Quick Hits

I am still back home in Iowa until tomorrow, but wanted to put up a few things about sports this weekend, because a lot has happened while i've been on vacation.

The Dbacks took two of three from the Cubs in Wrigley. While i was only able to see the last four innings of Saturday's game, it's good to see the Dbacks take a couple from the Cubs. Chicago has been the hottest team in baseball the last month, and to go into Wrigley and win the series is impressive. Granted Chicago was without their best player, D. Lee, but still a good showing. Let's hope this propels them onto a strong 2nd half of the season, since it got off to a bit of a rocky start.

The British Open today was fantastic. Golfers were falling all over themselves to give this Championship away, whether it be A. Romero's double bogey-bogey finish, P. Harrington putting not one, but two shots in the drink on the 18 with a one-shot lead, or S. Garcia needing only a par on 18 to win and promptly putting it into a bunker and bogeying the hole, sending it to a playoff. Harrington eventually won in the playoff, carding a birdie on the first hole to Garcia's bogey. That was all he would need, playing the last three playoff holes at even par and winning by a stroke.

The NBA Referee Scandal. (Sigh). I have so much to say about this, i don't even know where to begin. I wish i had been home so i could take the time and do a proper write-up on it, but since i'm not i'll link to the best post i found about the situation. Bill Simmons, ESPN's Sport's Guy, wrote a good article here, though it will be a bit gut-wrenching to Suns fans (hint: The ref in question was working Game 3 of the Suns-Spurs series. Let's just say he made some 'curious' calls).

And finally, David Beckham's (less than) glorious arrival on the US soccer scene. Playing just 13 minutes due to an injured ankle, Beckham was largely un-spectacular, save for one perfect long ball to the feet of Quavas Kirk. He did take a rather scary looking tumble after a somewhat violent collision, causing all of the LA Galaxy, US soccer fans, and MLS officials to hold their breath. He seemed to be okay, however, and finished the match. While the game did draw many celebrities and even some paparazzi (!), it was mostly uneventful as far as Beckham was concerned. It will be interesting to see what happens as he becomes a starter and as the Galaxy return to MLS play. I for one will be watching with great interest.

That's all for now. I will be back tomorrow (hopefully), having returned from my vacation in the evening. Look for a report on new Sun's draft pick Alando Tucker. Until then, check out some of the blogs listed under 'Blogs We Like' to the right, and leave some comments!

Diamondbacks offensive woes continue

i ............................ am



.......... writing ........................ the same


....... way ..................... the ....................... Dbacks


are .......................... hitting .....................................................and



........... scoring .................... runs!


Very, Very, Sporadically!!!!

I am back with Suns draft knowledge!

Imagine this team for the Suns - These are all Suns draft picks
95 - Michael Finley
96 - Steve Nash
97 - Stephen Jackson
98 - no pick
99 - Shawn Marion
00 - Jack Tsakalidis
01 - no first round pick
02 - Amare Stoudemire
03 - Leandro Barbosa
04 - Loul Deng - trade to Chicago
05 - Nate Robinson - traded to NY Knicks
06 - Rajon Rondo - traded to Boston
06 - Sergio Rodriquez - traded to Portland
07 - Rudy Fernandez - traded to Portland

Starting Lineup
PG - Nash
SG - Finley
SF - Deng or Jackson
PF - Marion
C - Stoudemire

Bench - Barbosa, Deng or Jackson, 1 of many point guards drafted in the past 3 years

It is painfully obvious that the Suns can at least draft good players. Recently, they love to trade those players. Lets analyze the trades.

07 K. Thomas & 08 and 2010 first round draft pick for nothing. Winner Seattle
07 Rudy Fernandez & James Jones for 3 million cash. - Winner Portland
06 Sergio Rodriquez for 3 million cash - Winner Portland
06 Rajon Rondo for Cleveland's #1 in 07 (#24 - Rudy Fernandez, traded to Portland) -Winner Portland
05 - Nate Robinson & Q for K. Thomas (eventually traded for nothing) - winner no one
04 - Loul Deng for Jackson Vromen and Future first turning out to be Nate Robinson who was traded for K. Thomas, who was trade for nothing. Winner - Chicago, NY Knicks, and Seattle, big loser Suns. This trade allowed them to go after Steve Nash in Free Agency.

