phillip Merling DE Clemson

This was an interesting pick when it was made. I have to be honest I had never heard of him, and when we selected him I was skeptical. He was supposed to have 1st round talent, so I approved. So far, I haven't seen much to be impressed about, but it's only been the summer. The loss of Jason Taylor made this pick a good one in hindsight.

Round 2 Chad Henne QB Michigan

To be honest I hated this pick. I knew we needed to take a QB at some point, but I wasn't a fan of any of them. Henne in particular. I followed him out of high school and watched him play 4 years at Michigan and took away the impression that Henne simply wasn't much of a winner in big game situations. He could never manage to beat Ohio State, so how is he going to help us beat the Patriots.

But Henne has gained a lot of respect from me this summer. He has looked very good, even when making the usual rookie mistakes. It's clear that he is a much better value pick than John Beck was in last year's 2nd round. Beck has regressed big time and will be lucky to make the team, so Henne's progression is crucial to the success of this franchise. I'm confident that he can eventually become a pretty good QB. Think of Jay Cutler's peak potential, not Tom Brady's.

Round 3 Kendall Langford DE Hampton

If you were clueless about this pick, join the club. I never like seeing my team pick Div 1AA players, but all you need to know about this pick is that they think enough of Langford to start him over both Randy Starks, a decent veteran, AND Phillip Merling, a player of the same position picked a full round before Langford.

Langford represents the classic boom or bust pick. The fact he is currently starting on the depth chart as a 3rd round pick in a Bill Parcells system that favors wily veterans speaks volumes either about his talent or this team's lack of it. We'll see, but so far so good.

Part 2 will be soon with our lower round picks, including surprising OL Donald Thomas.

Marlins Hopes Fading

2008-09-03T23:46:00.000-04:00

Unsurprisingly, the Marlins have finally started to fade out of the playoff picture. All of the weaknesses of their roster have finally caught up to them, leaving fans legitimately disappointed considering the recent resurgence of their young pitching staff.

Considering the fact the Marlins have already surpassed my preseason expectations (69 wins as of writing, when I projected them to win 68), I guess I should be happy that they gave us this much competitive baseball. We also can't forget that they technically aren't out of the hunt, being 7 games back of the surging Mets. It's still highly unlikely, but I suppose they aren't quite dead yet.

And I think it's safe to say that the Marlins' run the first half of this season would have easily been the story of the 2008 MLB season were it not for the Rays up north looking to win the AL East title and maybe locking up the best record in the AL. I was never quite sure how the Fish managed to piece together such a good record despite their poor pitching, poor defense, and lack of contact hitting.

But right now they are sitting at around 500 ball, having seemingly regressed to the mean and not looking to recover. We have to give it up to the players and the front office for producing so much from so little, but it is still hard to ignore the obvious problems this team has. Defense and pitching are a priority in the Bigs and we don't have much of that going for us. Our starters are young and doing well, but the bullpen has struggled at times and Kevin Gregg leads the majors with blown saves.

The biggest problem of course is that our payroll will forever be limited, even with a new stadium. This market just doesn't support having those big 100 million dollar payrolls. And while it is always possible to win without the big stars, it sure helps to be able to afford that big chip to fit in a needed position. It is also nice to be able to keep your homegrown talent after they become ineligible for arbitration and become full fledged free agents. I hate seeing Miguel Cabrera in a Tigers uniform.

What they need to do now is bring up all the young talent they have and give them legitimate shots to earn starting jobs for the 2009 season. Cameron Maybin is a strikeout machine but we have to see at some point what he can do in the major leagues. Try out some of our younger prospects in the infield, seeing as how Hanley has to be moved to the outfield at some point and the front office has made no attempt yet to lock up Dan Uggla.

Whatever they do, it has been a nice run for Marlins fans. They should have some decent enough hopes of breaking 500 next season, and look for this squad to be poised for a playoff run in 2010.

Mario Chalmers Caught Smoking Pot

2008-09-03T18:35:00.003-04:00

Well, that was hardly what the Miami Heat needed. Hopefully the franchise overlooks Chalmers' error in judgment, because we can't afford to let go of talent just to stand by our morals.

The funny thing is that the big red flag with Michael Beasley before the draft was the questionable character issues that he came with. The Heat supposedly were trying like crazy to avoid having to draft him because they feared his immature attitude running wild on South Beach. Now they have to deal with Chalmers' issue.

Frankly, I don't see the big deal. I'm tired of the media and major sports leagues going crazy whenever a guy smokes a little pot. I'm no proponent of illegal drugs, but honestly we have bigger things to worry about than what 22 year old millionaires are doing with their cash in their free time. As long as he isn't hurting anybody or abusing the drug to the point he is a detriment to the team, then I don't care.

If you get to the point where you are on cocaine like Josh Hamilton, then it gets scary. And I guess that's what the league fears---players getting out of control with drug problems. So I suppose putting them into a program is a good idea. But vilifying these guys does nothing to solve the problem.

It's sad when the drug problems get out of hand, but to be realistic, there is a huge percentage of guys doing that sort of stuff and it does little to nothing to prevent them from performing on the field or court. Look at Ricky Williams. Lead the NFL in rushing in 2002 while high all the time.

Anyway, I just hope this blows over. Chalmers is a nice talent and will likely be our starting point guard by February if the Heat choose to keep him around. We'll see.

Canes Romp in Opener 52-7

2008-09-02T13:08:00.000-04:00

The final score of the Charleston Southern game is an interesting topic. Part of me says thats how badly we should have beaten them. A real Miami squad would always beat a cupcake by the normal 40+ point margin. So we shouldn't be too happy about that kind of result. These guys face tougher competition in practice.

However, we could have said this about many of the scheduled games we've played the past couple of years. Thanks to Coker, poor quarterbacking and general lack of talent, gimme games somehow turned into nail-biters and embarrassing losses. With Kirby or Kyle at the helm, I don't see how Miami could have scored 52 on a blind and deaf team.

So the 52 was a good sign in that regard. But it's still very dangerous to assume the offense is effective after a game like that. I'm not convinced that what I saw was enough to top the hated Gators on September 6. The defense looked good as well, but I can't promise a similar result when they face one of the best 2 or 3 offenses in college football.

Still, it was nice to see so many of our highly touted true freshmen playing. The one absent player that worried me was Arthur Brown. I'm a little concerned he will end up like Willie Williams. Not in the character sense, because Brown is an excellent individual. But because he was so good in high school, his only job was to kill the ballcarrier. Guys who are that good seem to have a lot of trouble making the transition to an organized, complex defense such as Bill Young's. To see him not play was a little disturbing, but I'm sure he'll pick it up at some point. Maybe he should even be redshirted to just learn the playbook and understand the system.

As for our chances next week, things look grim. I'm hoping Tropical Storm Hanna (now projected to graze Northeast Florida around Thursday night as of me writing this) slows down and if it must hit the area, to hit around the scheduled time for the game. If we could get this game postponed towards the end of the season, I would be thrilled. I'm not too confident about tossing in Robert Marve in his first start at UF like that. We did it to Kyle Wright at FSU and look what happened to him, he got shellshocked.

Unfortunately it doesn't look like we have a choice. Harris looked efficient, but efficient probably won't be enough to keep up with UF on the scoreboard. As much as I hate the Gators, and believe me my hatred runs deep, we were unlucky to face them this season. This team is just too young and has too many question marks to have a real shot at anything better than an 8-4 season.

However, it is a rivalry game. We've seen stranger things happen. Remember, that 2003 Gator squad wasn't that good either but it gave us a run for our money in the OB, when we had 6 first round picks on that team. So there's still a chance. I'm praying that the streak will live on, that we can rub it in the Gators face that they haven't beaten us in two decades. But I have prepared for the worst, knowing this day would come for 2 or 3 years now. A loss would hurt like hell, but I expect our boys to show some Cane pride and not let themselves get blown out of the water.

And if we win? Hell I wouldn't mind going 2-10 this season if that 2nd win was a UF victory. We all know this team can't win a title and titles are all that really count here in Coral Gables, so we'll have to settle for moral victories for now. A win at the Swamp would be one hell of a moral victory in my book.

So Much To Cover So Little Time

2008-08-31T12:12:00.003-04:00

Obviously I've neglected this blog for a while now, with other priorities taking up all my time. But I still intend on keeping it around, just not on the daily, or maybe even weekly level that I had the first 6 months.

Since my last post over a month ago, a considerable amount of changes have occurred in South Florida sports. I wish all this would have happened a few months ago, when I was struggling to find something to talk about in the dead period after the basketball season was over but still had time to write.

I guess for now I'll try to piece it together a little at a time, mostly about the stuff I really care about.

For starters, the Dolphins seem to be fielding a decent enough squad this season. I know it's only preseason, but Chad Pennington and Chad Henne have looked pretty good as this team's quarterbacks. The offense is effective enough. Not explosive or dangerous yet, but when Ronnie gets healthier and once the receivers have time to develop I'm pretty confident they can score a good 20 points a game.

I've been impressed with the offensive line play. This has to be the best line we've put out in nearly a decade. Not one position on the line can be viewed as a weak point, with rookies Jake Long and Donald Thomas anchoring the missing spots we had in the offseason. Thomas has been a revelation of sorts, being a raw but powerful 6th round pick with little football experience, but was quick to land the starting job at RG.

That being said, I wouldn't be surprised to see if the Dolphins don't take a look at Willie Anderson, who recently cut by the Bengals. We do have first dibs on waivers so it might be a possibility considering our massive cap space. The OT has some red flags, but when healthy he is a Top 5 or 6 offensive tackle in the league.

The defense supposedly has been "flying around", but frankly I see it being the weakest part of this team. Without Zach Thomas or Jason Taylor they simply don't have any playmakers left. Phillip Merling and Kendall Langford need time to develop and Joey Porter looks like his best days are behind him. Still, the team is looking solid enough to win at least 5-6 games and maybe do some damage at the end of the season once the rookies start getting a feel for the pro game.

My hopes are for Ted Ginn to keep the solid consistency he has shown this preseason and develop into a full fledged #1 receiver heading into the 2009 season. I want the OL to jell and stay healthy, giving us a solid group for the next 4 or 5 years. Other than that, it would be nice to just see the rookies develop. Henne looks like he might have some promise, though at this point I'm not sure I can say the same about John Beck, who has regressed since this point last season.

More than anything I'm looking forward to watching the team try to overachieve, but I know now that this squad comes with no expectations. The 2009 Draft will be more important to this franchise than the 2008 season, but we can still enjoy the Dolphins regardless. It's pretty apparent that the team is missing another big threat on offense and pretty much every position on defense, so Parcells has plenty of work to do. I'm sure he will unearth something from the recent cuts (like Anderson or maybe Jerome McDougle).

Anyway, I'll try to write some other thoughts of mine and have them scattered throughout the week so the posts don't all come at once.

So Long, JT

2008-07-20T19:31:00.002-04:00

After a considerable pause from writing, I figured I would have to at the very least write my thoughts on the Jason Taylor trade.

Once we all heard Phillip Daniels got hurt, it was pretty inevitable that JT would get traded to the Redskins. Dan Snyder loves big name guys and the Skins have a good enough team to make the playoffs. JT could help them get that extra push.

The big story is that the Fins got a fair price in exchange for their best defensive player. JT didn't want anything to do with the franchise this season and was probably going to retire after the 2008 campaign. Getting a 2nd rounder in the next draft and a 6th in the following year's draft is a very nice package for a guy who was adamant about never wanting to play here again.

I suppose the Skins were pushed to make a move due to the injury. It gave the Dolphins a little bit of leverage where up until now, they had none.

So now Jason is gone and so is the entire Jimmy Johnson era. No players from those teams are around now. Gone is Zach Thomas. Gone is Jason Taylor. Sam Madison, Patrick Surtain, all of them. The teams that won division titles and broke our hearts in the playoffs are officially a memory now.

It's unfortunate, but for the best. Jason needed a new home and we found him one, getting a fair deal in exchange. The 2nd round pick should be in the late teens or mid-20s, but I'll take a top 50 player in the draft for the next 10 years (should we make a wise selection) over a guy who has got a year or two left and no motivation to play for us.

I wish Jason well, even if the last few months here as a Dolphin were a bit rocky.

Baron Davis to Clippers

2008-07-01T21:51:00.002-04:00

Seemingly irrelevant news for Heat fans, who had no hope of teaming Davis up with Wade in the backcourt, but it looks like this spells bad news for anyone hoping to make Elton Brand the future C of this squad.

Davis' 65 million dollar deal with the Clippers opens the door for Brand (who is an unrestricted free agent now, thanks to his Monday opt out) to re-sign with the Clippers with the hopes of contending next season. It looks as if the Heat might miss out after all, even with Shawn Marion's expiring contract as a trade chip.

If we can't get Brand, then it's pretty certain that Marion will stick around for the 2008 season and that'll be that. His contract will be allowed to expire and the Heat will either try to re-sign him cheap or pursue Carlos Boozer next season. Boozer is just as good an option as Brand is in my mind, and is a bit younger. He has his flaws, but a tandem of Wade-Beasley-Boozer would be sick.

If not, then the Heat can choose to be frugal again in 2009, risking pissing Wade off, but then opening the door for Wade to be united with a huge superstar like Chris Bosh or even LeBron James in the summer of 2010. Seems like a pipedream, but we'll see.

I was hoping Brand would opt to go to Miami, which is looking unlikely as we can't sign him as an unrestricted free agent. Unless the Clips are looking to sign and trade him for Marion (don't see why they would) then he is pretty much certain to stay in LA.

The blogs at the Sun-Sentinel suggest maybe trying to scoop up Mickael Pietrus and/or Andris Biedrins from the Warriors, who are reeling from losing their best player to the Clippers. Both would fit excellently on this team, and a trade involving Marion that would bring both here would be ridiculously good for the Heat. Too good, it too, seems like a pipedream.

So there you have it, the Heat have a million options, but seem doomed to wait until next year because of the cap restrictions and their recent poor season which must be detrimental to their attempts at wooing free agents.

Best Draft in Heat History?

2008-06-28T15:41:00.002-04:00

Tough to say, but I'd have to go with yes. The year we got Caron and Rasual Butler was a very productive draft for us, but Thursday night was the best night in Heat history aside from June 20th, 2006.

Drafting Michael Beasley, and keeping him, was the best move Riley could have made all night. I'm aware of his "character concerns", especially in a town like Miami, but he's a young guy and is a risk anywhere in the country. If he wants to go out on the town, he will. Face it. If the worst thing he does is go to a couple of clubs the night before a game, then I'll take the 25/20 he'll drop on any team in the league.

Granted, if he ends up failing in Miami, he'd be the most colossal bust in Heat history, and one of the biggest busts in NBA draft history. The thing is, the value we could have gotten for him in a trade was minimal. The Heat wanted OJ Mayo, and couldn't have known Minny would trade him to Memphis. He was going to go at 3 and there was nothing we could work out with Minnesota. The best option at that point was to stick with Beasley and go from there.

The funny thing is that I am almost as excited about our 2nd pick, Mario Chalmers, as I am about the Beasley pick. Michael can easily become our best player in time, yes even better than Dwyane Wade. But Chalmers is everything we need in a point guard and more. The guy plays D, shoots from the outside, and is clutch. That last shot against Memphis was a classic and proves he's got the leadership to take on the pressure when the time is right. Landing him for a couple of second rounders (we got one back after trading useless Darnell Thornton, nice player but no room) was a steal.

In a year in a half he should have molded into a starting caliber point guard. He won't be Derrick Rose or Steve Nash, but he can become good enough to run a championship team with Wade in the backcourt and Beasley at the 3 or 4. It really was a great day for the organization and for its fans, and everyone seems to agree we got the best draft in the league. Just hope for the best at this point. Wait out a rocky season that should see us get a 6 seed and maybe bounced in the first or 2nd round. Then 2009 will be our rise back to the top.

Please Draft Beasley

2008-06-26T18:40:00.003-04:00

Enough of all the trade talks and speculation. My head is spinning from all the possibilities. Marion, the 2nd pick, Mark Blount, and even Dwyane Wade have all been discussed in rumors involving Miami and the NBA Draft.

