Repair draft day mistakes

31 03 2010

Mistakes are an inevitable part of any fantasy baseball draft. Nobody can get through an entire selection process unscathed, but recognizing what errors you made can separate you from your league cohorts at the beginning of the season.

For instance, any team employing Joba Chamberlain in a standard league isn’t paying attention to the order of the Yankees starting rotation and bullpen. Other players also coast on name recognition. Don’t be one of the fantasy owners who’ll regret sticking with the former star. Go after players who’ve slipped below the radar. Here are five to consider before the season begins.

Click the link below to read the story.

Fantasy MLB (Draft day fixes)


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , ,
Categories : Miscellaneous

How to increase your vertical

30 03 2010

This doesn’t involve magic shoes or a secret pill. Unfortunately, there is no easy path to improving how high you can jump. In fact, most moderately athletic men and women have minimal potential improvement to increase their vertical. As Chip Schaefer told me for this WeightWatchers.com article, most of us are limited primarily by our genetics. He knows a little something about genetically-gifted athletes since he’s the Director of Athletic Performance for the L.A. Lakers.

Now that I’ve possibly made a few of you depressed, read the story to find out which workout myths to increase the vertical are inaccurate and what tips two trainers and a kinesiology expert gave me to help everyday Joes gain a little more explosiveness every time they jump.

Click on the link below to read the story.

Improving Your Vertical Leap


Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Categories : Miscellaneous

My night with the Nets

29 03 2010

I had family in town for the last week and a half, which meant I was hanging with them when I wasn’t working. That also meant I ignored many other parts of my life, including this blog. That chain of events led to my postponing a post about the Mar. 16 Nets-Hawks game which I attended with my buddy and fellow RotoExperts.com writer Tom Lorenzo.

I wasn’t sure how I wanted to mesh my thoughts of the game along with the photos I took, but I feel like the easiest way is to post the most relevant photos with lengthy captions explaining the scene. And that’s what I’ll do. Oh, I should explain something. The seats for this game were behind the basket on the visitor’s side of the court, roughly 15 rows up. The total cost for both tickets via StubHub, including taxes, was $25. Go Nets!:

Update: Due to technical difficulties of posting images on here, I’ll make this Part I. Part II — and possibly a Part III — will run tomorrow.

This is roughly 45 minutes before tip-off. The usher had a forlorn look, like she was thinking to herself, "Oh boy, these people spent money to go to this!?" You might not have guessed it, but there wasn't a palpable sense of optimism in the arena.

It's fair to say that the arena was sparsely populated at tip-off.

This is the only clear photo of game action. My camera was about as accurate as Courtney Lee's jump shot.

Time to complain about the world's worst-ever invention. There is no sensible reason to use thundersticks. By far the most annoying part of a person's interaction with thundersticks is when they "test" them by banging them repeatedly even when the situation in the game doesn't call for it. I suppose the person is trying to judge the sticks' range of noise -- hello idiots, you already know what sound it makes! Stop it! Don't get me started. I hate these.


Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: , , , , , ,
Categories : Miscellaneous

LeBron already in NYC

24 03 2010

LeBron James doesn't have to play for the Knicks to make a New York City billboard on the same block as Madison Square Garden. (Photo by Kyle Stack)

I can admit when I’m wrong. As I strolled to Macy’s today, I noticed a particularly large billboard of LeBron James dominating the intersection of 34th Street and 7th Avenue. For those of you who aren’t fully aware of NYC geography, that would be the same block where Madison Square Garden sits.

I wrote last month that LeBron could enhance his marketability by moving to New York City and I cited an increased billboard presence in the city as one reason for it. Well, as you can see from this picture, Bron Bron is fully embedded in the New York billboard scene. (And MSG can be seen in the background, toward the lower left corner.)

So I’d like to alter my position and officially state that Mr. James should do damn well whatever he pleases once he becomes a free agent. The man can obviously thrive from a marketing standpoint even if he continues to call Cleveland his NBA address.


Comments : 3 Comments »
Tags: , , , ,
Categories : Miscellaneous

NBA rules social media

24 03 2010

There’s no question as to whether every sports league should embrace social media. Twitter and Facebook are here to stay, so incorporating those platforms as a foundation to market a league should be expected. It’s free to set up a profile on both sites and the value retained is out of this world.

After discovering that the NBA’s Facebook fan page surpassed two million fans earlier this month, I wanted to find out if the NBA is maximizing its ability to market through social media. You’ll have to read the story for the answer but let’s just say there are an overwhelming number of options for businesses to connect in the social media spectrum. And the fun in that area has only begun.