Every Draft day trade for the Suns has ended poorly. When they draft a player and let him play it ends very positive. Maybe they can learn a lessons here. I am not worried about the 08 first rounder to Seattle because we still have Atlanta's First next year, and the 08 pick should be late in the first round. The 2010 first round pick to Seattle scares me a lot. Steve Nash and Marion may be retired or gone leaving Barbosa, Amare and who knows. That pick could be anywhere in the first round. What happens if Amare has to get his knee surgery redone and is out that year. Seattle may have just received the #1 pick. The reasons the Suns are in Salary Cap hell is because they do not have the picks from 04 - 06, who would be on rookie pay scales and making next to nothing, but filling out the roster. The immediate future of the Suns is still very bright for the next two years, but after that it gets very cloudy and scary. Marion will come off the books and save 17 million, but you have to assume they will try to resign him in the 10 - 13 million range, thus not really saving much money. Young talented players will be leading the way in Barbosa and Stat, but behind them are Diaw and question marks. The future is getting scary.

The HEAT is Burning Arizona's GM's Brains!!!

I know it has been around 110 degrees for the past month but everyone else in the valley seems to make it to work and not destroy everything in their path. The same can not be said for the Suns and Dbacks GM's and ownership.

First, yesterday (Thursday) Byrnes (Josh - Gm) and Byrnes (Eric - OF) decide that contract talks are too far apart and end all discussions. Then Josh announces to the nation that they will not trade Eric. WHAT!!!! You are going to lose the player at the end of the season for nothing... I will repeat... nothing! How does that improve this team? I blogged just two days ago that they need to be sellers and now they have a guy that is ready to be sold and the Dbacks decide to do nothing. I am officially confused and frustrated.

Second, today the Suns ship Kurt Thomas and 2008 Suns 1st round draft pick (hopefully low 20's) and the Suns 2010 1st round draft pick for.... nothing. How come I keep using the word nothing when mentioning the Suns and Dbacks. They officially get Orlando's 2nd round pick in 08 and a 8 million dollar trade exemption. So I looked all over online for the stats of Mr. Trade Exemption and could not find them. I did find this list of second round draft picks for the suns:

06 - traded to Minnesota, Loukas Mavrokefalidis
05 - traded to Orlando, Marcin Gortat
04 - traded to Orlando, Antonio Burks
03 - traded to Chicago, Matt Bonner
02 - traded to Washington via Denver, Rod Grizzard
01 - Suns pick Alton Ford
00 - traded to Denver, Dan McClintock
99 - no pick in 2nd round
98 - no pick in 2nd round
97 - Suns pick #43 -Stephen Jackson, yes Golden States SJ - waived at end of training camp

So in the past 10 years we have several games played as a bench player by Alton Ford. In other words no production at all, so now that 2nd round pick is essentially worth nothing. So we trade all of our interior defense, our best defender against Duncan and the Spurs, along with 2 first round draft picks for nothing!!!! Now I am not just upset but pissed. I will be back later today to vent some more but for now I am out.

Out like a fat kid in dodgeball...

I'm off to Iowa for the weekend to visit family (assuming my flight EVER leaves Phoenix), and thought i would post a few quick hits for the weekend.

I hope you are watching, catch highlights, or at least read about the MLS All-Stars playing Celtic tonight. They are drawing near the end of the game and the MLS All-Stars are up 2-0. While this game means very little, it is still encouraging.

Speaking of the MLS... I love soccer, but it is hard to take a League seriously when they don't even own the rights to mls.com, or mls.net. It's mlsnet.com for those counting. This is ridiculous and needs to be fixed immediately. Unfortunately, MLS either doesn't have the money or the want to correct this grievous tragedy.

The Dbacks and Eric Byrnes have apparently broken off talks of contract negotiation, with Byrnes saying it appears he won't be back next year. While I understand the Dbacks reluctance to spend the kind of money Byrnes is sure to go after, it is disappointing to see him, and probably O'Dog, leave next year. They are arguably the Dbacks two biggest fan-favorites.

The Coyotes signed David Aebischer to a contract today. You may remember him as the man who took over goal in Colorado after Patrick Roy retired. I don't really have anything to say about this, other than i hope he doesn't suck. I (still) can't get excited about hockey...

That is all folks. Enjoy the weekend, hopefully my brother and the girl will put up some posts in my absence!

Buyers or Sellers?

12 days until the trade deadline and are the Dbacks buying or selling? This decision affects the franchise for the next 5 years or longer. There are good arguments on both sides, and so we will delve into each.

Buying - You send a statement to the fans that this team is trying for the playoffs and the future is now. In a buying mode we need a Starting Pitcher and a slugger. The options are thin in trying to get a bat. J. Dye has been injured and not effective this year, M. Teixeira has a lot of money owed and the asking price is high. Getting a bat will be difficult. There are rumor's of CoJack heading to the Chi White Sox for one of their young pitchers, J. Danks, a rookie pitcher with a 4.81 ERA. I am not sure he is the answer for the push for the playoffs.

Selling - admitting that you are out of this years playoffs but the future will look bright. I love E. Brynes and O'Dog, the two veterans we have on the team along with T. Clark, but they are both looking to get paid in the off season. I think the Dbacks will pay and keep one, but not both. Either player would or could bring in a nice future starter or slugger.