As much fun as it would be to play fantasy NBA GM, I just want to draft Beasley tonight and sign him before Pat Riley does something foolish, like trading him. I understand they love OJ Mayo, but it's iffy if he can play the point in the NBA and Beasley is a force on the inside. You have a huge trade chip in Marion's expiring contract. Find someone who needs cap space and move him for an asset.

I still don't understand the problem with just signing Elton Brand this summer. If Brand is indeed interested in playing for Miami, why doesn't he just opt out and sign here? Wouldn't you prefer the 50+ million guaranteed over the next few years than a one year deal worth 16+? This isn't the NFL where you can get cut and lose all that money. If he would just opt out, it would save us a huge headache.

The problem then, of course, is that we would be way over the luxury cap without a way to dump salary. Micky Arison won't allow it. I think he should. I suppose it is a little too late, with our draft pick so close. Had we gotten a chance to sign Brand this summer, then we could have traded Haslem or Marion for a point guard, and draft Beasley, or kept them both and drafted Mayo. Who knows?

At this point, the only way to get Brand is to trade Marion or wait till next year. Instead, it is looking more and more likely that the Heat will just opt to dump salary through Blount and trade Beasley away just so they can sign Brand next season. It's a calculated risk. I'm not saying OJ Mayo isn't a special player, because he is, but Beasley is ridiculous. You'd be putting your job/legacy on the line by passing on him in an attempt to rebuild using other assets. We'll see.

Heat Pursuing Brand?

2008-06-22T13:49:00.003-04:00

ESPN's Chris Broussard had an interesting tidbit of info on his blog yesterday.

The Clippers Elton Brand is in the same position as Shawn Marion. He's got one year left on his contract for a bloated 16-17 million bucks, but has the option to opt out if he wishes. Word has been for months that he might opt out to sign with Philadelphia, but Broussard says otherwise.

Apparently, the only way Brand would opt out of his current deal and take a paycut would be if he would be matched up with Dwyane Wade in Miami. That sound like a plan to me. Unfortunately the only way to make sure we get brand would be to trade Marion in a sign-and-trade. Broussard doesn't seem to think that's likely, but I would think that the Clippers would rather have Marion in exchange for Brand instead of seeing their star player walk away for nothing.

And if Brand opts out and is indeed looking to team up with Wade, then wouldn't we be free to sign him as a free agent? Then we would have the ability to trade Marion for some role players and/or picks. Then possibly draft Beasley anyway and march out a front line of Beasley, Haslem, Brand and Alonzo Mourning. Marion could bring us a point guard or a small forward, or both. Problem is matching up contracts and making sure we aren't a billion dollars over the luxury tax.

Or we could draft Rose if he falls to us, keep Marion and trade Haslem for a small forward. Or maybe keep Haslem as a role player, since I think the team could live with Ricky Davis/Dorell Wright at small forward.

Haslem could be moved at any time for a point guard as well, and in a scenario where we get Brand and Beasley, I would be happy to ship Haslem away. The possibilities are endless and my head hurts just trying to think of what the Heat could do if Brand were to force the Clippers' hand and get himself sent to Miami. Let's hope for the best, because the next 4 or 5 days are crucial for the success of this franchise.

Tiger's Dramatic Victory

2008-06-21T18:24:00.004-04:00

This is something I really wished I had time to write about on Monday or Tuesday night. How often is it that a single man captivates the entire country to care about something that otherwise ranks among going to the dentist and paying taxes on the list of things people find entertaining?

All I know is that I watched Sunday's final round, invested in Tiger's success as much as I am when one of my hometown teams is in a playoff hunt. I don't have any personal attachment to Tiger. I don't know him. I wasn't born in his hometown. I have no real reason to root for him other than I want to see history made.

But there is something special about a guy who is the best at what he does in the world. Maybe more so than anyone else is at their job. He is that good. Watching him is simply a privilege. I can't stress that enough. When he drained that putt on 18 to send the US Open into a playoff, I exploded. And millions of people around the world did so as well. For golf!

Then on Monday, as I watched online updates show Tiger's 3 shot lead shrink away with only holes to spare, I was legitimately worried. I snuck away from work into the break-room and stood with half a dozen other guys, all neglecting their duties, just to see Tiger somehow pull off yet another miraculous comeback with a birdie on 18. Then we all stuck around, risking our jobs, huddled around a crappy TV, just to watch him clinch his 3rd US Open title on the ensuing sudden death hole.

And if you read the papers or ESPN.com, you would have seen we weren't alone. People everywhere simply stopped what they were doing. Thousands of people who otherwise couldn't give a damn about golf had a vested interest in how the playoff between Mediate and Woods turned out. That's pretty impress. I think pretty soon, Tiger's legend will grow to the point that everyone will know where they were the day he sank that 25 foot birdie putt to win his 19th major.

What makes it all amazing is that he did it on a knee so badly injured, that he won't be able to play the rest of the season. For everyone who assumed he was faking it, you look pretty foolish now. He risked his health and his future for one shot to prove to himself and the world just what he could do. Unfortunately, it cost him a chance to win the British Open and PGA Championship, but Tiger will be back. If Tiger can win the US freaking Open with an injured knee, then a revitalized Tiger will do just fine on a rehabilitated knee next season.

Last weekend's tournament really was one of those special events in sport where you think to yourself "Wow, am I glad that I was a part of that. Even if all I did was witness it live on television, that is something people will talk about for years to come." Those sorts of sporting events come around once a year maybe, but what makes it most impressive is that America collectively celebrated Tiger's win despite having no allegiances to him.

This wasn't the Miracle on Ice, where the country rallied behind a team that stood for something more. It wasn't any single fanbase celebrating a team's first title in decades, or a legion of hometown fans toasting to their hero's success after a long career, like John Elway or Alonzo Mourning. Absolutely none of us had any logical reason to have such undying support for Tiger, so that makes what he does to us that much more special.

Griffey and Joe

2008-06-21T18:01:00.003-04:00

I never made much of a statement regarding the situation involving "Joe" and Ken Griffey's 600th home run ball. I myself wanted to be out there to try to catch it, but like I said, Miami sports fans are unsupportive but aren't dumb when it comes to money-making opportunities. The outfield was sold out for the entire series so I couldn't make it. (Some hypocrite I am, seeing as how I too, would only go to catch the ball. But I digress...)

The fan who caught Griffey's ball hasn't given it back, despite pressure to do so from the star outfielder. Is it his right to ask for compensation? Or should he just give it back, which seems like the right thing to do?

Honestly, I would have to say Griffey will need to pay up to get that ball back. It's just way too much money to turn down in an honest situation. It's not like the guy stumbled into an open bank vault and would be breaking the law, or would have the guilt of finding a wallet loaded with cash. He paid money to see a game and he caught a baseball that 99 times out of 100, nobody cares about.

For that ball, he could get 5 figures, easily. Maybe up to 100k if someone were desperate enough. I'm sorry, but I would seriously consider just holding on to it before just handing it back to Ken for free. People work too hard and make too little to turn down overtures of tens of thousands of dollars. I'm sure most people would feel the same way. The self-righteous would say Joe should give it back, but they aren't in his position.

And this is coming from someone who idolized Griffey as a kid. He was my favorite ballplayer. I'm sure many of you felt the same way about The Kid. I feel bad that he is put in this situation, but he makes millions of dollars and could easily afford to give what probably amounts to a year's pay to a guy named Joe for the ball. My heart says Joe should give it back, but the reality of the situation is that he would really be dumb to do it. That or wealthy enough that he can afford to do so.

Where Will Rose Land?

2008-06-21T17:53:00.002-04:00

The big news this week was a statement made by point guard Derrick Rose, stating his desire to be drafted by his hometown Bulls #1 overall. Before I say anything, can we all just agree that the Bulls are freakin lucky to have the top pick? 1.7%?! They had no business getting the #1 overall selection when there were teams as bad as Miami and Seattle in the league. I hate the lottery system, and it needs to be fixed.

Anyway, I don't blame the guy for wanting to be picked by his hometown team. And it turns out the claims that he wouldn't meet with the Heat were unfounded, as the Memphis guard is in Miami this weekend to meet with Heat brass.

The interesting part is that despite all the speculation that Rose is our guy and that Riley wants to stay away from Beasley, it seems that Riles might have played us all the whole time. Michael Beasley was the top draft prospect since LeBron James and somehow he's turned into a guy the Heat can't wait to trade away once they draft him 2nd overall. We've all continually heard the Heat express an interest in Rose, and teaming him up with Wade in the backcourt. And all the while, the Bulls have been shifting their interest to Rose as well.

Could it be that Riley was purposefully showing a false interest in Rose, just so the Bulls would pass on Beasley and give us the most talented player in the draft. Sources have said the Heat aren't looking to have two slashers in the backcourt, and Rose is anything but a jump-shooter. And the fact we have yet to extend Shawn Marion (more on that later) suggests there might still be room for Michael Beasley in our front court.

I've said it all along, I really don't give a damn who we get, as long as it is one of those two. Either one would make a huge impact on this team and instantly make the Heat a playoff team again. A couple of moves here and there, with some 2009 cap space, and we're looking at a serious contender for 2009-2010. If we get Rose, excellent. Wade will have the ballhandling duties taken away and can focus on being the star. If not, then Beasley dropping 30/20 every other night will do just fine.

Packers and Jason Taylor

2008-06-21T17:42:00.002-04:00

Honestly, I hope it happens. At this point, Taylor seems pretty adamant about either retiring after this season or refusing to play for the Dolphins at all. I love the guy, but the offseason drama has been a pain in the ass, and this team is bad enough without having to deal with all these issues. Losing Zach Thomas hurt, but we might as well rip off the memories of a glorious past (if you can call playoff failures glorious) like a band-aid.

The biggest problem isn't the price tag. I think the Dolphins could legitimately squeeze a 3rd rounder out of the Packers, and maybe even a 2nd. The problem is that Taylor is being a prima donna and sources say that the Green Bay market isn't "big enough" for him. It's possible this is just a smokescreen for the fact that Taylor simply doesn't want to play on a team led by Aaron Rodgers at QB. I would hope it is the latter, and JT doesn't want to insult the quarterback by outright saying it.

Regardless, we need to get rid of Taylor. It's clear that he will serve no use to us in the near future. Even if he plays this year, the chances of us winning a title are slim to none, and slim just left. We might as well get as much value as possible from the talent he has and prepare for the future. It makes sense for all parties involved. I really don't know why it hasn't happened yet.

It could be that the organization just doesn't want to admit to it's fans that it doesn't plan on winning many games this year. Trading your best player for a 2009 draft pick reeks of rebuilding mode. But they need to get over that, if that is the problem. Any fan who thinks a 1-15 team has any chance of making a difference this season is delusional. We all know by now the team sucks. They should just make the best decision possible for the future of the franchise and trust that it won't make a dent in ticket sales.

Recaping the Season

2008-06-21T17:35:00.002-04:00

It was a nice run for the Miami Hurricanes, but much like the 1998 season, a talented roster came up empty when it mattered most. I stressed that this team needed to be clicking to win the title, but they never got things together. The pitching stumbled towards the end, both the bullpen and starting rotation failed to live up to our high standards and ultimately cost us a shot at a championship. But what really failed us was the high-powered offense that just couldn't get it done.

Despite the lineup laden with power bats and 1st round picks, Miami simply couldn't get runs on the board. With runners in scoring position, our batters continually struck out. Aside from the home run (much like their pro counterparts, the Marlins) Miami couldn't get anything done offensively. It was a joke, really. A joke, and an absolute shame that such a promising season ended so badly.

Realistically, to ask a title or bust of any team is asking a bit too much. That being said, Miami was taken to the brink and then eliminated by the likes of Arizona, Stanford, or Georgia, none of which strike me as top teams. Had we lost to UNC in the title game, or LSU or Rice, or even the hated Seminoles, I would have understood. However, the Canes played down to their opponents and ended up being sent home packing by inferior squads. Now they'll have to watch on as other teams get a chance to win that ring.

What's sad is that we will have to wait while now before having another shot at a title. Most of our great players got drafted in the first few rounds, so I wouldn't expect guys like Weeks or Alonso back. Chris Hernandez will be back for a couple of seasons, but the class that is leaving will be leaving huge holes to fill.

Then again, the same was said of our 98 team, which featured #1 overall pick Pat Burrell. The Canes then went on to win the title the following season, and then took home the championship in 2001 as well. I'd take that. In any case, despite the disappointing end to the year, congratulations to the team for having a great season. They were the undisputed #1 team for most of the season, but just lost steam towards the end.

Tiger Being Tiger

2008-06-15T22:51:00.003-04:00

I know golf is typically seen as the least-possible entertaining thing to watch on TV by sporting enthusiasts, but I have to say my piece about Tiger Woods and his performance this weekend.

Say what you want about the sport, but plain and simple yesterday's back 9 was the Jordan Flu Game of golf. And today's clutch 12 foot putt on the 18th hole was absolutely stunning.

Tiger simply is out of this world good. He finished 2nd in the Masters with a bum knee and had to have surgery to repair the damage. He comes back weeks later, rusty and in pain, and still manages to take hold of the lead entering Sunday's final round thanks to three amazing shots on the final 6 holes of Saturday's 3rd round.

But after going +3 in the first two holes of the final round and in considerable pain, things looked bad for Tiger. His 13-0 record in major tournaments when leading after 54 was in serious jeopardy. I was legitimately concerned he might pull out after the 3rd tee shot, where he was grimacing and doubled over in pain. Everything he had worked for seemed in doubt.

Somehow he stayed the course and things fell in place for a dramatic final hole, needing birdie to force a playoff against fan-favorite Rocco Mediate. Even after making a mistake and putting himself in a tough position, he managed to set himself up for the dramatic tying birdie putt. As if there was any doubt that he would do it, Woods barely made it, as his birdie attempt trickled in just before rolling past the cup.

I can't overstate just how amazing Tiger Woods is. He has continually proven that he is the best in the world at what he does. There is no Rafael Nadal to his Roger Federer. Nobody is better than him, on any field, in any situation, under any circumstances.

What makes his greatness even more amazing is the pressure that he performs under. This wasn't just your run-of-the-mill final round. Not only was he trying to protect his 13-0 streak, but he is fighting the course (a final 3 holes that fit Mediate's style to a tee), history (Jack Nicklaus' 18 majors looming ahead) and his own physical limitations at the same time. Not just that, but Woods certainly had to be thinking about his recently passed father. What a fantastic Father's Day present he gave to his late mentor and friend. Every one of these things had to be weighing on him as he prepared to take the final stroke.

A normal human being would have folded under the pressure. I myself was a wreck, with knots in my stomach turning, hoping Woods would succeed. Instead of caving, Woods ignored all the distractions. The pain, the pressure, the cameras. Calmly he sank the putt and then erupted like we've never seen. It might have been the biggest shot of his career. The mere fact we can't say that for certain is a testament to his illustrious achievements. He's had so many of these shots that we could sit for days arguing which is the best. Anyone else and it would have easily been the pinnacle of their career. That's just how good Tiger Woods is.

If he ends up losing tomorrow, it would definitely be an anticlimactic finale to an otherwise compelling weekend. Regardless, to see the very best in the world perform at such a high level is a privilege. What is amazing is that Woods puts more pressure on himself than what he receives from the media and his fans, and continues to surpass those expectations with every round of golf he plays.

Miami on the Brink

2008-06-15T21:42:00.002-04:00

I waited until about 24 hours after the game was over to post because I simply was still fuming over the result of last night's game with the Georgia Bulldogs. I have said time and again that this team needed to be clicking on all facets of the game, and that you need a little bit of luck to win a championship. So far, neither has proven true of the Miami Hurricanes baseball team.

Credit the Bulldogs for sticking around, but don't pretend for a second that they have the superior team. The Canes simply didn't take advantage of the chances they had, and the Bulldogs pounced on their good fortune. The near-home runs of last week (batted down by wind) turned into the dropped strikeout last night. Miami just can't seem to catch a break, and rather than respond with fortitude, they have recently been showing less than championship caliber mental toughness.

In case you don't already know, Miami had the late 4-3 lead, with 2 outs left in the game. Georgia had a man on base, but Gutierrez looked good and just struck out the Bulldog batter for the 2nd out. Instead of being a mere 3 strikes away from the winner's bracket, Yasmani Grandal made a bonehead play, dropped the ball, and then lost it, giving the oblivious batter a chance to recognize the situation and make it to first.