Click on the link below to read the story.

Social Throwdown


Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Categories : Miscellaneous

Under-the-radar MLB closers

24 03 2010

It’s not always easy to find a capable MLB closer. Sometimes they pop up out of nowhere, as was the case with David Aardsma in Seattle last season. Others disappoint, such as Brad Lidge last year. Closer situations are always so tenuous, which is a byproduct of pitchers’susceptibility to injury and the fleeting nature of the position. Blow a save and a closer can find his job on the line.

In this amNew York story, I analyzed five closer situations to watch in the next few weeks. A couple situations have a clear direction while a couple more have yet to be unresolved. Any of the players recommended in the story are worthy of pickups in all formats.

Click on the link below to read the story.

Fantasy MLB (Closer situations)


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Categories : Miscellaneous

Bellotti is a hustler; NBA Store prize

20 03 2010

I enjoyed writing the University of Oregon football team post from the other day. I just didn’t realize how quickly I would be revisiting the subject.

Less than a week after the football team’s highest-profile player — Heisman Trophy-contending quarterback Jeremiah Masoli — was suspended for the upcoming season because of a guilty plea to a second-degree burglary charge, and only days after firing Ernie Kent, the men’s basketball coach of the last 13 years, Oregon athletic director Mike Bellotti announced he was jumping ship to join ESPN as a college football analyst. How convenient for him.

Belloti, who took over as AD in July after a successful 14-season career as Oregon’s football coach, should be held accountable for  the nine football players who appeared on police reports in the last few months. Five of them have been suspended for all or part of the 2010 season or kicked off the team. Then Kent was fired, which wasn’t a terribly irresponsible move until you come to the realization that Bellotti shirked his responsibility to find a successor by skipping out of town himself.

It’s the responsibility of the head of an organization (or team or franchise or whatever else you want to call a group of individuals under someone’s helm) to find replacements for the open positions created by that head man’s personnel decisions. All Bellotti did was create a mess that has to be fixed by someone else. At least he might have done the UO program a favor in that the new AD could kick football coach Chip Kelly to the curb for permitting such recklessness and undisciplined behavior to exist on his football team.

*****

No Quote of the Week from this past week because I have family in town. And I’ve been working a lot, which means I didn’t give myself the time to run through enough stories to find quotes. I know your weekend was already ruined by my not posting a QOTW so I won’t press any further.

*****

I won a prize: @NBAStoreNYC posted a trivia question Friday morning: What record did Dwight Howard set at All-Star Weekend? I saw the question immediately and responded with what I was only 50 percent sure was the correct answer; that Howard’s record was for the longest made shot from a seated position.

Turns out I was right and the NBA Store gave me a prize package for my correct answer, which I picked up at the store on 52nd Street and 5th Avenue. Here it is below, with the video of Howard’s shot beneath it. Thanks to the NBA Store!

I correctly answered an @NBAStoreNYC trivia question on Twitter and the Store gave me this in return. Turns out I needed a duffle bag so the NBA Store saved me some coin.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Categories : Miscellaneous

Fantasy baseball drafting strategy

17 03 2010

Drafting for your fantasy baseball team shouldn’t be complicated. My general rule-of-thumb is to take the best available player. How does it get any simpler? I’m apt to avoid pitchers until at least Round 6 or 7, but it’s perfectly reasonable when other owners choose a hurler or two in the first five or six rounds.

What I wanted to accomplish with the following amNew York article is to give casual readers a clear understanding of what to expect during the first eight rounds of a 12-team league draft, assuming a standard scoring system (R, HR, RBI, SB, AVG, W, SV, K, ERA, WHIP). Although there are too many different draft strategies to list within this space, there is generally a sound way of crafting a team: Make sure you have at least three position players who produce high amounts of home runs and RBIs while doing your best to balance your squad from hitting and pitching perspectives. No kidding, you say? Well, read the story below to find out more specifics about what to expect in each of the first eight rounds.

Click on the link below to read the story.

Fantasy MLB (Round-by-round strategy)

You can follow amNew York sports on Twitter: @amNYsports

You can also follow me on Twitter: @NYsportswriter


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , ,
Categories : Miscellaneous

NCAA Tourney, Gus Johnson highlights

17 03 2010

I’ve done my fair share of trashing college basketball in discussions with my friends. But since a part of my sports-loving heart does appreciate the passion and spontaneity of the NCAA Tournament, I wanted to run through five of my favorite Tourney moments. (The second half of the 2006 UCLA-Gonzaga Sweet 16 game was one of the most intense halves of basketball I’ve ever watched. Too bad I could only find the last 40 seconds of that wonderfully memorable contest.)

