Favre to Miami?

Now, let me begin by saying there is absolutely nothing substantial to this rumor. As far as I know, or anyone else knows, Brett Favre retired today from the Packers and intends to stay retired. However, some rumors are floating about that Favre felt he had another year in him and that the Packers did not want him back.

I wouldn't doubt the former being the case, as Favre will think he is still good to play until his arm falls off. But I'm not so sure the Packers would chase him out. Then again, Dave Wannstedt did drive off Dan Marino.

These same rumors have suggested Favre is willing to play elsewhere if need be, and Miami is one of those potential destinations. The situation is a little complex, because I haven't seen anything suggesting that move in clear terms. PFT vaguely mentions the possibility, but I haven't seen any other reference of former Packers GM Ron Wolf advising Bill Parcells to take a chance on Favre. I think we need a little more time to clear up this situation.

Since this sort of thing calls for unnecessary speculation and opinions, I'll throw in my two cents. If we can rent Favre without having to trade anything, then do it. This team is bad, but another top 5 pick won't help our cap situation (this isn't basketball, where tanking is always a good thing). Plus, a veteran QB will instantly make any of our receivers better. Favre would be reunited with David Martin and maybe get some use out of the tight end. Our line would look good with Jake Long and Justin Smiley as new additions. And John Beck would have a great mentor to help show him the ropes and ease his way into the starting job.

I've never been a fan of Favre myself. I felt he should have retired years ago and that he returned solely to break Marino's records. He's done that and now he wants out. However, last season he proved that he's still playing at a high level and that he can be valuable to a football team. At the worst, we can trade a 6th or 7th round pick to Green Bay just to have that leadership that could potentially rub off on John Beck.

Marcus Thomas Arrested

Yet another Gator in the news. Denver Broncos DT Marcus Thomas was arrested in Jacksonville for possession of cocaine. Thomas had been in trouble back in Gainesville for possession of marijuana. As punishment, he was suspended by Urban Meyer against St Mary's School for the Blind and Deaf and Grambling A&M Tech before being reinstated against LSU.

But I'll stop hating on UF to give you my two cents on a far bigger issue. The NFL has way too many players getting in trouble and putting themselves in these kinds of situations. I know they have that rookie symposium that lasts a couple of days, but it isn't enough to help these young men deal with their fame and their fortune.

Many of these players come from broken homes or impoverished parts of their hometowns. They may have gone to school, but they haven't been educated. We all know athletes get pampered at major universities. Combine an uneducated mind with a lot of money and temptation, and you get situations where guys throw their lives away because they don't know any better.

I wish the NFL would have people in every NFL city assigned to rookie players for 2 or 3 seasons. Check up on them once every two weeks. See how they're doing. Make sure they are on the right path. All you would need is one or two guys per city. It wouldn't prevent all the mistakes that are being made, but it would help many of these young men to have a mentor. Somebody who can show these players how to detach themselves from bad friends and to stay away from trouble.

Dorell Shut Down

In what ultimately may lead to the return of Daequan Cook from Iowa (he scored 26 in his debut by the way), Dorell Wright's knee injury in the loss to the Kings will force him to miss the rest of the season. Originally it was thought he just twisted it, but further tests found a tear in his knee.

It's a shame that Dorell won't get a chance to see more minutes in a season where it doesn't hurt to give him playing time. However, the truth is that Riley had him on the bench anyway. Hopefully Wright will have a chance on this team next season at the reasonable price of $2.4 million. This team needs his athleticism, and it looked like he was finally getting a shot he was comfortable with from the baseline.

As for the Kings loss itself, I didn't post a recap because there was no need to. Blowing a 23 point lead is low, even for the Heat. At least they redeemed themselves after beating the Sonics on Saturday and putting their lottery chances in jeopardy.

Hanley Still Limping, Probably Not Serious Though

Hanley Ramirez tweaked his ankle yesterday in a collision with Yadier Molina of the Cardinals in a spring training game and still can't walk without a limp. However, Fredi Gonzalez isn't too worried and plans on having Ramirez in the lineup very soon.

You never want to read about any sort of injury to your best player, even when it's just a minor one. Hopefully Hanley will get up and running soon without any complications, because if for any reason this is worse than we've been told, this team will win 40 games.

Yeremiah Re-Signs

The Dolphins will have a playmaker returning on defense next season in Yeremiah Bell. I've never been a huge fan of his and don't really see why people consider him to be an impact player. But he has made some plays over the years and is much better than some of the guys we've had at safety this past season. Bell signed a one year deal worth about a million and a half with the Dolphins.