From there, the Bulldogs tied the game and then tried to bunt the runners over. Whereas we saw a poised Chris Hernandez field a tough bunt earlier in the game with success, closer Carlos Gutierrez, a 1st round pick with all the promise in the world, launched the throw well past 1st baseman Yonder Alonso, letting 2 more runs score on the error. The game eventually ended 7-4 and left the hapless Canes stunned.

I honestly don't expect them to bounce back from this. They've had to deal with more than their fair share of bad luck, and right now they aren't playing well enough to make up for it. The pitching has been average at best, and our only reliable starter has already been used up. The defense, which was Top 5 in the nation, has failed us of late. And the star-studded offense has had trouble putting runs on the board when they aren't knocking the ball out of the park. We need more than 4 runs out of this lineup. Especially against hot-hitting FSU tomorrow afternoon.

Things look bad, but I suppose as long as you're alive there is always a chance. Miami would have to win 4 straight games just to make it to the championship series, and I don't think we have the arms to get there. Hopefully we do. I still think when they are at their very best, this team is the best the country has to offer. Unfortunately they haven't been playing like it, and now face elimination against the rival Seminoles, who feature the #1 offense in the country. Hope for the best, but one can't but help fear the worst: the disappointment of not winning a title in what was "our year" to do so.

Wade's Finals Performance

2008-06-14T18:16:00.007-04:00

A lot has been made recently on ESPN.com regarding statistician and columnist John Hollinger's rankings of the Greatest Finals Performances by an individual player. The cause for the uproar: Hollinger ranking our very own Dwyane Wade's 2006 Finals performance as the best all time.

I have to say, that was a bold statement by Mr. Hollinger. Wade is my favorite player in the NBA right now, but to put him above Jordan is a stretch. The thing is, Hollinger backs it up with some serious stats and arguments. Wade's PER (a stat Hollinger uses to determine efficiency, basically adds up positive plays and subtracts negative ones) was 6% higher than the next best performance of any player in NBA Finals history. You might remember Wade led the league in PER in 2005, but didn't receive any credit for it in the MVP race. Or was it 2006? Either way, it's a widely accepted stat that people have to respect at this point.

What helped Wade's performance was his constant trips to the free throw line and a well-rounded game the included steals, rebounds and assists to go with the nearly 35 points a game. The former is the reason for contention amongst so many fans. Any Heat fans knows that the 2006 Finals is notorious for non-Miami fans because everyone is convinced that the refs were in our favor. This despite the face the stats show that Dirk got more foul shots than any other player in playoff history that year, and the refs have historically been against us. Notice how we lost Games 2 and 5 in the ECF to Detroit, coincidentally reffed by Dick (Knick) Bavetta, who has a long and negative history with the Miami Heat.

It's frustrating to see nobody give credit to Wade, even 2 years after the fact. Hacks like Bill Simmons keep bringing up the foul shots like it was some conspiracy. Yeah, some of the fouls were ticky-tack. But the foul shots would never have been taken if Dallas didn't play Hack-a-Shaq halfway through every quarter. That was their own damn fault. Shooting 37% in the series didn't help either; it was clear that Miami outplayed them from Games 3-6, foul shooting aside.

I also hate the argument that Shaq was the sole reason we won and that Wade without Shaq is just Penny. These are the same people who call Shaq a fat and slow liability on the court. Pick one, guys. Either Shaq was an asset or a detriment to the team, he can't be both. The truth is that Shaq was a non-factor offensively and defensively in that series. Mourning was the guy who made all the plays. The only thing Shaq did was force Dallas to foul him and rack up the fouls shots. People will never seem to understand, and I just don't get what the problem is.

Even without the foul shots, Wade was clutch in Games 3, 5 and 6. He made some of the toughest shots in Finals history when it mattered most. And yes, maybe he took a lot of free throws, but he didn't choke and miss them either. He made those shots, so he deserves far more respect from the general public than what he gets now. I really wish people would see just how many of his foul shots were intentional fouls at the end of games (I've done the stats, it is impressive), just how many of his foul shots were due to Hack-a-Shaq, and I really wish people would see the following three plays of Game 6:

1) Udonis Haslem being called for traveling in the closing seconds of the game while trying to wrestle a rebound away. I've never seen anything that ridiculous called. He never fully got possession of the ball and the second he did, the refs handed the ball to Dallas.
2) James Posey's "double dribble", again in the final 2 minutes. How can you double dribble when you are hustling to grab a loose ball from going out of bounds. That is yet another iffy call that I have never seen called in that situation in any game in the NBA. Once again, Dallas ball.
3) And finally, up 3 with 10 seconds left, Gary Payton got beat by Jason Terry and purposefully yanked on his jersey as he turned a screen, BEFORE Terry could take a potentially game-tying shot. Rather than give us the foul, forcing Dallas to take foul shots and not allowing them a 3-point shot, the refs held their whistle and allowed the play to continue. Luckily the shot missed and the rest was history.

I challenge anyone to watch those three plays and tell me the refs were so in love with the Miami Heat that they planned on giving them the series. Go ahead. The great part is that it doesn't matter. No matter what anybody says, the Heat won a title. They were champs. We had the parade. I bought the DVD set. Try as they may, nobody can ever take that away from that 2006 team or its fans.

Canes Gear Up For Georgia

2008-06-14T18:07:00.002-04:00

FSU just allowed 11 runs in the 9th as I write this, moments after coming back from 3 down in the 8th. Tough luck for Seminole fans, whose team now faces elimination against either Miami or Georgia in a couple of days, barring a miraculous comeback.

Even then, I wouldn't be too worried about the Seminoles, who survived a handful of elimination games in the process leading up the College World Series. I wouldn't be too surprised to see them bounce back. Hopefully they won't and Miami will have an easier time of it on the road to the title game.

What's more important is how the Canes do against a formidable Georgia team today. The Bulldogs have 2 1st round picks on their squad in SS Gordon Beckham and reliever Josh Fields (considered to be a huge stretch in the 1st, like Carlos Gutierrez). They are to be taken seriously in my opinion. I didn't say the same about the Arizona Wildcats and look how much of a challenge that proved to be.

If Hernandez is on his game, the Canes should be fine. Georgia's starters are hittable and we happen to have a Top 3 lineup in the country, if not the best. The problem is that the pitching, hitting, and defense haven't all been on the same page recently. If the Canes don't start running on all cylinders soon, I don't expect them to make it through the CWS as champs with only one starting pitcher who is really throwing well. Hopefully I'm wrong, but I do have faith that Jim Morris knows what he is doing.

Marcus Vick In Trouble Again

2008-06-13T20:31:00.000-04:00

Some people you just can't save. After a short career at VT mired by run-ins with the law, Marcus Vick seemingly blew a future in the NFL before the Dolphins gave him a shot as a WR. I actually thought he did pretty well for himself, but things didn't work out. It was unfortunate, but he did his job while he was a Dolphin.

However, Vick has continued following his brother's footsteps by getting himself into trouble. Any chance he had of returning the NFL probably got washed away now with the news of his recent arrest. Marcus was caught driving drunk and evading officers who tried to pull him over. It's just a sad story because both of the Vick brothers had immense physical talents, but could never pull things together in the head.

NFL teams will forever think they can take a chance on a bad apple and hope he turns the corner. Look at what's happening for the Rangers and Milton Bradley. He's been tearing it up. However, for every success story like that, there is a catastrophe laying in wait. Often times it is the success stories themselves that end up falling apart. Bradley has been on his best behavior, but the recent incident where he almost stormed up a flight of steps to confront an announcer who was less than flattering to Bradley shows that he hasn't fixed all his issues quite just yet.

It goes to show some people never change. Then again, some do. Ricky Williams has been given umpteen chances, but he finally seems like he's got it. You really are rolling the dice when you take chances on guys like that, because it is the ultimate boom or bust scenario.

Evaluating the Urbina Trade

2008-06-09T21:04:00.000-04:00

During the 2003 season, the Florida Marlins felt they had a chance to win a championship and pulled the trigger on a very risky trade. In exchange for closer Ugueth Urbina, the Marlins sent a trio of players to the Texas Rangers. Among the three was former #1 overall pick 1B Adrian Gonzalez.

Many Marlins fans may not have known that Gonzalez was a product of the Marlins farm system. A wrist injury early in his career heightened concerns that he would not regain his hitting form, so the trade was made. At first glance, it looked like a success. Though Urbina could be shaky at times, he was a key component of a 2003 championship run. That alone suggests the move was a good one.

However, the wrist injury did not hamper Gonzalez's ability to hit the ball. On the contrary, he has excelled for the Padres. Last year he smashed 30 home runs and drove in 100 RBIs. This year he is on pace for even more of each, while still batting nearly 300. That's pretty impressive for a guy the Marlins pretty much gave up on. It looks like he has lived up to his billing as a #1 overall pick.

Seeing how well he is doing, I thought about whether or not the trade was a good one. It's a lot like the Shaquille O'Neal trade back in 2004. I think if you win a title after making a deal, then the deal has been justified no matter what. In the long run, yes I think the Marlins might have been hurt. It's uncharacteristic of their front office to make a long term mistake, but you have to appreciate the fact they won a title. It's not easy to win a championship in any sports, so if you have to forsake the future in order to win now, sometimes you have to make the move.

It would have been nice to see him in this lineup though. Jacobs is a good player, but isn't at the level that Gonzalez is either offensively or defensively. Adrian would be a key piece to a successful playoff caliber squad. Still, I'll take that title from 2003 and be happy with the move that was made. There's no guarantee that keeping Gonzalez would have worked out or resulted in a World Series championship for this franchise.

Ross Saves the Day

2008-06-08T14:31:00.004-04:00

In what has been a seesaw couple of weeks for the Marlins, the overachieving Fish rallied from 2 down in the 9th to come away with a victory against the visiting Reds. Cody Ross' walkoff HR off Francisco Cordero helped avoid a 3-game losing streak at a time when the Philadelphia Phillies are starting to run away with the division lead.

Unfortunately for money-grubbing South Florida sports fans, Ken Griffey did not hit his 600th home run. Right field has been pretty full of late, as the left handed slugger tends to pull his long balls to that area of the park. It's amazing how people go to Marlins games more for the opponent than for their home team. People have no idea who Cody Ross is, yet will rush to go see Ken Griffey from the Reds try to hit a home run. It's a little sad, but I have to admit, I wanted to be there today too in case he hit it. It's history, after all.

Still, it's a shame, because guys like Cody Ross have been doing great for the Marlins and nobody bothers to see them. Part of it has to be that the park is so far away from everyone. Sure it's in the center of the South Florida population center, but it's nowhere near any massive concentrations of people. I'd bet a Downtown site would produce a lot more attendance, but I digress. The Marlins are up 4-1 as I write this, so hopefully they can take 2 of 3 from the Reds, who embarrassed us a few weeks ago.

Canes Rally, Force Game 3

2008-06-08T14:24:00.002-04:00

You have to admit, even knowing as Canes fan that Miami has the best team in the nation, it was a pretty scary sight seeing the scoreboard with us down 4-0. That 4th inning was absolutely crucial to the survival of our season.

Miami's lineup came up big with 14 runs a day after producing a season low 5 hits in a disappointing 6-3 extra innings loss. Yonder Alonso was one of many to defy the swirling winds at the Light last night, smashing a 3 run shot to break a 4-4 tie in the 4th. Yasmani Grandal added another a few innings later to help solidify the lead and help the Canes hold on another day.

Now we have to rely on Enrique Garcia to pitch the best he has all year, or at least do well enough to keep us in the game so that we can advance to Omaha. Any loss would render this amazing season an utter failure and a complete disappointment. A #1 ranking means nothing without the ring to show for it. I think we're in good shape if we can get to the Arizona starter early. One of their better relief guys will be unavailable, so we have to take advantage if we can.

Canes Facing Elimination

2008-06-07T12:52:00.002-04:00

Man, that was a heartbreaker. I don't know how---with our lineup--- your pitching staff can strike out well over a dozen opposing batters and still lose. If any of you didn't catch the game last night, you would understand just why people say you need luck to win a championship.

No matter how good this UM team is, it's still baseball and anyone can beat anybody on any given day. Last night was a great example. A below-par Arizona starting rotation featured a guy who did a nice job keeping UM's offense in check and the game went into the 9th tied at 3.

After Kyle Bellamy held things down for the Canes, the bad luck started. Catcher Yasmani Grandal led off the innings with a shot that easily should have cleared the center field fence. Everyone knew it when it left the bat. Somehow, the wind knocked it down before it could clear the fence for the winning home run and Grandal had to settle for a double.

That's fine, seeing as how the top of the lineup was up. But after a check-swing strikeout by Blake Tekotte, the bad luck continued. On a wild pitch, Jemile Weeks got hit on the foot and advanced to first. Had he just pulled his foot away at the last second, the pinch runner Jonathan Weislow would have been at 3rd on the wild pitch and a sac fly with 1 out would have been more than enough to close the game out. Instead Weislow had to return to 2nd.

It's still good, with our superstar Yonder Alonso up to bat. I remember specifically saying "Come on Yonder, show us why you were a Top 10 pick." Just as those words left my mouth, he absolutely hammered a pitch to deep center field. Without that crazy wind, that ball would have easily cleared 450 feet. There was no doubt in my mind it was a walkoff home run and I celebrated as soon as I heard the smack of the ball. Instead of the ensuing jubilation, however, was the absolute shock of seeing a perfectly hit ball get knocked down by the wind YET AGAIN and get caught by the outfielder. To make matters worse, Weislow had also assumed the pitch was long gone and was halfway to home by the time he realized he hadn't tagged up and the inning ended on a double play.

From there, I knew it was over. You just can't recover from bad luck like that. The game ended on that play, not on the 3 run shot allowed by Carlos Gutierrez in the 11th. Hopefully the Canes can regroup in time for today's game, because if not, the season is over in extreme disappointment. I know for a fact we have one of the top 3, if not the top team in the country. Losing at any point in the College World Series shouldn't be an option for these guys.

Three Canes Drafted in 1st

2008-06-06T19:29:00.004-04:00

I have to admit, I was pretty disappointed that the Marlins didn't draft Yonder Alonso with the 6th pick in yesterday's draft. We do have Mike Jacobs, but Alonso presents an upgrade in my opinion. Jacobs has experience at catcher so I thought that possibility might be intriguing enough for the Marlins to consider. Instead they decided to draft high school catcher Kyle Skipworth. Instead, Alonso went to the Reds with the next pick and can join young guys like Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce in what looks like a bright future for Cincinnati.

After Alonso came Jemile Weeks, who I had seen go as early as 12th or as late as the 3rd round. Indeed he went to the A's at 12th, who apparently don't have a whole lot of faith in Mark Ellis. Weeks projects to be a pretty solid player at the next level, but a lot of scouts aren't sold on him as a hitter. Regardless, he should make Oakland and fantasy players alike happy with his stolen bases.

The surprise 1st rounder was Carlos Gutierrez at 27 to the Twins. Carlos is coming off an injury and doesn't have a 2nd pitch, but Minnesota saw his dominance this year and felt he was worth the risk. I'm not entirely sure why they would draft him since they have Joe Nathan, but whatever. It was surprise because the other guy I thought would go in the 1st, Dennis Raben, did not.

Instead, Raben slipped to the mid-2nd to Seattle, which is still pretty good. He and Blake Tekotte (who ended up with the Padres in the 3rd), were projected by some as late 1st round picks. Regardless, both outfielders were drafted pretty high and it goes to show just how much talent is on this Hurricanes roster.

Another draftee of note was Mark Sobolewski who went in the 4th.

Bailey, Harris Hurt

2008-06-04T23:38:00.003-04:00

As if we needed more reason to doubt that Miami can make it 7 straight wins against the hated Gators, recent news these past couple of weeks have added fuel to the fire. Allen Bailey will be out the entire summer and possibly part of the season thanks to a pectoral injury (thats the worst...working out to get better and you get hurt). Hopefully he can be back in time to be the Tebow killer we need him to be.