There’s not a better way to transition into the Gus Johnson Highlight Package:

Can you handle five Gus Johnson games in under five minutes?


Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: , , , , , ,
Categories : Miscellaneous

A bunch of quacks

16 03 2010

The University of Oregon athletic program was once known for two facets unique to collegiate sports: 1) A never-ending supply of hideously-designed football uniforms, thanks to Nike’s nearby corporate headquarters, and 2) An incredibly well-funded program with state-of-the-art training facilities (see video below).

We can add a third notch to Oregon’s belt: The college football version of the Portland Jail Blazers. Remember those Portland teams from the mid-’00s where seemingly every player was arrested? This Ducks squad is attaining the same reputation. What makes this situation more infuriating is that the head coach appears content to let the trouble makers stay on the squad. In review:

Star quarterback Jeremiah Masoli plead guilty to second-degree burglary for stealing two laptops and a guitar from a local frat house. After getting suspended for the upcoming season last Friday, Oregon head coach Chip Kelly conceded that Masoli was still due a redshirt year, which means he can still play for the Ducks after the upcoming campaign. He has to serve 12 months of probation, volunteer for 140 hours of community service and pay $5,000 in restitution fees along with former Ducks receiver Garret Embry, who suffered the same guilty plea and subsequent punishments.

Star running back LaMichael James was suspended for the 2010 season opener after pleading guilty on Friday to a misdemeanor harassment charge from an altercation with an ex-girlfriend. He originally faced five misdemeanor charges for the incident, including strangulation and assault. He’ll get 10 days in jail and must serve 24 months of probation.

Placekicker Rob Beard was also suspended for the opener after he plead guilty last week to a harassment charge stemming from a street fight.

Here are Kelly’s comments in regards to those arrests: “Their accountability for their actions is paramount and any tainting of the reputation of the University of Oregon and this football program will not be tolerated.”

Yet they all remain on the team.

Linebacker Kiko Alonso was suspended for the upcoming season following his ‘not guilty’plea on drunk driving charges from last week.

Running back LeGarrette Blount was reinstated to the team last season after he initially was suspended for the entire campaign following an incident in which he punched a Boise State player after their game and then physically challenged Boise State fans as he was being led off the playing field.

Kelly did get two right, though.

Defensive end Matt Simms was dismissed from the team last month for striking a student he thought had a role in beating up Beard.

Wide receiver Jamere Holland was also dismissed after a profanity-laced tirade on Facebook regarding Alonso’s suspension.

My problem with Kelly’s overall disciplinary system is that he isn’t backing up his comments. If he truly felt that his player’s actions shouldn’t be tolerated, then he’d have kicked all of them off his team. Their level of punishment handed down from the court should be irrelevant. What the players do to repent their actions can’t dismiss what’s already been done to tarnish Oregon’s reputation. They’ve made the program appear like yet another playground for reckless, selfish athletes riding high on full scholarships and preferential treatment.

If Kelly were truly invested in turning the tide within his football team and in defending his school’s reputation, then he’d wipe the program clean of all the idiots who don’t respect it enough to stay out of trouble.

UPDATE: Found a much longer video of Oregon’s athletic training facility, although it’s without sound.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , ,
Categories : Miscellaneous

Quotes of the Week VIII

12 03 2010

Chad Ochocinco on whether he always jogs naked [he was caught in a video posted to YouTube jogging in the nude through the woods outside his home]:
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I? What’s wrong with that? I take a shower naked.”

Cowboys tight end Martellus Bennett, who recorded 15 receptions in his second season last year:
“I think I can be one of the all-time greats.”

Text message sent from Floyd Mayweather to a man named Quincey Williams, who texted Mayweather that he wished him bad luck in an upcoming fight:
“Do you know who I am? I could have you trumped!”

Steve Nash on rehabbing his beaten-up body with five days off between games:
“Unfortunately, I don’t get to put my feet up and have a pina colada.”

Dwight Howard on teammate Matt Barnes’physical style of play:
“That’s what he does, he brings physicality to the game. Physicality. Matt and physical go together … Matt-sysical.”

Lamar Odom on why he called Barnes a “monkey” after the Lakers-Magic game March 7:
“Matt Barnes is a cool dude. If I call him a monkey, I don’t mean it.”