I like the idea of playing for the playoffs, but the options are limited and expensive. Not to mention, I am not sure the incoming players are better than what we have. The key to making a trade is to make the team decidedly better now, and give up some future. I don't see us getting anything to make us better, and I do not want to give up on the young guys or lose any of the future. If R. Johnson was healthy and pitching like he was in May, I think this team could make the playoffs. Once you are in the post season, anything can happen (06 Cardinals). Unfortunately RJ is injured, the hitters are not hitting, and the best two teams in the NL are both ahead of us in the Dodgers and Padres. If they can sell a player or two and pick up a 3-4-5 starting pitcher for the future or a young slugger, they should. I absolutely hate the selling option but it makes the most sense. The Dbacks of the future are in fabulous shape and only need a starter to make serious playoff runs over the next 5- 7 years.

Future Starters of Webb, Owens, and possible starters in M. Scherzer, Edgar Gonzalez, Y. Petit, D. Nippert, Enrique Gonzalez and a young starter from a trade leave plenty of competition or trade bait to get another front line starter.

The outfield has talent coming in J. Upton and C. Gonzalez coming along with C. Young, C. Quinton, S. Hairston. The infield is set at the corners with CoJack, C. Tracy, and M. Reynolds. S. Drew and O'Dog are a good one two punch up the middle, with Callaspo a nice backup or replacement for O'Dog. The dbacks have good players all over the place, but no super star. They need a superstar to take this team over the top and back to the World Series. Is J. Upton that guy? Or does Young, Drew, CoJack, Tracy, Quinton, and Montero all raise their batting averages 20 to 50 point to make this an offensive team that uses extra base hits to score? The future is bright, it is just going to take a while for the young hitters to adjust to the major leagues and hopefully all live up to their potential. Will that be August and September this year, next year or beyond is the million dollar question.

My GM for the day moment would be to be a seller and try to pick up a minor league stud pitcher or slugger. If that means selling a veteran or two and a couple of our prospects then so be it. The future of this team is 2008 - 2012.

More Adversity For Stoudemire

After a 2005-2006 season in which Amare Stoudemire came back from what many consider to be a career threatening injury, playing better than ever and posting career highs in rebounds and Field Goal percentage, everything seemed to be back on track for Stoudemire. Having faced many adversities in his personal and professional career, Stoudemire was poised to have a breakout summer with Team USA, as well as gear up for another run for the NBA Championship in the fall. Then came the morning of July 4th.

Marwan Williams, the half brother of Stoudemire, was one of five people arrested in the investigation of a murder at a Scottsdale motel, and once again Amare was left being the pillar holding his family up as things seemed to be crashing down around him. It is a position that has come often and regularly for Amare, dating all the way back to his days in high school.

Amare’s mother, Carrie Mae, has been in and out of prison most of Amare’s life for drunken driving offenses, and is currently serving a three-year sentence. His older brother, Hazell Jr., was sentenced to jail in 2002, before Amare entered the NBA, on drug and various other charges. Add to this list the latest arrest of Marwan Williams, and it is a wonder Amare has kept it all together over the years.

But this is what Amare does. He has always been the strength in his family, even as the temptations and pressure built. He has also been the first one to back his family, from his mother to his half-brother’s recent trouble. He credits his faith, and God, for giving him ‘broad shoulders’, so he can handle the pressure put on him.

You hear many stories of athletes who make it out of the ghetto, or poverty, or the inner-city, or whatever adversity they may have faced along the way. Amare is not different in many of these respects. His problems, though, have continued to follow him, even as he has enjoyed such great success in his professional career. Poised to be a break-out star of the League following the 2004-2005 season, his third in the League, Amare’ suffered a micro-fracture in his knee, something very few athletes have come back from to return to their pre-injury form.

Amare used the time spent rehabbing not just getting back to form, but also working on his low post offense and defense, developing a great mid-range jumper and getting better at shot-blocking and help defense. He came back this season a more complete player, but also still as an almost freak-of-nature type athlete. Through the adversity, he rose stronger and as a better player.

It is easy to forget that Amare is only 24 years old. He has seen and been through a lot in those 24 years that most of us will never experience. He has also had greater success in those 24 years than most of us ever will. With each comes great responsibility, and sometimes burden. It is how he recovers to those burdens that set him apart from a lot of people.

It is this kind of recovery he has perfected over the years, and this type of recovery he will need once again as his half-brother faces charges. Amare has demonstrated time and again he is up for the challenge, and I have no doubt he will persevere through the latest adversity a stronger person. And hopefully these troubles will stop following Amare, and he can concentrate on just being a basketball player, and achieving the kind of success he deserves.