But what's certain is that DE Courtney Harris out of the picture the whole season. That's a big loss, because Harris is a solid contributer. His injured Achilles tendon will mean that we will need huge contributions from the freshmen and from Adewale Ojomo if we plan on having a successful season. I was already skeptical that this team could win 9 games, and now I don't know if they'll make it to 7 or 8. The DL is thin enough as it is without the injuries.

The news on the recruiting front regarding the DE position isn't too great either. Oliver Vernon has gotten several other offers from prominent schools, and it has been well known for some time that he is considered a soft verbal. Nick Saban has offered to play him the in flex position that Jason Taylor does for the Dolphins and that is appealing to Vernon. Hopefully he doesn't change his mind, because people are quickly realizing how good he is despite playing for a relatively small school.

Running back Jamaal Berry is another one of the big names out there, but don't expect to see him in a Canes uniform, unless the NCAA allows schools to start trading players. With our already loaded backfield and a commitment from Bryce Brown (as well as a silent from Lamar Miller, supposedly), we have no need for Berry unless he wants to switch positions. It's a shame because the kid really wants to be a Cane, but will likely end up elsewhere, probably for a rival, and with a chip on his shoulder.

Canes to Meet 'Zona

2008-06-04T20:47:00.002-04:00

If you caught any of the Regionals action this weekend you saw the best team in the nation in action. Miami withstood a late Missouri rally before responding in the 8th for a close victory on Saturday. Then they completely dominated an outmatched Ole Miss squad on Sunday night.

Granted, I don't think it's fair that Ole Miss had to beat Missouri and then get an hour of rest before suiting up against the top ranked team on the road. I don't understand the scheduling there, but hey, I'll take it. Eric Erickson allowed an early home run against the Rebels, but regained his composure and the Canes didn't allow a run the rest of the game. Much of that had to do with fantastic shortstop Ryan Jackson, who hasn't received any publicity on this blog, and for that I have to apologize.

Now the Canes host another top seed in Arizona, but I wouldn't be terribly worried. I fully expect Miami to come out strong against a relatively weak pitching staff from the Pac-10 visitors. All the Canes need is to win 2 of 3 and they are heading to Omaha. Perhaps they'll meet FSU there, who barely squeezed into the Super Regionals after having to beat 3-seed Tulane twice to advance.

One thing I was surprised about from this weekend was Jim Morris deciding to go with Enrique Garcia in Game 1 of the Regional. That's fine and dandy until you lose that game and then need to call on your weakest starter to pitch in an elimination game on Sunday night or Monday night. I don't understand why you wouldn't just go with your best guys at the offset. I suppose Morris is thinking that if they win the first two, then they'd have to rely on Enrique to close out the Regional, likely against a better team than 4th seeded Bethune Cookman. Then a loss would kill the momentum. So I see his line of thought there, but it's a risky move. Looks like it paid off though.

Wade Trade Rumors

2008-06-04T20:36:00.002-04:00

I apologize for the lack of posts lately. Rather than post every day, which has become difficult recently, I believe that I will post fewer times a week, but with several pieces a day. That way I can still get my thoughts across to you guys.

In any case, I thought the whole Dwyane Wade to Bulls trade rumor should be addressed. I personally have never heard anything dumber in my entire life. Supposedly, the rumor is that Wade would go to the Bulls in exchange for moving up one spot in the draft, where the Heat would then select Derrick Rose. I have to say, only a fan blog could come up with something that ridiculous.

It's one thing to say we would trade Wade for the #1 overall pick and draft Rose and Beasley, planning for the future without Wade, who might opt out soon. That's still absolutely ridiculous. That itself would be stretching the limits of stupidity. So then try to imagine how incredibly dumb the real rumor is.

Wade is the cornerstone of the franchise. Period. I wouldn't trade him for anyone outside of LeBron James or Chris Paul. Maybe Deron Williams or Dwight Howard. Other than that, he is untouchable. And he is bordering on flat-out untouchable simply because he means so much to this community now that Jason Taylor is on his way out and Alonzo Mourning is at the tail end of his career. You can't trade the face of sports in Miami. You just can't.

I'm shocked that such a dumb rumor, and clearly a fabricated wishful thought on the part of a Bulls fan at that, would make it in a local paper and be addressed to Wade himself. Maybe if I say in this space: "LeBron James to the Heat for a 2nd round pick and Mark Blount", the papers up in Cleveland will go ask LeBron how he feels about joining his buddy Dwyane down in Miami.

Marlins Lose Rubber Match to Phillies

2008-06-01T20:35:00.002-04:00

In what was a crucial series ending game for the Marlins, the pitching staff blew a 5-1 lead and cost the Marlins the division lead heading into the upcoming series in Atlanta. Instead of being comfortably ahead with a 1.5 game lead over Philly, we head into one of the toughest places to win this season down half a game and reeling from losing two straight NL East series.

It figured that at some point the bottom would start to fall out for this pitching staff. They've done a nice job keeping the Marlins in close games for the most part, but I think they are starting to wear out. The absences of Josh Johnson, Sergio Mitre and Anibal Sanchez have been a killer to the starting rotation, who have had to rely on unproven young players and journeymen to get by.

Still, there is reason to believe the Marlins can keep the pace. The Phillies won the series but have been playing as well as any team in baseball of late, so there is no shame in losing to them. Especially when it just as easily could have been the Marlins coming out of the weekend with a 2-1 record. When their young pitchers return, at least one of them can be counted on to give us a quality start more often than the current guys in the rotation. That means less pressure on the offense. It also means the impact of our crappy defense is minimized.

In any case, tough weekend for Marlins fans, but still it is nice to be following a team that is still in contention 1/3rd of the way through the season.

Playoff Predictions Update

2008-05-31T02:51:00.002-04:00

A little over a month ago I posted my predictions for the entire NBA postseason. Usually, I'm way off on these things, case in point my failed NCAA brackets. However, this year I managed to screw myself over in a new way. I didn't bet on my picks.

Sure, I didn't get any of the series lengths correct. And yes, I didn't do much in picking upsets. Regardless, I'm pretty proud of the fact I got every series correct leading up to the much ballyhooed Lakers-Celtics NBA Finals that I would say is going to be over in 5. Expect Kobe and the Lakers to be celebrating on their home court in a couple of weeks. They're that good.

I wonder what kind of payoff I would have gotten from dropping a bet on my entire postseason predictions. It kind of sucks that for once in my life I was right about a sports prediction, but I got nothing from it. Although I suppose these playoffs were relatively predictable aside from the Boston-Detroit ECF, the Spurs-Suns first round series and the Spurs-Hornets 2nd round series. The rest were pretty much easy picks.

Canes Defeat Bethune Cookman

2008-05-31T00:24:00.002-04:00

Miami took care of business today in Game 1 of their CWS Regional. Much had been made of the fact the Canes got the #1 overall seed but still somehow received the toughest draw of any of the teams hosting a regional. I still don't understand it, but what can be done? Maybe the hatred of the football team spilled over onto our baseball team, who knows.

Regardless, Miami has to win to prove they are among the elite. It didn't really matter who they were matched up against. Today's game vs Bethune Cookman was key. BC held a 9th inning lead against us earlier this year, and was the regional's 4th seed, so you can imagine just how difficult a draw this was for the hometown Canes.

The 7-4 victory was hard-earned, but still welcome when every win counts and 2 losses sends you packing. Enrique Garcia gave us a good outing, which is good news because we can now send in our aces Chris Hernandez and Eric Erickson out for games 2 and 3 of the regional and give us a good chance of advancing to the Super Regional.

Dorsey, Riley, and the #2 pick

2008-05-29T19:31:00.003-04:00

You might have heard about the Joey Dorsey comments regarding his belief that Derrick Rose is the #2 pick in the draft. He has "inside sources", but really, who is to say he isn't full of it. Then again, why would he lie about his teammate falling below the #1 spot. I don't know what to make of the situation. I can only hope the Bulls go and take Beasley (hardly a bad move on their part) so we can rest easy and take Derrick Rose.

Ira's recent blog brings up an interesting point as well. We aren't working out Brook Lopez or Jerryd Bayless, so maybe Riley really has decided on picking Beasley if Rose is taken. It could also mean Mayo is a definite option at #2 or in a trade-down scenario. Because otherwise it would seem odd for Miami not to work out several Top 5 caliber picks to gauge its options.

One scenario would have us trading down to get Mayo, while unloading contracts and getting back a C/PG starter. If we could get Al Jefferson to move down to 3, I might consider bypassing Beasley. Otherwise, no thanks. Even then I'm not entirely sure that would be a wise move, and I seriously doubt the Timberwolves would make such a deal, but hey, I'm allowed to speculate.

Marlins Lose Series to Mets, Cling to Lead

2008-05-29T19:26:00.002-04:00

The Mets series was the start of a crucial NL East road trip that would determine whether or not the Marlins belonged on top of the standings.

It started off well enough, but Florida blew two leads in the rubber match and ultimately lost in extra innings to drop to 30-22. It's not really a big deal, despite having our division lead shrink to just half a game. We've shown we can be competitive in the division; all that Florida needs to do is stay consistent and they'll be fine.

It is still way too much to ask of this young ballclub to make the playoffs. Philly has a ridiculous lineup, the Braves have some bats and Tim Hudson, and the Mets were preseason picks by many to make the World Series, having added Johan Santana. Still, the Marlins have managed to piece together a spectacular 1/3rd of a season and by now we can start having hope that they'll keep up the pace.

The Marlins don't play tonight but start a 3 game series at Philly to determine who will be leading the division at the start of the new week. Hopefully our ragtag bunch of starters can keep the Utley-Howard-Burrell combination off the scoreboards. That should be a tough assignment considering the recent offensive surge being made by the Phillies.

2nd Ranked Canes Take Home ACC Crown

2008-05-25T21:30:00.002-04:00

The Canes baseball team rebounded from a disappointing season ending loss to the top ranked Tar Heels by beating all comers to win their first ACC title with an 8-4 win over UVA today.

Miami had been given the #1 seed and easily routed Clemson 8-1, before needing a late 9th inning rally to top Georgia Tech 15-12.

The ensuing game was a close 5-2 victory over NC State that featured a refreshing 7 scoreless innings from starter Enrique Garcia and a 3 run shot from 2B Jemile Weeks. The win propelled Miami to what was today's title game against Virginia that was never really in doubt.

Clinching the title should give Miami all the confidence it needs heading into the College World Series, which starts on Friday. They've already been selected to host a regional for the 22nd time in school history, and we will find out who our 3 opponents will be tomorrow afternoon.

It is safe to say that for this team, it is title or bust. They have as much pro-level talent on this team as any other in the country, if not the most. The starting staff has been solid, with freshman Chris Hernandez being spectacular all season. The bullpen has had up and downs but is a strong point of this team and there is no weakness in the lineup. I fully expect Miami to contend for the National Title, if not outright win it.

Gregg, Uggla Highlight DH Sweep of Giants

2008-05-25T21:11:00.004-04:00

Maybe the Marlins should be in the NL West? After all, the first place Fish sweep the vaunted Diamondbacks before winning 2 of 3 at home vs the lowly Giants.

Things didn't look good in either game, but the Marlins rallied in both to come out on top 8-6 and 5-4. The opening game of the doubleheader featured 4 home runs by the Florida lineup and a clutch save by closer Kevin Gregg, who has been solid all season.

Gregg appeared later in the doubleheader, keeping a 4-4 tied heading into the bottom of the 9th before eventually picking up the win. His contributions have been key to the Marlins' success this season. It's amazing how Florida always seems to milk saves out of their closers, even when they are nobodies. From Armando Benitez, Urbina, Borowski, Todd Jones, all of these guys are hardly Mariano Rivera's. They still seem to produce career years in the closer role for the Marlins though.

However, the hero of the day was Dan Uggla, who hit his Marlins record 12th home run of the month in the first game of the doubleheader. He then continued his valuable production with the 2 out bases loaded single in the bottom of the 9th that clinched the series. I really hope that Dan will get some recognition if he keeps it up. The announcers mentioned Chase Utley as a shoo-in for the All-Star spot at 2B, but I would think Uggla will make people think twice.

The Marlins are now sitting pretty at 29-20, half a game back of several teams for the best record in baseball. Little by little, the season is ticking away and the Marlins remain on top of the leaderboard. It really is an amazing story, now with almost 1/3rd of the year in the books.

The Jason Taylor Saga

2008-05-25T15:34:00.002-04:00

Something I've neglected to give my thoughts on recently has been the Jason Taylor soap opera. After finishing 2nd in the Dancing With the Stars competition, it became public that Taylor will not be attending any of the Dolphin's offseason training activities.

Clearly, the situation has become messy--- far messier than I would have liked to see. Luckily the team is awful so if this is a distraction, it isn't going to make much of a difference on the performance of the football team. I have always been one to defend Jason, especially when he made the decision to start looking at opportunities off the field.

However, I think it's time to start placing some of the blame on his shoulders. I understand that he is unhappy and that he would prefer to play for a contender. The problem is that by publicly distancing himself from the Dolphins, he has screwed them over. His value on the trade market has been greatly decreased because now there is either the threat that he simply retires or the possibility that the Dolphins will outright cut him (won't happen).

The Dolphins organization might not have handled this in the best way, but I wouldn't go so far as to say both sides are completely wrong. They have their priorities, and catering to Jason isn't one of them. It shouldn't be. He should have been traded at the draft for whatever fair deal we were offered. Hell, I would have taken a below-average market offer for Jason, considering the alternative we are faced with now: either a 4th round pick or him never playing for anyone again.

What the situation has shown us is that the NFL is still a business. As much as it hurt to see Zach Thomas leave to Dallas, the departure was amicable enough and handled well. As fans we have a similar attachment to Jason, but this time around the breakup has been ugly. Jason has been showing that he has placed his playing future and his life after football as his priority. Maybe that's being selfish, maybe it's being smart. I wish he would put a little more thought into how he is hurting the team he's played for all these years, but he has stood by the Dolphin's side for years as they churned out awful teams and wasted his career.

Hopefully we'll be able to unload him for a conditional pick at some point in the next month or so. Both parties have much to gain from the split.

Heat Have Offers for Beasley

2008-05-22T18:15:00.002-04:00

The rumors continue to swirl about the Bulls being ready to take Derrick Rose with the #1 pick in the draft. Bad news for Heat fans who wanted that Wade-Rose backcourt. But Beasley is hardly a consolation prize, as he is technically the better talent.

However, the Herald reports there is a chance the Heat trade out of this pick. They've gotten offers from several teams ready and willing to trade up to get Beasley and I think they are pretty serious about making a deal. The thought of it terrifies me because I want one of the two elite guys in the draft. I don't want retreads or veterans that will clog up cap space.

What Riley is looking for is to move down a bit in the Top 10, and receive a top point guard or center starter, as well as dumping Mark Blount's salary to boot. That doesn't sound like such a bad deal. You can still draft a guy like DJ Augustin and get back a starter in return, while opening up some cap space for 2009. However, I simply can't shake the fact that Beasley is there for the taking. A deal might help us out in the short run, but I hate passing on once-in-a-decade talent.

Marlins Hand Webb First Loss

2008-05-21T22:21:00.002-04:00

Now there's something you don't see every day. It's amazing how the Marlins continue to prove everyone wrong. After a lackluster week or two, the Marlins have rebounded to win the series against baseball's best team. Tonight they squeezed out a win against the Diamondback's ace, the previously undefeated Brandon Webb.

The victory today, coupled with a win over Micah Owings (despite 10k's) yesterday assures the Marlins of the series win and I'm sure some respect in league circles. They hadn't beaten a team with a winning record in May and people were starting to question their hot start (including myself) on a cupcake schedule. Somehow they continue to keep winning. I know it's a line I keep repeating, but I still don't know how they're doing it, especially with Hanley Ramirez slumping.

The win puts the Marlins within 1.5 games of the 'Backs and Cubs for the best record in baseball. Imagine what a sweep of the NL favorite Diamondbacks would do for this young team's confidence. I know I would be impressed, especially because they would have faced the heart of the Arizona rotation. The Marlins are up against ace Danny Haren tomorrow, so it won't be easy to finish off the sweep.

Now That We Have The 2nd Pick

2008-05-21T16:04:00.002-04:00

What happens next?

