Mad Stork Sports on ScatterRadio Podcast For 10-17-12

The Yankees are a huge topic of conversation on this
episode, but we also take time out to discuss the new
BCS rankings, and the NFL games done and to come.
So if you missed any part of the show, here it is: 



  
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Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis

Yankees Collapse In ALCS, Inevitable

 
 
You don't have to be a Yankee hater or detractor to say I told
so on this one.  Critics and experts have been warning Yankee
fans all year, live by the Home Run, DIE by the Home Run,
and that's exactly what the Yankees did.  This was the worst
defeat the Yankees have suffered since being swept by the
Big red Machine Cincinnati Reds in the World Series back in
1976, and even though they blew a 3-0 game lead vs the Red
Sox just a few short years ago, they did win three games.
For an organization that is as prideful as the Yankees, they all
hurt, and this was the 1st time they had ever been swept in an
ALCS, OUCH.

The Yankees couldn't manufacture any runs, got badly out hit
by a team that had the fewest wins of all the playoff teams, 
and the only time they showed ANY life was with the 2 two
run home runs in game one in the bottom of the ninth and
with Eduardo Nunez's solo shot in the top of the ninth on game
three.  That's all this team had going for it, not a single solitary
thing more.

Once their Captain Derek Jeter went down it was even more
evident that any comeback had left the building.  Fans blame
A-Rod, but please feel free to spread the wealth.  Swisher,
Texeira, and Cano among the big names were just as equally
to blame.  Any other thought is ludicrous.  You may and can
look forward to pitchers and catchers in 2013 Yankee fans,
but unless this team gets younger, learns to run, and steal bases,
the only thing you can look forward to is lapping the field in the
regular season and falling on your face during October baseball.


 
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 Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis

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Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis

Derek Jeter Is A Legend, Don't Doubt It!

Ed Betz/AP

The one thing I can say for certain is that it's
real hard to admit or give someone credit for
being a legend in your lifetime when you root
against them, or hate them. As loved as Derek
Jeter is, and as many people root for him, he
is also quite despised and hated by the enemy
fans and those that root against him. I have
without question rooted against him, and though
I don't hate him, nor have I, I have hated how
good he is against the team or teams I root for
sometimes.

The New York Yankees have TWENTY SEVEN World
Series titles to their credit, something they
are very quick to tell you, and some of the
most legendary names ever to play the game have
had entire careers with them. I don't mean
guys like Reggie Jackson who had a great career
in Oakland before becoming an Oriole and then a
Yankee, or A-Rod who made his name in Seattle
long before he took Tom Hicks for a ride in
Texas. I mean Joe DiMaggio, Babe Ruth, Mickey
Mantle, Yogi Berra, etc., etc. And with all
those stars on that list, not a one ever had
3,000 hits before Derek Jeter, NO ONE.

Derek Jeter was drafted with the sixth pick in
the 1992 baseball draft, and if you look at the
names that were drafted ahead of him, you'd be
hard pressed to know who they were unless you
googled them.
1. Phil Nevindagger (Houston Astros)
2. Paul Shuey (Cleveland Indians)
3. B. J. Wallace (Montreal Expos)
4. Jeffrey Hammondsdagger (Baltimore Orioles)
5. Chad Mottola (Cincinnati Reds)
All were college players, Jeter was drafted
straight out of high school.

A lifetime .314 hitter who has been written off
more than once, and yes by Yankees fans too,
more often than anyone of his talents should be.
Though his 255 home runs and 1250 runs batted in
so far, don't blow you away, his consistency has
too. It seems like only yesterday that he got
his 3,000th hit, with a home run, and with
typical Jeter flair he became only the second
player in baseball history to do it that way,
the other was Wade Boggs, and now he now has
3,286 and counting.

There are so many Derek Jeter stats and moments
I could throw at you, but if you still need any
convincing, just watch him play, before you miss
what it's like to see a true legend playing in
your lifetime.


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Cole Hamels Signs New Deal, A Joke For The Phillies

AP Photo

Now I know that I will get attacked from all angles
by Phillies fans for that headline alone, but I can
assure you that the comment was made in their best
interest as well as the interest of many other fans
who have GM's dumb enough to give away the farm to
the first pretty face that can throw a pitch or stop
a puck.

I don't know how many of you reading this are sports
fans in general, as opposed to fans of just one sport,
but to step away from the 6 year $144Mil deal just
signed, it seems that their have been a spate of NHL
teams that think it's kinda cool to sign players to
8, 9, and 10 year deals. This is insane, especially
in a sports as violent as hockey. Take note NHL GM's,
there might be a good reason why most NFL contracts
aren't guaranteed, one hit and POOF! there goes your
budget.

Well this Cole Hamels deal is a little out there as
well, and frankly it's kind to say that it's only
"a little out there". $24Mil a year to a guy who
only gets on the field an average of once per week?
Six years to a player that can miss months at a time
for something as trivial as shoulder discomfort?
This is insane, and if you're a Phillies fan, even
if you like/LOVE Hamels, you should be pissed, or
at the very least disappointed at what Ruben Amaro
has done with YOUR money. Expect to suck for the
very foreseeable future, book it. Amaro has signed
the Phillies up for a long road of mediocrity and
suckiness. You put that many dollars into that
fragile a commodity and you are just asking for it.

