I’m Guessing Jerome Boger Had The Titans +3 Last Night

Steve Phillips Stalker/Lover Speaks

If you don’t remember this story, just click here.

Erin Andrews

Is Anyone Else Sick of Chris Berman?

The most tired act in sports was at it again last night, as bad and annoying as ever.  Chris Berman put on a show for the ages, for the ages of major sucking.  Please get a new act you lame ass douche bag.  It’s a shame you actually had a big role in making ESPN big and now you are a joke on the level of Joe Buck Live, Joe Morgan or Tim McCarver.

Oh No, There’s Bacon Everywhere!

The Bacon Invasion has started.  It has already infected Sonsofsimmons & ESPN.com.  Check the links out for proof.   Guest Bloggers please apply at sonsofsimmons@gmail.com. 

 

Thanks, 

SOS

Do Not Re-Sign Varitek!

I think I might be the only one in this boat, but I do not want the Red Sox to re-sign Jason Varitek unless he is the backup or he gets a non-guaranteed invite to spring training.  I cannot stand hearing all the mush heads assigning arbitrary attributes to Varitek that you cannot prove. It aggravates me to no end hearing people call Derek Jeter a “winner” he hasn’t won anything in 8 years or saying that Jose Offerman was the best in baseball going back on pop-ups.  

Peter Gammons writes in his blog today:

Scott Boras demonstrated his genius by actually getting his spokesmen to report that he couldn’t take arbitration for Jason Varitek because the Red Sox might have released him, which would never have happened. Period. Yes, Varitek will be 37 in April, and only six catchers have ever caught 100 games in a season at the age of 37, but he’s a huge part of the Red Sox’s pitching staff, can platoon with and mentor whomever the Red Sox acquire, and the last time he was a free agent asked Boras to give the Red Sox every opportunity to re-sign him out of loyalty to the organization. His declining $10 million-$12 million in arbitration meant that the market establishes the price, and that is just what has happened.

Is he really that important to the pitching staff?  Would Dice-K & Josh Beckett retire if they couldn’t pitch to Varitek?  His OPS has declined so bad over the last three years and he is now at a point that you assume he is going to make an out every single at bat.  Giving him one year would be stupid, giving him a second year option that is triggered by games played would be even more ridiculous.  The Red Sox have been very good about walking away from players when the time was right: Pedro, Johnny Damon, Trot Nixon. They are letting emotion dictate this decision to resign this stiff.  By giving out all this unnecessary money, John Henry will complain that they do not have the resources to take on a contract at the deadline to improve the team.

Mel Kiper’s Mock Draft

From ESPN:

 

 

Pick	Team	Player	Position	College
1	Detroit	Matthew Stafford	QB	Georgia
2	St. Louis	Andre Smith	OT	Alabama
3	Kansas City	Mark Sanchez	QB	USC
4	Seattle	Michael Crabtree	WR	Texas Tech
5	Cleveland	Aaron Curry	LB	Wake Forest
6	Cincinnati	Jason Smith	OT	Baylor
7	Oakland	Jeremy Maclin	WR	Missouri
8	Jacksonville	Eugene Monroe	OT	Virginia
9	Green Bay	Malcolm Jenkins	CB	Ohio St.
10	San Francisco	Aaron Maybin	DE/OLB	Penn St.
11	Buffalo	Brandon Pettigrew	TE	Oklahoma St.
12	Denver	B.J. Raji	DT	Boston College
13	Washington	Brian Orakpo	DE	Texas
14	New Orleans	Vontae Davis	CB	Illinois
15	Houston	Everette Brown	DE	Florida St.
16	San Diego	Knowshon Moreno	RB	Georgia
17	New York Jets	Percy Harvin	WR	Florida
18	Chicago	Tyson Jackson	DE	LSU
19	Tampa Bay	Josh Freeman	QB	Kansas St.
20	Detroit (from Dallas)	Rey Maualuga	LB	USC
21	Philadelphia	Chris “Beanie” Wells	RB	Ohio St.
22	Minnesota	Hakeem Nicks	WR	North Carolina
23	New England	Brian Cushing	LB	USC
24	Atlanta	Larry English	DE/OLB	No. Illinois
25	Miami	Darrius Heyward-Bey	WR	Mryland
26	Baltimore	D.J. Moore	CB	Vanderbilt
27	Indianapolis	Peria Jerry	DT	Mississippi
28	Philadelphia (from Carolina)	Michael Oher	OT	Mississippi
29	New York Giants	James Laurinaitis	LB	Ohio St.
30	Tennessee	Michael Johnson	DE	Georgia Tech
31	Arizona	LeSean McCoy	RB	Pittsburgh
32	Pittsburgh	Alex Mack	C	California

Keith Law On Red Sox Farm System

From Keith Law:

7. Boston Red Sox: Probably an aggressive ranking, but their 2008 draft class has the potential to be one of the best. They have become more aggressive at going over slot to obtain premium players in the draft and have become more active internationally. Their system probably had more prospect depth on 2008 short-season rosters than any other but Texas’.

RANK	PLAYER	POS.	ORGANIZATION	#AGE
7	Lars Anderson	1B	Boston Red Sox TOP ‘08 LEVEL: AA (Portland)	21

Anderson is the best of a fairly deep class of first base prospects in the minors right now, separating himself by his relative youth and advanced approach. Anderson has outstanding plate discipline for a prospect his age – or any age, really, but his relative youth makes it much more impressive. His career OBP sits at .404, and you can see a cerebral approach to the strike zone. As a hitter, Anderson has a high setup and makes a big, quick first move down to get into hitting position; once he gets started, he’s very short to the ball and makes a lot of hard contact with good backspin. He has the swing and physical potential to hit 30-plus home runs, but is still working out which pitches to pull and which pitches to take to the opposite field. He’s adequate at first base despite being a well below-average runner. Despite the fact that he finished 2008 with a strong performance in Double-A, Anderson is a few years away from becoming an impact big-league hitter with both a high OBP and big power, but he has the complete package and only requires development time to get there.

ESPN Is Desperately Trying To Get Barry Bonds Facetime

Thanks to Deadspin

Smart. Real Smart

From The News Tribune:

Prosecutors have charged Olympia mixed-martial-arts champion and avowed anarchist Jeff Monson with first-degree malicious mischief based on photographs published in the December edition of “ESPN The Magazine,” showing him spray-painting an anarchist symbol on the state Capitol, court papers state.

A warrant seeking Monson’s arrest was filed Wednesday morning in Thurston County Superior Court. Monson, 37, is charged with first-degree malicious mischief, a Class B felony carrying a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

The graffiti cost $19,000 to clean up, the court papers state. Police have been seeking those responsible for spray-painting graffiti on columns on the north side of the Capitol’s legislative building on Nov. 26. The graffiti included anarchy symbols, a peace symbol, and phrases such as “no war” and “no poverty.”

According to the court papers, a State Patrol and an Olympia police detective recognized Monson as the perpetrator of the graffiti on surveillance footage captured by a camera at the Capitol, but the break in the case occurred after ESPN The Magazine published an article on Monson and his political views on Dec. 29.

A photograph of Monson leaving graffiti on the Capitol was included in the article, court papers state.

Next Page »