That's probably a good question. No doubt I wasn't the only one relieved as hell to see the Timberwolves' logo on the 3rd envelope. That meant we had assured ourselves of either Beasley or Rose. The problem is that I'm not entirely sure Beasley is our guy and the Bulls present a threat to take Rose.

I personally like the idea of picking 2nd. You take whichever guy is left over and call it a day. No 2nd guessing down the road if the player you missed out on ends up being a superstar or wins a title. I would be ecstatic to have either player. My preference is Rose to team up with Wade in the backcourt, but that's up to Chicago now.

I would hope the Bulls know better than to pick the hometown guy in Rose. They have 2 or 3 solid point guards, and a whole lot of money tied up into that position. They also have no frontcourt scoring ability, so Beasley presents a very enticing option. I don't see why they wouldn't just draft Michael. However, there are rumblings that they like Rose and might end up taking him.

I would be fine with that, if we were to take Beasley that is. I've read rumors that Miami is less than enamored with Beasley and would lean towards trading the pick if it isn't Rose. That scares the hell out of me, to be honest. Only once a decade or so do you get a gift like this. Unless we get a proven, relatively young All-Star and a good backup or two in the trade, then we seriously need to just take Beasley. Figure out what to do with Haslem or Marion later.

I will be very pissed if we trade the pick instead of taking Beasley. I'm tired of Riley's anti-youth personnel decision-making. And speaking of Marion, apparently he is looking to opt out, according to ESPN. So that puts us in a position where drafting Beasley would be a no-brainer. Regardless, I'm a little antsy about the whole thing because it's no longer assured we will get Derrick Rose. I don't want a situation where we pass on a can't-miss prospect in favor of some retreads and cap space. Maybe picking 2nd isn't so great after all. Had we just gotten that first pick it would have been Rose all the way.

Tom Brady Clobbered

2008-05-19T20:14:00.002-04:00

I figure since things haven't been too great for us South Florida sports fans I figured I would bring up some good memories of a recent game that made us all smile. Music sucks, but whatever.

Uggla's Future with the Marlins

2008-05-19T19:11:00.004-04:00

I read this piece yesterday and I thought it brought up an important issue.

Dan Uggla has certainly been a nice surprise for the Marlins these past couple of seasons. A Rule V selection, nobody saw his emergence as a reliable power hitter coming. The problem is that Uggla doesn't quite fit in with the whole "defense wins championships" mantra. He also strikes out quite a bit, but then again so does the entire Marlins roster.

Does he deserve a long-term extension? I'm not sure yet. It's difficult to find a 2B with his kind of offensive production, but he is still a liability on defense. The article suggested moving him to 3rd, which isn't a bad idea considering Jorge Cantu is a stopgap option at best. The Marlins did just draft Matt Dominguez last year, but he is not an option anytime soon.

If we do offer an extension, I'm not sure he merits one in the 30M dollar range. A 4 year, 20M dollar deal seems fair enough considering his limitations on defense. Considering the fact we just broke the bank for Hanley and expect to have new revenues pouring in once the stadium is built, the Marlins have few excuses to give Uggla. Then again, they could say that the Ramirez's deal took up any excess cap space they felt like giving away. We'll see.

Heck, if anything, maybe the Marlins will take a look at Jemile Weeks from UM at 2nd base in the upcoming MLB Draft. I wouldn't be opposed to that at all.

Dolphins Sign 4

2008-05-19T19:01:00.001-04:00

The McKinney deal has finally gone through, which is good news. He should be a nice fit as the 5th starter on the offensive line, barring a stellar training camp by one of the two rookies.

I'm pretty pleased to see that the Fins have already signed about half of their 2008 rookies. Granted, one was a given in Jake Long and the other 3 were low round guys that might not even make the team, but it's a start. I really hate seeing rookies hold out into training camp and miss out on the really important first few weeks of their NFL careers. I don't know of many players who have done that who didn't end up struggling in the NFL (see Jason Allen).

We won't have that problem this year because usually it is the first round picks that hold out and we already have ours locked down. I expect Merling to take a little longer than expected because he was a first round grade and was drafted in the 2nd, but it shouldn't be too much longer. Everyone else would be wise to sign their deals and get into camp as soon as possible.

Dolphins to Sign McKinney

2008-05-18T16:58:00.003-04:00

No, not Seth, thankfully. Instead the Fins are on the verge of signing his brother, C/G Steve McKinney.

It looks like the Dolphins might not have all that much faith in their drafted guards. That or they are just being careful and making sure they have a veteran option available should the young guys struggle to make the transition to the NFL. I would certainly be more comfortable having Steve in at RG than an unproven rookie. Then again, I'd like to see what the rookies have to offer, because we had a lot of holes on this team and used two picks on guards, so I expect something to come from that.

Dolphins Cut Mormino

2008-05-17T23:51:00.002-04:00

This week's cutting of Drew Mormino was a bit of a surprise to me. Going into the draft, I felt comfortable with our young line, having Vernon Carey, Samson Satele, Justin Smiley, and Jake Long as 4 of the 5 starters. Any 5th guy, even if serviceable, would be enough for the Dolphins to put out a top 1/3rd offensive line next season.

I fully expected us to draft a guard, and indeed the Dolphins picked up two. However, I fully expected Drew Mormino to be the guy starting at right guard. He had impressed last year in training camp before getting hurt, but I guess the front office felt he was another Joe Toledo. Toledo if you remember, had also impressed, but failed to stay healthy while a Dolphin. It's a shame, but if Jake Long can be effective, it doesn't really matter who is playing at right guard. Plus, they drafted those two guys for a reason right? We'll just have to trust their judgment.

I'm more interested in who will be the QB. Drafting Henne meant John Beck is on a short leash. If he can't beat out McCown for the job, don't look for Beck to be on this team past 2009. Henne is someone that Parcells is comfortable with and who he feels will fit the system. Beck has shown promise, but also has a long way to go before becoming an effective NFL QB. If he can't beat out a journeyman like Josh McCown, then the future doesn't look bright for either him or the Fins. I don't think we'll get 6 wins with any of the QBs at the helm, much less a guy like McCown.

Canes Lose First Series of the Season

2008-05-17T23:10:00.003-04:00

This was a pretty disappointing end to the regular season. This afternoon's 12-11 loss to UNC gave Miami their first series loss of the year and should (at least in my opinion) drop them to 2nd in the polls, considering the Tar Heels were ranked 2nd coming into the weekend.

Things started off well, with a 12-2 blasting of UNC on Thursday night, thanks again to the solid pitching performance of freshman Chris Hernandez. However, the team's ace, Erik Erickson, got rocked on Friday night for 7 runs in just 5 innings. UNC tallied 16 hits and the early deficit was too much to bear and Miami fell 10-6 despite a pair of home runs from Mark Sobolewski and Yonder Alonso.

Today was the all-important rubber match that saw UNC barely edge Miami 2-1 in the series. Unfortunately, Enrique Garcia couldn't seem to shake his struggles and the Tar Heels took advantage. So far it has seemed that UM's only weakness this year has been their Sunday starter in Garcia. More often than not, the offense has had to bail him out and today it wasn't enough.

Garcia allowed 6 runs (4 earned) in only 3 innings, creating an early hole for the Canes to dig themselves out of despite their early offensive explosion. However, the blame isn't solely on him, as David Gutierrez allowed 6 more in just over an inning of work before the rest of the bullpen plugged the leak. The loss lies squarely on their shoulders, but I'm sure they've beaten themselves up more than I intend to.

You can't really blame the offense at all, for dropping an average of almost 10 runs on the #1 pitching staff in the country. It was just our pitching staff that dropped the ball, forcing our offense to do too much. It for sure wasn't Yonder Alonso's fault. He hit his 19th homer this afternoon and it was nearly enough to keep the Canes in the game.

Though the loss was disappointing, the Canes did clinch the ACC regular season title on Thursday night and will have the top seed entering the upcoming ACC Tournament. The goal is to win that and secure the top overall seed heading into the College World Series.

Marlins Top Royals, Snap Losing Skid

2008-05-17T23:05:00.002-04:00

The Marlins finally picked up another win after an embarrassing sweep at the hands of the lowly Cincinnati Reds and a loss to the Royals yesterday. The 7-3 victory was much needed, because the once solid bullpen has been leaky of late and was not able to make up for the starter's lack of production.

The victory gives the Marlins sole possession of the division lead again, less than a week after they owned the best record in baseball. Tomorrow's rubber match is one we have to win, because the Royals are about as bad a team as the Marlins will get to play this season. They should have looked at this Cinci/KC 6 game stretch and thought about coming out of this 4-2 or 5-1. Instead at best the Marlins will take 2 from a pair of last-place caliber teams.

It'll be a tough matchup though, as the Marlins will face KC's best pitcher so far this season in Zach Greinke. Zach is 4-1 with an impressive 1.93 ERA and has been great for the Royals. Burke Badenhop will need to have his best stuff out there to give the Marlins a good chance to win this game.

New OT/TE Commit for Canes

2008-05-15T17:49:00.003-04:00

The Canes got their 6th 2009 commitment today in Cory White, an OL from Florida. White has received a number of offers, but it looks like this kid is being looked at as a diamond in the rough. Miami is the only BCS school to offer him, despite his interest in UF, FSU and Penn State. That's probably because the offensive lineman weighs only 235 pounds. I know Jason Fox was on the light end when he came in, but this is pushing it.

I trust the coaching staff to recognize talent when they see it. But apparently White wants to play TE. He does run a 4.8 40, so he is pretty athletic enough. However, we already have a commitment from Billy Sanders and are going hard after Orson Charles. If White will play TE, then I will get worried about our chances with Charles, who is pretty much the TE stud of this class. I really want him on this team.

Other than that, the Canes have been offering lineman left and right. OL and DL are probably the big need positions in this class, so it's wise to offer out to as many talented kids as you can.

Marlins Rally, Lose Anyway

2008-05-15T00:39:00.002-04:00

Well that was a tough series to swallow. The final victory this weekend put the Marlins at a sparkling 23-14 and gave them sole possession of the best record in baseball. Instead of continuing the momentum, Florida squandered their position on top and got swept by the lowly Reds.

I'm not sure what this series proves. We've been beating up on weak teams to fatten up our record so far, and losing to a sub .500 team doesn't make us look any better. That being said, anybody is really vulnerable to getting swept by anybody else in baseball. It's not that hard. Happens all the time. Because of that, I wouldn't panic quite just yet if I were you.

However, I wouldn't be completely unconcerned about the state of this team. They've been overachieving for quite some time now and the lack of talent will start to bite this team in the ass. The starting rotation just isn't good enough to hold up against the rigors of a 162 game season. They really need Josh Johnson and Anibal Sanchez to come back quickly and at their game to continue to contend for a playoff spot.

The Marlins should consider the previous paragraph a compliment because I would have considered them out of contention for a wild card spot on Opening Day, much less a fourth of the way through the season. Fredi Gonzalez has done a great job in his sophomore year as our coach. If anything, the Marlins putting together some wins has rejuvenated sports in South Florida, at least until the NBA Lottery next week.

Everett Waived

2008-05-13T16:10:00.002-04:00

This is actually a good thing. Buffalo was great to our former Cane, but obviously they need to move on with their roster and placed Kevin on the waived/failed physical list. I believe this means they don't have to pay him his 400,000+ dollar salary, but in turn allows him to collect a 225,000 dollar a year disability payment from the NFL.

Because the Bills paid him his entire salary last season, he became eligible for an NFL pension, receiving about $1500 a month. It might not seem like a whole lot, but combined with his disability checks and I think Kevin should be taken care of for the rest of his life assuming the hospital bills aren't too high.

This is one of the few examples where you see the system work. The NFL is notorious for not taking care of it's older retired players, many of which are extremely disabled due to years of brutal play in the NFL. This is a nice story to hear. Best of luck to Kevin, who is an inspiration to everyone and presents hope to all those who have been paralyzed.

Canes Stay Atop Polls

2008-05-13T15:58:00.002-04:00

Despite losing a game to lowly VT this weekend, the Canes baseball team remained the consensus #1 in the country. Miami won 2 of 3 in the series, but suffered a disappointing loss on Saturday to a below average team. Regardless, the polls made Miami the consensus #1 for the 6th week in a row.

Miami continues to roll thanks to the efforts of 9-0 pitcher Chris Hernandez, who pitched well again on Friday, allowing only 2 earned runs in 6 2/3 innings against the Hokies. The team is so well-balanced that it is extremely difficult for them to lose on any given day. Many are saying this team has the most professional level talent than any other team in the country, some even go as far to say they are the most talented team in years.

The praise will be put to the test this weekend, when the 2nd ranked Tar Heels come to town. This will be the 2nd time Miami has been part of a 1 vs 2 matchup. I'd like to see how often that's happened before in college baseball. I know it rarely happens in the regular season in college football, but I don't know that much about baseball history.

North Carolina consistently produces a Top 5 team and should be a tough challenge for the Canes. I'll say the same thing I said before the FSU series: if we can take 2 of 3, there is no shame in losing that 3rd game. Winning the series is crucial to both our confidence, and our national ranking. I doubt that pollsters will overlook losing a series to the #2 team. Not that it matters, but it's always nice to see Miami on top of the world.

Patchan Shot

2008-05-13T15:52:00.002-04:00

My friend at the Bull Gator mentioned this to me yesterday.

I've said my piece about Matt Patchan's decision to become a Gator. I think it was a mistake and I don't understand how he could have committed to UF. However, nobody deserves getting shot at, especially when it's for no reason.

Patchan has the bullet lodged in his shoulder and the doctors decided not to dig it out. Supposedly he should be back on the field in no time, but who knows. I don't think getting shot anywhere is ever good for football players.

Let's just hope this shooting was incidental and that somebody doesn't have it out for Matt. He should consider himself lucky that the bullet didn't hit him in a worse place. Good luck for his recovery.

Marlins Win 7th Straight

2008-05-11T17:25:00.002-04:00

Ladies and gentlemen, the Marlins now own the best record in the major leagues. Fredi Gonzalez has to be the early frontrunner for Manager of the Year, because this ragtag bunch belongs on the bottom of the standings, not at the top. Still, somehow the Marlins have managed to put together a 23-14 record, continuing the best start in team history.

Today was a sweet victory, coming back from a late 4-1 deficit to win thanks to a pair of Dan Uggla home runs (no help to my fantasy teams who faced him in both leagues). The win complete a sweep of the lowly Nationals and again, ties the Marlins with the Diamondbacks for the best record in the majors despite only a +14 run differential. And that's including yesterday's 11-0 pounding in Washington.

The success is in most part due to some solid hitting and excellent work from the bullpen. It's an exciting start to the season because our young hitters will get better and the starting lineup should benefit from the return of Josh Johnson and Anibal Sanchez later on in the season. What a Cinderella story it would be if the Marlins could actually contend for the playoffs with such a low payroll. Making the postseason with this roster would be arguably as impressive as winning the World Series back in 2003.

Shandel's Interviews

2008-05-10T02:24:00.002-04:00

I'll be the first to admit I miss Omar Kelly's coverage of the Canes on the Sun-Sentinel. Ever since he was moved to the Dolphins beat and replaced by Shandel Richardson, I've felt that the quality of the coverage has dropped off substantially. Omar was closer to his readers and gave us good stuff. Shandel isn't bad, but he had some pretty big shoes to fill. On top of that, he has some stiff competition from the Herald's Manny Navarro, who often has the the latest news up really quick.

However, Shandel has recently stepped it up big time. He knows what the deal is. All we care about down here is football. The baseball team is amazing and should be poised for a title, but nobody really cares. The basketball team was a few seconds away from a Sweet 16 appearance, but they too have to step aside for football. In the South, football is king. Anyway, Shandel has responded to this by providing one on one interviews with several incoming freshman recruits from Miami's heralded 2008 class.

Here is one with Davon Johnson. I encourage you to read up on the other ones on the blog. As Bruce Feldman point out on his ESPN blog, the most interesting comment was from CJ Holton, who said he got numerous death threats about decommitting from FSU and committing to Miami. I wish I could say this sort of behavior is exclusive to Noles' fans, but I've seen some pretty nasty stuff online from Canes fans when our guys switch commitments as well.