What has gotten into these GM's? Has no one learned
from former Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks? How did
that 10 year $252Mil deal deal for A-Rod turn out?
Texas won nothing, and eventually had to trade him,
and there's more. Yes it's true that Brian Cashman/
Steinbrenner compounded the problem by doing it again,
but that's just too stupid to comment on. How about
the fact that at the end of that first deal which
would have been the end of last season, A-Rod ended
the year batting .276 with 16Hr's and 62 Rbi's over
a span of 99 games. Yes 99 games, because he's old
and breaking down! The Yankees thought they would
cash in on A-Rod breaking the Aaron/Bonds HR record,
but at this point he is still 118 behind Bonds, and
it would take him over four seasons to do that at
the pace he's been on the last two seasons.
NOT gonna happen !

Is anyone of these General Managers taking notes?
By the way, Happy 37th Birthday A-Rod!

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Has John Calipari Taken An A-Rod Type Monkey Off His Back?

AP Photo

Admittedly I haven't been chock full off sports stories
the last couple of days. The Ncaa tournament didn't
excite me, I don't know enough about the Women's bracket
to make any comments, and not only is the NBA frustrating
me, but MLB and their on again off again season has
actually annoyed me. Through all of that one though
came to mind Monday night as all the talk and Twitter
chatter started to ramp up. Is it just me or does John
Calipari finally winning a Championship remind you at
all of A-Rod after he finally won his World Series ring
with the Yankees?

I can't help but see the comparison, albeit it a small
sample at that, but I would venture to say that they
are not too well liked in many circles, and yet they
once were. They finally won their first and still lone
title with a very storied franchise/team, and I would
easily bet that most folks were rooting against them.
It's not a perfect science I know, but it's not meant
to be, it's just a feeling. Am I wrong?

PS: Every time the University of Kentucky has won the
National Championship, the New York Yankees have won
the World Series in the very same year. I believe the
ball is in your court Mr. Rodriguez.


Congratulations to the Baylor Bears Women's Basketball
Team for going 40-0 and Winning the Women's National
Championship! Guess it ain't all just about RG III.

Tweet Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis

Ryan Braun A Cheat? Who's Next Albert Pujols?

Jeff Roberson -- Associated Press

I can say with total honesty that I would have gone out
of my way to tell you that before A-Rod was outed for
taking any sort of performance enhancing drugs, I was
beyond certain he was clean. I was wrong.

When Manny was being Manny, and got caught for PED's
I once again was a fool for feeling that in no way
could Manny have cheated like that, no way. Yes way,
I was wrong yet again. Well there's an old expression
that goes like this: "Fool me once shame on you, fool
me twice, shame on me". Well I let it get too far,
and I'm sure that many of you feel just about the same
way: No ONE is above suspicion, NO ONE.

Small market, large market, no matter, and Ryan Braun
is a gleaming example of that. How many MVP's in the
last 25 years have had their names shamed in this way?
The answer, far too many. Even one is far too many.
The Ryan Braun is just a nice Jewish kid who didn't
know what he was taking is what Spin Doctors will be
working overtime will say in order to try and get this
under control, but what I will say to you is just this:
Ryan Braun will either get caught again, like Manny, or
his numbers will fall off a cliff, not too much unlike
A-Rod's.

And now to my headline, who's next Albert Pujols?
Let me put it to you this way, I know nothing, have no
facts, and am making no accusations, but would not be
the least bit surprised if Pujols is caught or oughted
sooner rather than later. Not the least bit surprised.
One thing that this latest cheater made me consider is
that if Albert Pujols was totally and unequivocally
clean, he would have stayed in St. Louis. Theory? Yes.
What do I mean by that? He was hell bent on a 10 year
deal. He was adamant on a full no trade, and to me
money isn't always the answer to guys like Pujols.
Guys like him stay where they have the most comfort,
even for a little less money. The difference was only
$32 million dollars, money that he could have easily
made up in some other way in St. Louis. Being the
villain in St. Louis was a chance he can't take, with
the Angels there is no loyalty, so less shame. Now
this is all theory, nothing more, but I'm willing to
bet that Pujols isn't the only STAR that has a shot
at being caught. It finally looks like MLB might just
be getting it right. Now let's see if they are willing
to take down a really BIG fish, not just a small town
MVP. That is if their guilty of course.


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MLB & The LA Anaheim Angels Get Their First $30 Million Player

Photo courtesy of Getty Images

Yes, you read correctly, Thirty Million Dollars, and if
you do the math you will be quick to say that a 10 year
$260 million contract only works out to $26 million per
year. Yes I know that too, but you need to do the hidden
math when looking at deals like this, and then you will
see that if Albert Pujols does not retire before the end
of this monster deal, it will be worth thirty million per
year to him.