I still think safety is a relatively high need on this team, but with all this time and money invested in Jason Allen, I wouldn't expect the Dolphins to draft a safety unless Kenny Phillips falls to the 2nd round.

Calvin Pace to the Jets

Thank God. I would have liked Pace's size on this defense except that a player with one good season under his belt was asking for 20 million dollars in guaranteed money. The Dolphins were smart enough not to give it to him. The Jets were not.

Pace will make 42 million over 6 years, 20-22 of which are guaranteed. I don't know why they pulled the trigger on such a huge deal for a guy who was nonexistant his first few seasons in the league before posting solid numbers last year for the Cardinals.

Oliver Vernon Commits

The Canes picked up their 4th commitment of the 2009 class with Oliver Vernon of American High. Vernon projects to be a 4 star player once Rivals gets all their evaluations completed. He also fills a need position for the Canes, who desperate are looking for some depth at the defensive line.

Some Notes About UM's Pro Day

UM typically has one of the most attended Pro Day's in all of college football, but understandable this turnout wasn't going to be as high as usual with the lack of overall talent this team has suffered from of late. However, 15 prospects still worked at for NFL scouts and for the most part improved their stock.

If you want an in-depth look at how we did, read Manny's blog and the Sun-Sentinel's coverage of the workouts. Pretty much everyone who took part improved on their Combine workouts. Guys like Darnell Jenkins, Tavares Gooden, and Kyle Wright shaved a tenth or two off their 40 times.

While that's great news for our kids, I'd still take it with a grain of salt. You never know what kind of advantages our guys have at our own Pro Day, so I'm sure scouts will take note of the fact that our players had slower times on a neutral field. Regardless, improving on your numbers doesn't hurt your stock at all, so I'm happy that they all made themselves a little bit of money and/or job security for next season.

Canes Looking For Sweep

Yesterday's comeback 8-5 win against the rival Gators kept the Miami Hurricanes baseball team undefeated and has them eying a sweep as we speak at Mark Light Stadium.

A pair of two-run doubles by Yonder Alonso and Dave DiNatale helped spark the rally after the Gators had jumped out to an early 5-2 lead.

The 8th ranked Canes look to rise in the rankings again if they manage to defeat UF this afternoon. Facing the Gators will be freshman sensation Chris Hernandez, who struck out 8 Bearcats in 6 shutout innings last week in a win versus Cincinnati.

Canes a Win Away From the Dance

The up and down victory versus Virginia yesterday meant a lot of things for the Miami Hurricanes basketball team. It meant the first 20-win season of the Frank Haith era, so congratulations to him for that. It also meant the team bounced back nicely after a demoralizing defeat at Clemson, where the Canes rallied from 20 points down only to let the game slip away at the end. But most importantly, it meant Miami was that much closer to March Madness.

The 95-93 result came a little closer than I would have liked, with the Canes having enjoyed a 10 point lead with just over 100 seconds to go before a barrage of points by the Cavaliers. Luckily, some clutch shooting late in the game kept the Canes' NCAA Tournament hopes alive.

Besides the final outcome, the biggest story of the day had to be Jack McClinton's career high 34 points. The most impressive part of his performance was that 22 of them came in a 5 minute tear in the 2nd half where he accounted for all but 4 of his team's points. A personal 14-0 streak was part of that explosion.

I have to tell you, when Jack is on fire, he is deadly. I have criticized him in the past for poor shot selection, and when he isn't on his game, that criticism remains a valid one. Sometimes he takes bad shots early in the shot clock rather than being patient and finding a better play. However, his confidence is inspiring and his ability to lead the team when it counts usually overshadows any faults in his game. Some team will be lucky to draft him when he is done here. Heck, the Heat could use a nice outside shooter like himself.

I also have to commend Jimmy Graham's contribution of 19 points. Graham is a ball of energy out there and is one of my favorite players to watch on this team along with McClinton and Collins. Finally, congratulations to Eddie Rios for another solid performance with 8 points and 8 assists. He had struggled for most of this season, leading many to believe he was a bust. However, the past few games he has picked it up and possibly turned the corner into becoming the point guard this team really needs.

All Miami has to do now is win a game either against Boston College or FSU. Both teams are beatable, but both teams also handed us defeats earlier in ACC play. Two wins ensures an NCAA bid and possibly a bye in the ACC tourney. One win probably means we still get in the NCAA tournament, but wouldn't be a lock. Lose both and we'd need to go 3 rounds deep into the tough ACC tourney to have any shot at the Big Dance.