Ramirez to Get Extension

2008-05-10T02:18:00.003-04:00

Hallelujah! The Marlins finally are breaking the bank for a top player. Sadly, the generous financial stance taken by the front office comes too late, as we have already traded a perennial All-Star in Miguel Cabrera in exchange for a strikeout machine (Maybin) and a struggling rookie pitcher. At least now we know the cornerstone of the franchise will be locked up for the future.

Supposedly the contract extension is for 6 years and 70 million dollars. That's not too shabby for what will eventually be one of the game's 5 best players. I'm sure that contract won't hold up towards the tail end. It's too much of a bargain. Hopefully by then we will be able to afford other talented players to put alongside Hanley. This year's early success has been nice, but we can't rest our laurels on a 20-14 record.

It's Not Great to Be A Florida Gator

2008-05-10T01:38:00.003-04:00

Simply because I don't have the energy to whip out the statistics and the usual bleeding heart Canes-against-the-world soapbox talk, I'll be short and sweet about the latest Gator in the news. Safety Jamar Hornsby has been arrested and accused of credit card fraud. This wasn't your ordinary, run-of-the-mill fraud you might find yourself guilty of if you find someone's lost wallet. Hornsby had been using a dead girl's identity. Not only that, but she was a close friend and girlfriend of former teammate Michael Guilford, who alongside Ashley Slonina died a few months ago in a tragic car accident.

And here I thought Fred Rouse breaking into his teammate's apartment was some serious betrayal. Try having your teammate ruin your girlfriend's credit. Hornsby is lucky that Guilford didn't survive the crash, because this situation is just sick. On top of being morally reprehensible on every level, Slonina's family had enough to deal with before getting hit with the charges to her credit card. That's just a cruel thing to do.

Of course, nothing substantial will come of this in the big picture. Hornsby has been kicked off the team, obviously, and should serve some jail time for his crimes. However, you won't see an SI cover imploring the University of Florida to shut down their program. I'd be willing to be their last 18 months have been far worse than anything that ever went down here in the late 80's. It's sad but the reality is Miami will never shed the Thug U image no matter how dirty things get elsewhere.

Pats Taped Dolphins

2008-05-07T22:54:00.003-04:00

Apparently, some time between 2000 and 2002, the New England Patriots videotaped games of the Miami Dolphins for future access in stealing our signals. They also taped 4 other teams in 5 other games. This revelation comes from Matt Walsh, who's saga continues now with more evidence that the Patriots are bigtime cheaters.

Granted, they are likely not the only team to have been doing this. Regardless it should be interesting to see what kinds of punishments they will face for this if the NFL finds them guilty of cheating. I personally don't know what they were doing taping the Dolphins, when Wannstedt's offense was run left, run right, run backwards, and his defense was straight up cover 2 man.

Hopefully they'll get more than a slap on the wrist. It would be fun to see some real chaos in the NFL, with a Super Bowl title stripped from those damn Patsies.

Noles OL Ineligible

2008-05-07T14:50:00.004-04:00

Right off the heels of OLB Marcus Ball's departure from FSU, the Seminoles have lost another important starter in Daron Rose. It's been a pretty rough 6 months from a Noles standpoint, what with the academic scandal going around and all. Poor Geno Hayes leaves early for the NFL and gets drafted in the 6th round. Oops.

Don't forget there are several players suspended for the first two games of next season. FSU will be hard-pressed to keep up in the ACC with all of these issues looming over their program. However, things will probably be fine in Tally in the long run. They just finished locking up a decent 2008 class and so far have one of the top 2009 recruiting classes in the country.

I look forward to the day when we can see another 6-0 Miami vs 6-0 FSU matchup that actually means something. Beating the Seminoles is that much sweeter when they are relevant.

Olsen Pitches a Gem

2008-05-07T13:58:00.004-04:00

Had the opportunity to catch part of the Marlins' victory last night over the Brewers 3-0. Scott Olsen somehow has found his groove after being statistically the worst regular starter in the NL last season. He is now 4-1 with an excellent 2.22 ERA and a sparkling 1.05 WHIP.

I particularly enjoyed the late stretch where Olsen got fired up after failing to give himself run support. Somehow the Marlins, with a 3-0 lead, had the bases loaded with no outs and got nothing out of that situation. Olsen struck out with 1 out in the inning and returned to the dugout livid with himself. Throwing stuff, the usual. Looks like his anger problems haven't entirely gone away.

However, whatever he's done to control that anger has been working. Usually, he might have lost his focus and begun to pitch poorly. Instead he walked up to the mound and smoked Prince Fielder for a strikeout, eventually leading the team to a victory with 8 2/3 innings pitched.

With the Philly loss, this puts us back in a first place tie atop the NL East. It's a nice place to be, even if it is early May. You have to like what the young lineup and the bullpen are doing to make up for the pretty weak starting rotation.

So Much For Marvin Harrison

2008-05-05T18:59:00.004-04:00

It's funny, I just finished writing a piece on the modern athlete last week and praised Marvin Harrison as one of those quiet hard-working guys who is all business. I wasn't aware of a previous incident when he supposedly choked a young fan asking for an autograph (then again I've heard horror stories from fans regarding everyone from Dan Marino to Alonzo Mourning). All it took was a couple of days for Marvin to make me look pretty dumb.

The ongoing investigation into a shooting involving the Colts' receiver has now turned up shell casings from a gun that belongs to Harrison. Oops. I'm not entirely sure what a guy like Marvin is doing with such a powerful gun (armor piercing? Jesus), but I'm going to refrain from making any judgment on that until we get a little more information. Regardless, this is quite the PR nightmare for him.

I thought it was an interesting situation because the timing of my article was perfect to illustrate how we can't idolize these guys too much. We hear about how great Zach Thomas is, how he studies film so diligently, buys a hyperbolic chamber in the offseason to improve his performance, and how he takes football incredibly seriously. You see him at charity events and raising a family. But do you really know him? It's tough, because we often look up to these guys growing up as kids not knowing anything about their personal lives.

The fact is football players and other athletes are human beings. They make mistakes and nothing is ever black and white, good and evil. Everyone hates on T.O for being a prima donna, but how many fans know he was raised by a cruel grandmother who wouldn't let him go out, or how he fell in love with the girl down the street before the girl's father showed up one day and said Terrell couldn't date her because she was his sister. That's bound to screw you up.

I think we have to be careful and try hard to distance ourselves from athletes as heroes. For all I know, Zach eats baby kittens for breakfast. I'll still always love the guy for what he's done for the fans and for the city of Miami, but I know from experience that my kids' role model will be someone he knows and understands, not some guy on TV that could end up disappointing you when he doesn't turn out to be the ideal person you thought he was.

Celtics Dominate, Advance

2008-05-04T16:36:00.003-04:00

It certainly took longer than expected (I had them sweeping), but Boston dismantled the outmatched Hawks in Boston today to advance and meet the Cavs in Round 2.

This means I was 8-8 in my predictions for Round 1, albeit none of the predictions of the length of the series were on the mark. That's not too much to brag about, as I went chalk for the majority of my predictions, save for the Spurs topping the Hornets in 6 in Round 2. Yesterday's shellacking didn't do much to support my opinion that the Spurs are a better team than New Orleans. Then again, I doubt Tim Duncan will be held to 5 points and 3 boards ever again in the playoffs.

I'll stand by my original predictions because not much has changed my mind since Round 1. Boston showed they have some serious weaknesses and it has to be a bit disturbing that they couldn't close out Atlanta on the road. Regardless, they should still send Cleveland home packing pretty quickly. I still say it goes down in 5, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it go 6 or 7 based on the success that Atlanta had.

Detroit also easily took care of their second round opponent, but I don't think the Pistons are 20 points better than the Magic every night. Dwight Howard will dominate, especially at home, and I still think the series goes 6 or 7.

The Lakers are taking care of the Jazz as we speak, but the game isn't over and Utah is an excellent team. Some have them as a darkhorse to win it all and I couldn't disagree with that choice. I still think LA wins this series but I fully expect it to go the distance.

And even with the Spurs' disappointing Game 1 loss yesterday, I think they will pull it out and win the series at home in Game 6. San Antonio is an excellent home team and I don't expect them to lose there in this series. I think they take the next 3 before losing Game 5 and finishing the Hornets off in San Antonio. New Orleans has been playing better than I thought they would, and Chris Paul is ridiculous, but they are still relatively young and the experienced Spurs know how to get it done in crunch time.

Hernandez Shines as Canes Top Gaels

2008-05-03T20:14:00.002-04:00

Fresh off a week that saw the Canes lose a disappointing game to FIU before sweeping ranked Virginia, the Miami baseball team continued to roll yesterday with a 10-6 victory over St. Mary's.

I was sure that the loss to FIU would drop the team from the top spot in the rankings, but apparently the pollsters were sufficiently impressed by the sweep of a Top 25 team that the Canes were again the consensus #1 team in the country.

With the ranking came a much needed midweek rest where we didn't have to play a Tuesday or a Wednesday game. That should have given the guys some time to rest up and study a bit for final exams. It seems the mini break was productive, as Miami did a nice job of handling the Gaels yesterday. Chris Hernandez held them to 1 run over 5 innings, as he has been our most consistent and impressive starter so far this season. The freshman has impressed me and probably will have caught the eye of most MLB scouts by now.

The game also saw Jemile Weeks break the school record for career triples with 18. That's a nice touch to Weeks' spectacular career here, which looks to end this season as he is projected to be a 1st round pick in the MLB Draft. Yonder Alonso also contributed to the rout (the final score was much closer than it should have been) with his team-leading 13th home run of the season. He should also be playing his final season in a Canes uniform, as he has joined his teammate in most 1st round mock drafts.

Marlins Top Padres, Regain First Place

2008-05-02T22:14:00.003-04:00

Today's 6-4 victory over Justin Germano and the Padres was a big win for the Marlins. The recent sweep at the hand of the Dodgers erased our division lead and raised concerns that maybe the Marlins were finally starting to show their true colors. Surely they can't keep it up much longer, right?

Well as long as the Ws keep piling up, keep the faith. I don't know how they piece together wins, but whatever they've done has worked. Today's heroics were provided by Dan Uggla, who homered twice off Germano to give Mark Hendrickson enough support to win. Speaking of Hendrickson, I've only watched a pair of his outings and wasn't impressed. Still, he has managed to pitch well enough to post a 5-1 record so far.

I'd have to say much of the reason for the Marlins' early season success is thanks to their all-world shortstop Hanley Ramirez. The young infielder is on pace for a .320, 45 HR, 100RBI and 55 stolen base season. Those are MVP numbers, and I don't doubt his ability to keep it up. The homers should probably settle at around 25-30, but Ramirez has proven he's got some pop. What's amazing is that Ramirez is batting at such a high level and still striking out so much. Once he develops a little more patience, it's scary to imagine how impressive his numbers will be.

Canes Miss Out on Pair of Recruits

2008-04-30T20:25:00.002-04:00

We did get a verbal from Luther Robinson on Tuesday, but the past couple of days haven't been the best for the Miami football program. Yesterday they lost out on South Dade DE Ed Stinson, who committed to FSU. That's frustrating news because we just made some ground on the 2009 FSU class and then they go and get a verbal from another 4 star defensive player.

And today comes more bad news, this time from Texas. I might have mentioned we were going heavy after Craig Loston, the consensus #1 safety in the 2009 class. The 5 star stud opted to go to Clemson instead. Loston is 6-3 200 pounds and runs a 4.35, so imagine just how much of an impact he could make on a defense that lacks proven safeties such as our own. I still think we have some good depth there, but we need someone to stand out and make a difference now that Kenny Phillips has gone pro.

The Modern Athlete

2008-04-30T20:06:00.003-04:00

I love Jason Taylor. I really do. He's consistently been our best defensive player for the better part of this decade and has carried himself with class while a member of this horrible team. However, I can't help but wonder where the stereotype of football players as tough guys has gone.

I watch NFL Films and see guys fighting in the muddy trenches, playing with broken necks and torn muscles. Deacon Jones slapping offensive lineman on the head on the way to the QB. People missing teeth. The old-school football of the 60s is a glorious thing. Tough guys who don't screw around and who don't bitch and moan about playing time or signing bonuses.

Now you see guys like JT on TV, on dancing competitions. Showing up on People's 100 Most Beautiful People. Advertising skin lotion products (Nivea). No offense to Jason, who has made the most of his good looks and celebrity to ensure himself a future after football, but my, how the times have changed. I can see why Parcells hasn't necessarily warmed up to him yet, considering he is missing workouts to be dancing on TV.

This isn't an attack on Jason, nor a defense of Parcells' cold demeanor. It's just interesting to me to see this stuff going on all the time and it's not even viewed as a problem. Modern athletes are doing stuff that the manly men of the 50s and 60s wouldn't dream of wasting their time with. I wonder if this is a good or a bad thing. I haven't decided yet. I for one would make the most of my career, like many athletes are doing today. Then again, there is something special about players who don't fool around, mean business, and play football with a passion so deep that nothing else matters in the world. They'll play hurt, and do so for pennies in comparison to today's pampered athletes.

Does that make modern athletes soft or indifferent towards their profession? I don't think so. There are still guys like Marvin Harrison or Zach Thomas who obsess over their jobs and rarely if ever appear outside of the football spectrum. There are guys like Chad Johnson who love promoting themselves to the point you wonder if they ever bother to study film (though I believe in Chad's case, he does both). But there are also guys like Peyton Manning, who will study more film than any other QB in the NFL, but still appears in countless commercials. Guys who get the best of both worlds. Guys like Jason Taylor.

I guess it just depends on your own personal preferences. I would love to have a team full of guys who play with broken bones and noses, who don't give a damn about endorsements. But I can't help but admit that if I were in their positions, I would exploit my position on the team so as to ensure my financial security well into the future. What do you guys think?

Canes BBall Continue Success

2008-04-30T19:52:00.002-04:00

Frank Haith landed his first commitment for the 2009 class today in Donnavan Kirk. The slim PF supposedly has Al Horford's game. Sounds good to me. I'm not big on basketball recruiting, so I can only point you to what other people are saying about him. But extra bodies on the front line will be happily received down here in Coral Gables.

Kirk is rated 3 stars by Scout and is ranked 56th on the Rivals Top 100. Looks like the recent NCAA Tournament success might have swayed the first of many more great players to come to Miami and build a strong basketball program.

How Sweet It Is

2008-04-30T19:13:00.002-04:00

Seeing the Mavs and Suns get eliminated yesterday brought a smile to my face. First off, the sniveling crybabies in Dallas deserve their 1st round exit. The team is overrated and made a huge mistake in trading for Jason Kidd. Dirk No-ring-ski is soft and will never win a title as long as he is the primary option on the team. And of course, everybody's favorite owner Mark Cuban gets to stop and realize he spent millions for nothing. Granted, he might have made some profit, but the heartache will be enough to make me happy.

As for the Suns, I never particularly liked them too much. They play an exciting brand of ball, but I personally would have preferred to see Golden State in the playoffs. Steve Nash is excellent but a completely one-dimensional player. But after they traded for Shaq, I openly rooted against them. He can say he was misquoted all he wants, and that he has "apologized" to his former teammates. It still remains that Shaq is a lazy, spoiled child and deserves an early exit from the playoffs. I guess his lack of success with the Heat wasn't all his teammates' fault, huh? Enjoy your time off, big guy, and consider watching reruns of the 2006 Finals. That will probably be the last successful season in your long, illustrious career.

DT Commits to Canes

2008-04-29T14:13:00.002-04:00

It's been a pretty slow couple of months since Signing Day, but UM hasn't exactly been slacking on the recruiting trail. We had already landed 4 commits and were looking to get verbals from a couple of more kids during the summer. Last night, Randy Shannon got his 5th commitment of the 2009 class from Florida DT Luther Robinson.

The Fort Pierce prospect called his commitment a strong one, but that only means so much this early in the game. Regardless, it's great to have Luther on board. He is rated a 4-star prospect by Rivals and is currently unrated by Scout. I haven't seen any video of him so I can't really confirm those ratings, but at the very least it is nice to get another commitment to keep up with the barrage of FSU verbals this spring.

Undrafted Canes

2008-04-28T15:27:00.003-04:00

Miami didn't do too well on the second day of the draft this year. Besides Tavares Gooden to the Ravens in the 3rd, nobody else got drafted. I was hoping that someone would take a flier on Darnell Jenkins or Derrick Morse, but I guess neither were seen as draftable prospects. Regardless, a handful of players from UM were signed to free agent contracts.