Albert Pujols will be 32 at the start of this contract,
and no matter how great a hitter you want to tell me or
anyone else he his, just look at him. He has no foot
speed, he used to have "some". He looks like he limps
most of the time, and don't tell me it's because his
legs are soooooo muscular. There is no way that even
in a DH friendly American League Albert Pujols is
going to be the player he was last year at the age of
42, but with at least 2-3 years remaining when he will
truly start to hit the wall of his productivity, do you
think he's going to retire? With almost $100 million
at stake would you? This is essentially a 7 year
contract if everything breaks well for the Angels, and
I mean everything. Now if you break down the contract
and say $260 million over 7 good years, that works out
to $37,142,857.00 per year, remove the excess over the
30 million, and he gets more than he will be worth for
the last three years of his contract $49,999,999.99 or
almost $17 million per year to hit about 17hrs per year,
drive in about 75 runs and maybe appear in 135 games at
the most if he isn't on the DL too often.

Make no mistake, the Angels did their homework here,
this wasn't an impulsive decision. Again do the math,
if you take into account that ten years ago $20 million
was worth what about $25.5 is worth today, then there
you have a similar contract to the one that A-Rod signed.
More? Yes, but similar, and "LA"/Anaheim is a much bigger
market than Arlington, Texas was. So do you overpay to
get the prize free agent? Who doesn't? Pujols will be
able to DH in his senior years, which I will go on record
as to say that they will happen sooner rather than later.
The Angels will market the crap out of him and get back
most of their investment as well as probably see a World
Series appearance at least within the next fives years,
and make wonderful PR headlines all the while.

By the time this contract is over, we may even get to
find out if he is 32 in 2012 or he is 35, but hey,
today they made headlines, so why would anyone think that
this will be the end of that. It's all in the numbers.


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Would You Give Albert Pujols 300 Million Dollars

Photo: RedBirdRants

Well if you want him on your team, that's probably
what he and his agent are going to be looking for.
Keep in mind that he turned down a nine year 200
million dollar contract at the beginning of this
season. Also keep in mind that he turns 32 in
January, coupled by the fact that his numbers have
all dropped in the last three years. His numbers
were great this year after a miserable start, and
yet what will they be in three more years at the
advanced age of 35? He has shown his glove to be
a detriment, and it couldn't have been more glaring
than it was in the 2011 World Series. His home
run numbers have dropped by an average of five per
year in the last three seasons (47, 42, 37), his
rbi numbers have dropped by an average of 18 in
that same span (135, 118, 99), and his average over
the past four seasons has seen a tumble of 58 points
(.357, .327, .312, .299) to fall below .300
I can hear many of you now shouting "I'll take that!"

Yankees fans might be the first to say we want him,
but their memories are short, and only need to look
as far as A-Rod who will struggle to perform to the
size of his contract for the remaining 6 seasons
at an average of about 28 million per year.
A-Rod is 36 years of age, and though many will say
that the reason for his bad numbers are injuries,
injuries are just another way to say "AGE".

Enjoy the World Series victory Cardinals fans, you've
won two with Pujols, and been to three, you got your
moneys worth out of him now don't be stupid and
grossly overpay for past performance. I'm a big fan
of giving a player a little extra for what he's done
for you in the past, but what Albert his people will
be asking is just plain insanity. Step back, think
it over, and use your head, don't make a foolish and
rash decision. With all that said, someone will do
it anyway, and it will give me more to write about
and you more to biatch about. Mark this down, this
is a bad idea, Period.



Thank You Al Davis ! Tweet

Just Sayin'

C'mon Yahoo Sports! The Diamondbacks have
a Six game lead in the NL West and have a
magic number of 20 posted, but the Tigers
in the AL Central have a 5 1/2 lead and
have NO magic number posted??? Was the
math to hard for the guys in sports?

Is it me or did anyone else notice that
Jered Weaver took a boat load less money
and didn't wait to become a free agent
before signing his latest contract?
Incidentally his agent in Scott Boras,
and he didn't take Boras' advice.
Sound familiar? A-Rod 2007 maybe?
BUT my favorite thing about this deal
was Weaver's quote: "If $85 (million)
is not enough to take care of my family
and other generations of families then
I'm pretty stupid, but how much money
do you really need in life?"
If someone has Latrell Sprewell's
address, please forward.

In very sad news, former NHLer Wade
Belak was found dead in Toronto this
past Wednesday, even sadder is the
fact that he is the third former/current
NHL player to be found dead since the
season ended. People die everyday, but
trends like this are kind of noticeable.

College Football starts tonight! Yes, it
truly is September.

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A-Rod vs The Wiseman

My uncle constantly teaches me that the
wiseman is NEVER wrong. Thing is, this
so called wiseman is really quite a few
wisemen, that over the history of time
have come to realize some tried and true
constants. In A-Rod's case I have one
such tried and true constant, that comes
to mind when I read this story on 212Sports
by Michael Moriatis. "Where There's Smoke,
Theres Fire", and this is one tried and true
Wiseman constant that I'm going to believe
the Wiseman has once again gotten correct.