Will He Stay or Will He Go?

By now, you've probably heard about the Jason Taylor situation. Former Dolphins beat writer Jason Cole, now with Yahoo!Sports, wrote this piece informing us that Jason Taylor was not going to be a Dolphin next season. All that was required was his consent on the destination, and JT was gone. Rumors had him going to the Packers for a 2nd and a 4th round pick.

Now, reports are coming from sources close to Parcells and from Parcells himself that this report is "journalistic irresponsibility" and the Taylor remains part of the the Dolphins' plans in 2008.

All kinds of opinions have been made on this situation. Most believe that this is just GM-speak and that Parcells is ticked off about the report, which ostensibly lowers Jason's value on the market. If it's known that Taylor won't return, then the Dolphins have much less leverage in negotiations. Therefore, it's been said now that JT will have to retire if he doesn't want to be in Miami in 2008.

I don't know if that's a threat aimed at Taylor, whom they suspect to have leaked the info, or if they are simply stating the obvious. Typically if a player doesn't play for the team he is under contract for, that's because he's retired. So it could mean nothing. Or it could mean everything. We just have to wait and see.

Personally, I hope he gets shipped off to the highest bidder. We've signed a slew of young free agents on defense, and might yet sign Calvin Pace to a monster deal. That would leave several players on this roster capable of playing the 3-4 linebacker position, and create a situation where we have a lot of money and a lot of talent sitting on the bench.

Jason deserves a break from having to carry this franchise around. Trade him to a contender so he can win his ring and then go off to Hollywood. He's earned as much. A 2nd and a 4th round pick will serve this franchise more in the long term (and possibly in the short term if they nail the selections) than having Taylor around for another year or two before he breaks down.

It'll hurt, there's no question about that. The Zach Thomas situation a few weeks ago illustrated just how painful it is to see a longtime player leave for greener pastures. But it would be the right thing to do.

Orange Bowl Demolition Underway

A warning to those who shared in all the wonderful memories at the Orange Bowl: these pictures are hard to look at. A thanks to scejas, who posted them.

More NFL News

With the trades of Shaun Rogers and Kris Jenkins being completed, all that was left on the DT market was Marcus Stroud. Unfortunately, the former Jaguar is now a Bill.

The asking price was the same 3rd and 5th round picks needed to trade for Rogers and Jenkins. Now Buffalo has yet another solid player on defense, as if their unheralded defense didn't give Miami fits as it was.

Miami didn't really lose out on their end because I never got the impression they were at all interested. In fact, with the trade for Jason Ferguson and the signing of Randy Starks, I'd say the Dolphins are pretty much done acquiring defensive tackles this offseason.

One guy we might have gone after but didn't have a realistic shot at getting was Bernard Berrian. It's clear this offense is lacking weapons, even after signing Ernest Wilford. Berrian is now a Viking, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Minnesota handed him a $42 million deal with $16 million in guarantees. That's grossly overpaying for a guy who has been solid but not spectacular his entire career.

Loria's Goals

Apparently Jeffrey Loria has some goals in mind for the Marlins, but won't bother to have them worked on until the stadium is ready.

• Payroll, which projects to increase to mid-range in the league
• Stadium design
• South Florida playing host to future All-Star and/or World Baseball Classic games
• New uniforms down the road

One quote that disturbed me was in regards to extending Ramirez's contract well into the future:

"We've got to get the stadium done first," Loria said. "Putting together the team down the road is a separate issue."

Well they better get started on that damn stadium asap, because trading away one Hall of Famer for prospects is one thing, but Ramirez is all this team's got at this point. Letting him go because the stadium is a year or two away from completion would be an outright travesty.

As far as his other ambitions, I'm sure the stadium will be fantastic, and it should play into our hands in landing an All-Star game. The city of Miami is excellent for these types of events, so I wouldn't doubt MLB giving us the 2012 AS Game.

However, I don't know what Loria is thinking if he wants to change the uniforms. The Marlins might have the spiffiest unis in South Florida's professional sports. Who doesn't like pinstripes? It's bad enough that they plan on renaming the team the Miami Marlins (as if they aren't recognized as playing in Miami as it is), but the uniforms are sadly about the best thing we've got going right now.

Gators Lose One

The Gators lost a star player in James Wilson, as the former 5 star offensive lineman decided to bolt despite "promises" that he would start in 2008. I wouldn't be surprised if more people left before the fall. Meyer promises playing time to a lot of kids, and while everyone does that to some extent, he's left many of them hanging ala Deonte Thompson.