Kyle Wright to the Vikings. Nice pickup for them. If he gets brainwashed into playing better he isn't much worse than Tarvaris Jackson.

Lance Leggett to the Browns. Don't see why they would go here after they signed Ryan Moore last season with no success.

Darnell Jenkins to the Texans. Nice move by the Texans, who at some point need to find a complement to Andre Johnson.

Glenn Sharpe to the Falcons. Sharpe has many of the physical tools to play at the next level but his injury history is a huge red flag.

The Herald is reporting that Vegas Franklin was invited to a camp by the Bucs.

Dolphins Draft Recap

2008-04-28T15:23:00.003-04:00

I wish I could tell you I knew anything about any of our Day 2 picks, but I don't. I had never heard of any of them, and I follow college football pretty closely. Those types of drafts are ones I get apprehensive about, because we are putting our full faith in the front office. Unfortunately it looks like we have no other choice at this point.

From what I've read, it seems like they got some decent value out of the 6th round Guard and the 7th round DT they picked. The 3rd and 4th round picks were viewed as reaches by some. I don't really care either way, as long as 60% of the guys we picked end up being contributers. People don't realize sometimes that the draft is such a crapshoot and that having that sort of success rate is enviable. Hopefully they made the right decisions, because I can't even begin to assign them a grade.

I didn't like the fact we didn't draft a WR or a CB, but I guess they felt that there wasn't much available that would make this team that much better. Building on the lines is as good a place to start as any. That makes the most sense and we just have to pray that it'll work out.

Riley Steps Down

2008-04-28T15:16:00.003-04:00

No real surprise here. We could have guessed that this recent season might have taken away Riley's desire to remain as coach. A disastrous last place finish isn't exactly what he had in mind when the season started. Now we have to move on with Erik Spoelstra, who by all accounts was the heir apparent for quite some time.

The move is welcome on this end. I love Pat for all that he's done, but maybe it was time for a change. I feel uncertain with an unproven guy like Erik at the helm, and will certainly miss having that security blanket of knowing Pat Riley is our coach. But it seems like the players have stopped responding to him and that someone new had to be brought in. Who better to lead the team than Dwyane Wade's personal favorite.

The only problem I have with that is that we might be catering to Wade too much. I don't want him to turn into a prima donna. But if he is happy, then that's a relief because everyone wants him to return to Miami after his contract is up in a couple of years. Drafting Derrick Rose would probably do a lot to ensure Wade doesn't go anywhere.

As for Riley, I'm glad he gets to stay onboard as President. It was in this situation that he managed to put together the trade that led to the 2005 title. He had the chance to step back from the situation, look at the team not as a coach, but as a GM. Now he can do the same. Hopefully we get Rose or Beasley and swing some sort of trade that opens up cap space for Elton Brand next summer. Then we will be back in the race.

Dolphins Draft Henne

2008-04-26T20:25:00.002-04:00

Looks like I called this one. I don't necessarily love the pick, but you had to bring in a QB at some point in the draft to compete with John Beck. There was a lot of talk of Henne leading up to the draft, so this selection is anything but surprising.

I would have gone elsewhere, but this isn't a bad pick at all. Great first day for the Dolphins. Things are looking good Dolfans. Things are looking good. Then again, it takes a couple of years to see if this draft made an impact. For now, we do have reason to be optimistic.

Calais Goes to Arizona

2008-04-26T19:58:00.002-04:00

I didn't pick him as one of the guys I wanted because he underperformed here in Miami. But I still wanted him to be picked as high as possible. I feel for him, because he was a Top 10 pick last year. That is a whole lot of guaranteed money lost on the table.

He should do well in Arizona, where he has guys like Antrel Rolle and Edgerrin James to welcome him into the NFL. He has got a lot to learn, but has the passion and physical tools to become a top defensive end in the NFL.

Next up should be Tavares Gooden in the next hour, or early tomorrow morning. Good luck to him as well.

Guys I Want

2008-04-26T19:35:00.003-04:00

There are plenty of players available that I would like to take a look at.

For our 2nd round pick I would like to see if either Limas Sweed or DeSean Jackson slip far enough to draft. I especially am interested in Sweed. Getting Henne or Brohm would be interesting, but I don't really want one of those two QBs today.

Fred Davis and Jamaal Charles would be nice picks in the 2nd or 3rd round. I doubt we'll go after Davis because we just traded for Fasano, but who knows. They might end up going after a DT in Pat Sims or maybe go inside linebacker with Dan Connor or Tavares Gooden. Both of those guys are decent players but I'm not entirely sure they fit the system.

Corner would be a nice pick in the 2nd-3rd round area. I like Justin King, Reggie Smith, or Terrell Thomas. Granted they are all big school guys, but I've seen enough of the latter two to feel comfortable with them as picks. King is a risk because he hasn't lived up to his 5-star potential, but might be worth it if you fear a CB run.

I would actually like to see us go after Dennis Dixon in the 6th round if he is available. It's not much of a risk that late in the draft and he has a lot of upside. Glenn Sharpe wouldn't be a bad move either. He's been rated as having Day 1 talent but there are injury and consistency concerns.

I don't know about Malcolm Kelly or Mario Manningham. Both were excellent college guys, but have some red flags. If the latter is available in the 4th round, I wouldn't be surprised if the Dolphins draft him for his upside though. I would also take a look at the big target from Louisville, Mario Urrutia in the 6th or 7th round.

Streak Survives...Barely

2008-04-26T19:22:00.003-04:00

I have to say I was sweating that one out. The lack of a run on DE's pretty much sealed Calais' fate as a 2nd-3rd round selection, but I was really worried nobody would take Kenny Phillips. Most mocks I saw had him going to the Giants, but I still wanted him to get picked a lot earlier to avoid the waiting.

Instead, pick after pick came and went and Phillips stayed on the board. The Giants were all that stood between us and the end of the streak. Thank God for the G-men. That's twice now that the Giants have saved Miami fans this year. First with the Super Bowl, then with the draft. Thanks, New York. Enjoy yourselves a great player and good luck in the next season defending your title.

Booker Traded to Eagles for 4th

2008-04-26T19:18:00.002-04:00

I guess the new regime didn't think much of Lorenzo Booker. In order to replace the 4th round pick they traded earlier to the Cowboys, the Dolphins got rid of the 3rd down back for the Eagles' pick.

It's an interesting move because the only two real backs left on the roster are injured and are in rehab. I guess they are comfortable with Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams for now. I was wondering if we might take a look at Jamaal Charles in the 3rd, but figured they would pass on that because they already had Booker. Now that becomes a real possibility as an insurance pick.

It is also strange because the Eagles already have a Lorenzo Booker in Brian Westbrook. Both pretty much have the same skill sets as pass catching backs. Westbrook is clearly better and is a much better runner, but still I would think the Eagles would want a complement instead of a supplement. Oh well. I won't miss the former Seminole.

Dolphins Draft Merling

2008-04-26T19:10:00.003-04:00

Well, there was no real suspense with our 1st pick. We've known its been Jake Long for a while now. It was still good to see him out there and officially get drafted though. However, as the picks went by, things got very interesting for the Dolphins and the #32 overall pick.

I advocated drafting Lawrence Jackson, but unfortunately he got picked up by Seattle just before our pick. I was then rooting for Quentin Groves, but I guess the front office felt there was more value in drafting Phillip Merling out of Clemson. I was still right about going after a DE, but frankly, I don't know a damn thing about Merling.

Scouts had him rated as a mid 1st round selection, so it is surprising that 1) I had no idea who he is and 2) we still had the opportunity to draft him. If they have faith in the guy, then I'm happy with the pick. We needed that position and got it. All that remains is to see if he is any good.

I was quite relieved to see that we didn't trade up for Joe Flacco and that we didn't reach for Chad Henne. Word was that we were in love with the Michigan QB, so as we were making the pick I was pretty nervous. I saw plenty of Henne in college and I don't think he is the answer. If they pick him up with the 57th pick, I guess it wouldn't be so bad, but I prefer us going after a CB instead.

Dolphins Trade 4th Round Pick to Cowboys

2008-04-25T22:43:00.002-04:00

OK, so much for my mock draft. I planned on the Dolphins taking a TE in the 3rd round, but now the Dolphins have traded their 4th round pick for Anthony Fasano and Akin Ayodele from the Cowboys. This gives us the necessary depth at TE and LB. I like the Fasano trade because we weren't likely to get anything much better in the draft. That does rule out my draft picks, and I might consider doing a new mock draft before 3pm tomorrow.

At least I was right about the Fins going after another TE. They may go elsewhere with that 3rd round pick now. Don't be surprised if they go after the best DB available with that pick.

Mock Draft

2008-04-25T21:27:00.003-04:00

I don't have the time or expertise to do a 1st round mock draft, but I would like to throw out my opinion of what the Fins will be doing tomorrow and Sunday.

1st round: Jake Long has been drafted.

2nd round: I would like to think they would go with Quentin Groves or Lawrence Jackson. The entire mock draft goes to hell if the Dolphins trade Jason Taylor for an extra pick. Let's just assume here that they don't trade JT. I would still take a DE/OLB over a QB.

2nd round: Now I would consider a QB. If Henne is still available, then count your blessings and take him. If not, I think the pick is Sims the DT from Auburn

3rd round: Fred Davis, TE from USC. We need a dynamic playmaker here. Davis is one of the best prospects at his position. TE might be a luxury, but I still like it.

4th round: Mario Manningham slips a couple of rounds due to poor interviews and a god-awful 6 on the Wonderlic.

6th round: Chad Rinehart, OG Northern Iowa. We need another body on the line to compete. Rinehart has the size Parcells likes, but is from a small school so this could be a project

6th round: Jonathan Zenon, CB LSU. We could also go with Sharpe with this pick, or a smaller guy like Justin Tryon from ASU.

7th round: J (thats his name) Leman, Illinois ILB. Big linebacker who plays football well but isn't a great athlete.

7th round: Tommy Blake, DE, TCU. Supposedly there are some issues with his mental condition, but Blake has the measurables and the motor to take a chance on this late in the draft.

The Streak

2008-04-24T17:49:00.003-04:00

For 13 straight years, a Miami Hurricane has been selected in the first round of the NFL Draft. Some years we've barely made it, like when Kelly Jennings was the 2nd to last pick of the draft a couple of a years ago. This year we've got a projected 1st round pick and a borderline guy in Calais Campbell. Should we be concerned about the streak, and does the streak even really matter?

For one, I think the streak will remain intact for another year. Safety is becoming such an important position in the NFL today that somebody will take Kenny in the 1st round. The Steelers or Giants will probably snatch him up before the 1st round is over. If not, then I would consider taking him with the #32 pick, which while technically not in the 1st round, it would be in the first 32 picks so I would consider the streak alive with an asterisk in that case.

If not Kenny, then our only hope is Calais. And those hopes are dimming by the day. The poor guy should have left last season when he would have easily been a Top 10, maybe Top 5 pick. This season his production fell off substantially and he showed that he has a lot to work on, especially against the run. Calais has no real techniques other than the bull rush and because he is so tall, he gets knocked over easily.

Personally, I would like to see the streak continue as long as possible. We don't have the allure of a college town with a huge fanbase like other schools do. Players come to the U to play football and go to the pros. That's what Miami is: a football factory. So while it is unrealistic to expect the streak to go on forever, and if it ends it doesn't necessarily mean our dominance is over for good, the psychological damage would be done.

Even if the streak were to continue this season (which I expect it shall), I don't like the prospects for the streak go to 15 years in the 2009 draft. I don't see many potential 1st round selections from this current roster. If Jason Fox has a monster year, then he might be our best hope to go in the 1st if he chooses to leave early. Eric Moncur is talented, but would have to blow up for teams to consider drafting him in the first round. Anthony Reddick would have to return to his freshman form to even sniff the first round, and even then his long injury history would probably knock him to Day 2.

Frankly, we need a huge year from somebody if the streak is going to continue next year. Because as of right now, we have a bunch of marginal-solid NFL prospects, but no superstars that will see their names called on Day 1. Pray for a big year from the guys I listed, or something out of the blue, like a ridiculous season by Sam Shields or Colin McCarthy. Otherwise, we will have to start anew in 2010.

Don't Pick Flacco

2008-04-24T02:24:00.003-04:00

Word is that the Dolphins are trying to trade JT for a mid-late first round pick to go after either Derrick Harvey, Quentin Groves or Joe Flacco. Groves should be available at the #32 pick but I wouldn't mind selecting him earlier. I'm no fan of Harvey due to him being a Gator, but he has value in the mid-first round. However, I would be seriously pissed if we drafted Joe Flacco.

Some sportswriters have advocated selecting him in the 2nd. Specifically those at the Sun-Sentinel. They are entitled to their opinion, but I'm having a problem with Flacco being a potential selection. He has got a cannon arm, that's for sure. And he's got all the confidence in the world. However, he might have the wrong kind of confidence. We saw a guy with all the physical tools coming out of Washington State a few years ago. He got cocky and ended up failing miserably. I think his name was Ryan Leaf.

I don't want Flacco. I've heard bad things about his interviews at the combine and don't want any part of a prima donna QB. I also don't like the fact he comes from such a small school. Granted, there have been plenty of great QBs from these schools. Most recently you've got Tony Romo from a small Illinois school. But Flacco originally committed to Pittsburgh and ended up transferring after he couldn't get the starting job there. First off, it shows lack of dedication in being able to compete for the starting job. That's making the assumption of course, that he was ever given the chance. If he wasn't, then I apologize.

But more importantly, if you are such a great QB, what are you doing not being able to start at Pittsburgh? It's Wanny for God's sake. If he could have unearthed some more eligibility out of Jay Fiedler, he would have. How can you not be a good enough QB for Dave Wannstedt if you claim to be a 1st round pick? Something is just fishy with that whole deal.

Frankly, I'm not a big fan of any of the QBs coming out of this class. Henne is inconsistent, Brohm played in a funky offense, Ryan is terrible, Flacco is an ass, and Booty had all the talent around him and still didn't perform at a super high level. Then again, I always hate every QB in every class. It's been years since I've said any rookie QB would turn out to be any good so what do I know.

Fins Shopping JT

2008-04-23T18:26:00.004-04:00

I guess this was to be expected. At least the Dolphins aren't going to give him up easily. If Chris Chambers can demand a 2nd round pick on the market, then surely Jason Taylor merits a 1st or at least a 2nd and a 4th.

Trading JT would mean the end of the old Dolphins era--- the one that won so many games in the late 90s and early 2000s, but never enjoyed any playoff success. That's fine. He deserves to move on to greener pastures at this point. A 1st round pick in return would be fair and would put the organization in a position to continue to improve this roster.

Jake Long is the first step. A mid-1st round pick could turn into a guy like Brian Brohm (if they are interested) or the Talib kid from Kansas. There are dozens of players that would fill needs for the Dolphins in the late first round. We'll likely scoop one up with the 32nd pick, but getting an additional one would let us play around with our options. Groves in the 2nd, maybe Lawrence Jackson (the guy I really like). Maybe go after Kenny Phillips in the late first if you were to acquire a pick. Who knows? The possibilities are endless, but before we start speculating, we have to find a trading partner.

TO Loves Porn?

2008-04-23T15:42:00.004-04:00

Apparently Terrell Owens loves porn? He appeared on a recent photo on the Bangbros website. It got cropped out from the main site, but I do have a copy of the photo here.

That's definitely him. Looks like the dude recognizes him and it's hard to miss the Dallas receiver in the background.

Preston Parker Arrested

2008-04-22T14:49:00.002-04:00

Continuing the theme of this site, I am posting something anti-FSU. After this past season for Canes football, and for South Florida sports in general, I need the occasional laugh to keep me going. So tough luck, Noles fans.

Anyway, Preston Parker got arrested for gun and drug charges today. The 21 year old receiver was one of those Bobby Bowden specials I often talk about here. He was all but a Cane but somehow out of the blue committed to FSU at the last second. He's been their best receiver recently, so this is going to hurt big time. Unless of course the Noles manage to sweep this under the rug and not punish him at all. I would hope they know to act quickly especially with the spotlight on them after the recent academic scandal.

Jake Long is the Man

2008-04-22T13:12:00.000-04:00

About time. We can finally stop dreaming up fantasy scenarios of trading down or passing on the #1 pick. Forget the "Freudian Slip" that cast the doubt on the possibility of selecting Jake Long. And definitely forget the rumors that Long had no interest in playing for the Dolphins. ESPN and the Sun-Sentinel are reporting that Jake Long has agreed to a contract with the Dolphins and will be the #1 overall selection come Saturday at 3pm.

The press conference should be in about half an hour. I suppose they might release the terms then. For now it's unknown how much the contract is for. I don't really care. It's going to be a huge number that will restrict us financially if Long doesn't produce at a high level. I'm just happy we have our LT and can move on to other pressing needs in the draft.

This makes the Dolphins offensive line one of the finest young lines in the league. For once we'll actually have a good offensive line. I hope. Look for a pass rushing OLB/DE and a QB to be selected in the 2nd rounds. The rest is a crapshoot no matter what draft experts tell you, but I'll still come up with a mock draft later this week.

Marlins Win 3rd Straight, Remain Atop NL East

2008-04-22T12:58:00.002-04:00

19 games through the season and somehow the Marlins are still chugging along in first place at 12-7. They currently hold a 1.5 game lead over the Mets, which is impressive for now but is something that could be wiped out in a matter of days. The success is relieving for South Florida sports fans, who literally have had nothing to cheer for but baseball these past few months. Alongside the top-ranked Canes, the Marlins are all we've got now, both literally and figuratively until August.

I'm not entirely sure how they are winning so many games yet. They have been batting relatively well, though much of the team seems to enjoy striking out quite a bit. And the pitching staff is one of the 5 worst in the majors statistically. It's mind-boggling as to how Mark Hendrickson is 4-1 with a 3.86 ERA this season. Mark Hendrickson? Who?

But hey, I'll take it at this point. The Marlins have currently allowed 7 more runs than they've scored, yet are 5 games over 500. Go figure. Whatever it is they're doing to win, keep doing it. I suppose it might have to do with all the games against Washington and Pittsburgh and the sort. We'll see how the Marlins fare with 9 games against Milwaukee and LA coming up soon.

I realize I may sound unappreciative or skeptical, but I can't see this ragtag bunch keeping it up for too much longer. However, if they somehow manage to stay at or around 500 by the time their young pitching staff has had time to heal, then watch out. Sprinkle a little of that old Marlins magic from the 97 and 03 seasons and you might, *might*, have something there.

Jake Long Nearing a Deal?

2008-04-21T16:35:00.002-04:00

This is interesting, to say the least. There had been suggestions that Jake Long wasn't interested in playing for the Dolphins. I felt that if this were true, then Miami needed to stop negotiating with the guy and go elsewhere. Then again, it could have been a ploy to confuse other teams. Then we got the "Freudian Slip" that suggested we were going defense with the #1 overall pick. Again, this appeared to be legitimate, but now that also has been twisted into a smokescreen.

Now, there are indication that Jake Long is nearing an agreement to be the Dolphins #1 selection. Hopefully, this is true. I'm not sure Jake has anything against playing for the Dolphins. It might be true, but frankly all the top 5 teams suck and Miami is the best place to play out of any of them. There would be no reason for him not to want to play for the Dolphins. I don't think motivation will be a problem with him. I'm more concerned about his pass blocking ability, which while not suspect, isn't at an elite level yet.

Hopefully a deal gets done. Chris Long is a good player but not worth the #1 pick, and Gholston is all potential. Dorsey is a beast but doesn't fit our scheme. McFadden is an amazing talent but we have running backs. And Matt Ryan is terrible. Jake Long makes the most sense out of all the candidates, so we might as well get him locked up and move on.

Canes Edge FSU for Series

2008-04-20T20:36:00.003-04:00

I for one am not a fan of shortened games. If you have travel restrictions, then schedule the damn games earlier or not at all. Ending game after 7 or 8 innings is foolish unless the weather is to blame. One of our 4 losses this season came to a premature finish against NC State. However, today the Canes benefited from the shortened game in a 11-10 victory over FSU in 7 innings.

Topping the #2 team in the country proved difficult. Miami won the series 2-1 but did not prove themselves as the clearly superior team. What they did do was prove to the world that they can play with the very best and still produce at a high level. This indeed is the best baseball team in the country, particularly when they are hitting on all cylinders. The series with FSU proves it and this should give us some more confidence heading into the final stretch of the season.

Today's victory was largely in part to eventual 1st round pick Yonder Alonso, who belted 2 home runs--one a grand slam, in driving 5 runs on 2-3 batting. Sophomore Eric Erickson returned from injury and had a decent outing, allowing 3 earned runs in 4 innings before handing the ball over to relief pitcher David Gutierrez. The bullpen had been solid all year but nearly blew the game by allowing 7 earned runs in 3 innings. It was only closer Carlos Gutierrez's strikeout to close the 7th that saved the Canes from defeat.

The Canes should now retain the #1 ranking and come home for a game against FIU before continuing their ACC schedule with a 3 game series against Virginia. The Cavaliers are ranked 16th, so the Canes can't let up after a successful weekend in Tally.

JT Wants Out?

2008-04-19T23:25:00.002-04:00

Here we go again. Apparently, Jason Taylor has made a quiet and polite reques t to be traded from the Miami Dolphins.

We heard some of this before, with the Dolphins addressing the rumors as journalistic irresponsibility. This report again comes from Jason Cole, a former Dolphins beat reporter who probably still has some connections down in Davie. Cole was the one who broke the original report that came out a few weeks ago.

I don't know what to make of this really. It could be true that Jason wants out and wants to win a title. Acquiescing to his demands would probably result in the Dolphins going with either Chris Long or Vernon Gholston at #1 in the draft to replace Taylor's pass rushing abilities off the edge. If he does get traded, it definitely has to be done this week before the draft. We also have to get at least a 2nd round pick for him. Maybe a 2nd with a condition to bump it up to a first. If Chambers fetched a 2nd, then JT deserves more value.

It could be another smokescreen coming from the Dolphins organization. They are pretty sneaky and are now using GM Jeff Ireland's slip about the draft against people to try to trade down. They could be orchestrating this as well to throw people off their scent regarding the #1 pick. That seems like a stretch to me. I would hope the Dolphins are spending more time evaluating talent than trying to fool everyone else.

If JT goes, then good luck to him. He has handled the situation with class, unlike Chad Johnson. If he wants out, then please trade him. Nobody wants an unhappy superstar veteran in the locker room. Get as much value as you can for him. Zach Thomas is already gone, so you might as well cut ties with the past and rip it off like a bandaid.

Noles Even Up the Series

2008-04-19T23:10:00.001-04:00

The Canes jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 3 game series between the #1 and #2 teams in the country by dropping 10 runs in the 6th inning yesterday. Freshman Chris Hernandez had a tough time with the FSU lineup but still pitched well enough to keep the Canes in the game and pick up the win to go to 6-0 this season.

However, Enrique Garcia again struggled and got rocked today by FSU in a 9-5 loss. His 6 earned runs cost the Canes dearly, especially with a late 5-4 lead. It also gave him his first loss of the season (2-1). Miami did jump on the Noles early with a 4-0 lead but couldn't solve the relief pitching after FSU pulled started Geoff Parker.

Tomorrow is the crucial rubber game that will probably determine who will be ranked #1 next season. Bragging rights would be nice as well. It should be a climactic finale to this series, with sophomore Eric Erickson making his long-awaited return. I'm not sure it's the best idea to throw him in there against such a good team after a month off, but if Jim Morris has confidence in his guy, then so be it.

Playoff Predictions

2008-04-19T22:59:00.002-04:00

I couldn't be less interested in the NBA Playoffs this year, now that the Heat are god-awful and aren't participating. In any case, here are my predictions. And yes I'm aware I'm cheating since 4 of the series already started.

East

Boston over Atlanta in 4
Detroit over Philly in 5
Orlando over Toronto in 6
Cleveland over Washington in 7

Boston over Cleveland in 5
Detroit over Orlando in 7

Boston over Detroit in 7

West

Lakers over Denver in 5
Hornets over Mavs in 7
Spurs over Suns in 6
Utah over Houston in 5

Lakers over Utah in 7
Spurs over Hornets in 6

Lakers over Spurs in 7

Final:

Lakers over Boston in 6

I have a feeling that Boston has been overrated for a long time. They have the best record, but I just have a hunch about them.

Position Changes

2008-04-19T14:44:00.002-04:00

You might have heard about a few position changes on the UM football team. I'll go over them one by one here.

Luqman Abdallah was moved to offensive line, which is an interesting move. We are already pretty thin at DT, but I suppose with 2 more guys coming in this summer (Regis and Lewis), Abdallah was considered expendable at the position. The guy hasn't really shown all that much yet, but then again he wasn't the most heralded recruit either. It should be interesting to see if he can contribute to our line, which supposedly is looking pretty solid right now.

The Ryan Hill move is one I am grateful for. I personally thought it should have been done last year. Hill hasn't shown any promise at WR and we are hurting pretty bad at corner. The addition of Brandon Harris was crucial, but it should help to have some depth at the position. Hill is a great athlete and should he pick up the defense quickly enough, could contribute. He is probably better off because he wasn't going to see the field with this new stable of WRs coming in from the 2008 class.

As for Damien Berry being moved to running back, that is one move that baffled me. We have a great backfield right now in James, Coopers, McNeal and Chambers. I have no idea when Berry will get a carry. He ran the ball some in high school, but still this is a surprising move considering the fact we don't have a proven safety yet. Reddick should lock down one spot eventually. JoJo looks great in practice, and Ponder will probably get considerable playing time. Still, Berry was looking to contribute more at safety than at RB. Oh well.

Marlins Stumble, Lose Division Lead

2008-04-19T14:38:00.002-04:00

1/10th of the way through the new season and the Marlins have pretty much played up to their expectations, and more. This team is probably capable of playing 500 ball for stretches at a time, but ultimately I think their lack of quality starting pitching and a lineup that refuses to bat for average will hurt them. I think I'll stand by my prediction of 68 wins.

A few days ago the surprising Marlins did have the division lead, but lost it late last night after blowing a 4-3 lead to the last-place Nationals. Heralded prospect Andrew Miller pitched an average game against Washington, but the frustrating thing is that it was his best outing of the season. Miller has posted a terrible 9.68 ERA in his first 4 starts. I'm aware that he is a young player, but there are other rookie pitchers out there showing better stuff on the mound. He better pan out after having to trade our best player.

The biggest problem on offense continues to be that nobody is batting for average except Hanley Ramirez. Hanley is batting .377 and is the only regular starter to even have sniffed 300. This early in the season you should have at least 3 guys over .300. We already have 4 guys in double digit strikeouts and have 4 more ready to join that list in the next game or two. Eventually Fredi Gonzalez is going to have to tell them to stop swinging for the fences so much or we won't be winning many more games.

The Slip

2008-04-18T10:19:00.003-04:00

Much has been made of Jeff Ireland's "Freudian slip." Some are going to call this a smokescreen. I'm going to go ahead and say that Ireland made a legitimate mistake here. This isn't the first time he has misspoken in front of the media. Don't forget the hoopla he created by effectively admitting that Bill Parcells was the real GM of this team, something that would have prevented the Dolphins from hiring him away from Dallas were it true.

Apparently he needs a refresher course in PR management. That or he is a brilliant actor. In either case, I don't think it matters much for now. Everyone knows the pick is down to one of the Long's or Gholston. Dorsey doesn't seem to fit and I'm repressing the possibility of drafting Matt Ryan for now. Slipping up and telling people you're going after one of the DE/OLB isn't necessarily a huge deal. However, that sort of stuff needs to stop if Ireland wants to be an effective GM. That or Parcells will have to put a leash on him and stash him somewhere in the basement like Saban did to Randy Mueller.

Watch the video for yourself. Maybe I'm gullible but it looks like he screwed up.

Heat Win Finale Against Hawks

2008-04-16T22:22:00.002-04:00

And so the 2007-2008 season has come to a merciful end. We've seen every major player on this roster (other than the immortal Ricky Davis) get shelved for the rest of the season due to injury. We traded Shaq in exchange for a future and saw our star player go down yet again. Riley took his hiatus and now his future seems uncertain. All in all, the Heat matched their putrid 15-67 record from their inaugural season.

It takes a pretty big combination of bad luck, bad play, and bad decision making to do as badly as an expansion team. Especially considering we just won an NBA title 2 years ago. It's a little embarrassing to be honest, but thankfully the NBA Lottery might give us a chance to return to form. This year's team, with the addition of a DeSagna Diop and a Derrick Rose easily makes the playoffs next year. Heck, with the way the East has been of late, that might be good enough for a 4 seed. The future isn't so far away.

I really hope Riley returns next year because I do think the team has a chance to succeed. If he doesn't, then I would do everything I could to cater to Dwyane Wade. It's still not certain that he is staying in Miami after his contract expires. We have to surround him with talent and coaching that will make him comfortable. I think putting Spoelstra at the helm will do that, and I wouldn't doubt that everyone in the Heat organization knows that.

Let's just pray for a top 2 pick come May 20th.

Somehow Canes Remain #1

2008-04-16T15:22:00.003-04:00

I guess the pollsters were more impressed by our series sweep of #10 GT than I was. Frankly, I was pretty certain that the loss to FAU would drop us out of the top spot in the country, but most polls kept us at #1 with FSU in at #2.

That leads up to this weekend's monster series at Tally against the Noles. Like I said before, this matchup will be Miami's first true test of the season. They've played some very good ballclubs, losing only 3 games all season. However, FSU is an elite team and presents a major challenge for the Canes.

In terms of predictions, I couldn't tell you what I think. I don't follow college baseball all that often outside of the Canes and the CWS, so I don't know how we fare against the Seminoles. What I do know is that the Miami lineup is ridiculously balanced and the pitching staff is excellent when it is at its best. That should be enough to win a series against anybody, even the #2 team in the country.

Before that though, the Canes have to stick it to the Owls. The Noles series is important to me, but I am not comfortable knowing we lost to freaking FAU.

First Pick Discussion

2008-04-15T16:03:00.003-04:00

I think there's a lot of important stuff going on with the Dolphins' #1 overall pick. The draft is only 11 days away and we don't have a deal set with any of the available players yet. Many have suggested we go with Matt Ryan, a ridiculous choice that only a desperate front office would make. Others want to trade down, the most logical option, but definitely not the most realistic.

Some have even suggested passing on the pick to save some money. I've somewhat advocated that. Not necessary condoned it, but I think it was worth looking into. You should read a very good piece by Omar Kelly at the Sun Sentinel, maybe some of the best stuff I've seen him do. He shoots down the idea of letting the pick slide and offers half a dozen very valid points, one of which I have mentioned before: even if we slide to 3 or 4, that guy's agent will want #1 money or close to it.

Now comes the news from Armando Salguero that the Dolphins are pitching a discount deal to Jake Long. They aren't interested in giving him QB money that was given to JaMarcus Russell. Instead they are offering a slight raise from the Mario Williams deal from the prior year. Hopefully this will work out because they do have some leverage in that they can always go with some other guy. And for the good of the league, I hope it starts a trend where everyone starts making less money. These rookies are getting paid way too much nowadays.

Granted, such a move will not be taken well be agents around the league. EVERYONE will hate this move. But it makes fiscal sense as well as being logical. A 55 million dollar deal with 25 million in guarantees is still a huge sum for a player who hasn't done crap. Especially if that player is Jake Long.

Why is that? Because apparently, Jake doesn't want to come here. Word is that he would prefer not to play in Miami (well who would, but come on you're going to a crappy team if you're good) but is still fielding offers due to the honor of being the #1 pick. If that's true, screw him. We'll pick up another guy in the 2nd round and take Long or Gholston instead. I don't want prima donnas on this roster, particularly on the offensive line. Who ever heard of an offensive lineman being a pain in the ass about where he wants to play. Leave that nonsense to the wide receivers.

Some have speculated that this is just a rouse to drive his price up. Who knows at this point. You can't believe anything when it comes to the draft until the guy is selected and isn't traded by the end of draft day.