Odom on his comparison of Barnes to an action figure:
“Ric Flair does the same thing. He had his wrestling gear on today. All he needed was, like, a cape and tights.”

Barnes’Twitter response to Odom:
“Morning yall up early w/ the babies watchn Dora. Seems Lamar can’t keep my name out his mouth maby I need 2 put my sons shitty diaper n it”

Derek Anderson after being released by the Browns:
“The fans are ruthless and don’t deserve a winner. I will never forget getting cheered when I was injured. I know at times I wasn’t great. I hope and pray I’m playing when my team comes to town and (we) roll them.”

Jazz coach and ex-Bulls player Jerry Sloan on the significance, or lack thereof, of a photo of him hanging outside the Bulls locker room:
“It’s like my friend always said, ‘I’m going to be eating hamburgers anyway.’” I don’t know what that means either.

Seahawks wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh to Erik Kuselias on ESPN Radio:
“Last year, fantasy [football] or no fantasy, I sucked.”

Angels outfielder Torii Hunter on race in baseball:
“As African-American players, we have a theory that baseball can go get an imitator and pass them off as us. It’s like they had to get some kind of dark faces, so they go to the Dominican or Venezuela because you can get them cheaper. It’s like, ‘Why should I get this kid from the South Side of Chicago and have Scott Boras represent him and pay him $5 million when you can get a Dominican guy for a bag of chips?” Apparently Hunter didn’t notice that Aroldis Chapman, a Cuban, signed a $30 million deal with the Reds based off a handful of pitching sessions. Or that Michael Inoa, a Dominican, received a $4.25 million bonus from the Athletics as a 16-year-old in 2008.

Mike Leach during a motivational speech to Texas Tech last season:
“What’s God say? If you’re lukewarm, I’ll spew you out?”

Bill Maher on his HBO show:
“The only thing that’s inevitable is that if you have fake boobs and hair extensions, Tiger Woods will try to fuck you.”

Dan Orlovsky’s note on an autographed photo of the famous play in which he ran out of the back of the end zone during a 2008 Lions-Vikings game:
“I’m just an idiot.”


Comments : 3 Comments »
Tags: , , , , , , ,
Categories : Quotes of the Week

LeBron in purple and gold — with Kobe?

11 03 2010

Tell me that title doesn’t give Knicks, Cavaliers, Heat, Nets, Celtics fans a huge collective heart attack. This is one of a few dramatic scenarios rolled out by Roland Lazenby in a recent article for HoopsHype.com.

Lazenby reports that according to a plugged-in source to Phil Jackson, Bron wants to wear the purple and gold next season. He wants to play for Jackson, assuming Jackson re-signs with the Lakers. Of course, Lazenby adds that Phil and Bron could trek together to New York to join the Knicks. Oh yeah, he throws in a doozy later in the article — that Phil, Kobe and Jeanie Buss (Phil’s girlfriend and a high-level executive with the Lakers, not to mention the Lakers owner’s daughter) have a master plan to switch to the Clippers next year. The number of possibilities thrown at the wall in the story can make your head spin.

As a fan, I’ve learned to simplify circumstances as much as possible. Is it conceivable that Bron would play for the Lakers next year? Sure, when you factor in the commercial/movie opportunities available, the team’s championship tradition, the weather and the players Bron could team with for championships galore. One other factor: L.A. presents more career opportunities for Bron’s entourage.

Is it likely Bron enters Lakerland? About as realistic as him going to the Knicks without any other star. Too many options are proposed in the story to take them seriously. I can’t imagine two supreme alpha dogs like Kobe and LeBron will ever play together. That they formed such a strong cohesion on the Redeem Team doesn’t mean a thing. Part of the reason they played so well with each other was probably that they understood it was only a temporary thing, so they might as well have soaked it in while they could. A full season with each other could drive each player positively nuts.

I don’t see Kobe leaving his situation with the Lakers. They have the best possible situation for him to win a championship, sans any hyperbolic Bron/D-Wade/Bosh scenarios. Kobe is L.A. The Lakers are his team. He wouldn’t find the appreciation from a fan base in any other city that he already receives in L.A.

As for Bron, the assumption should be made that he’ll re-sign in Cleveland. NBA superstars rarely leave their teams when they know the team can offer more years and money than any other squad. The exception to the rule is Shaq, when he left small-market Orlando for L.A. in ’96. But that was a different time in our country. The Internet was just taking off and there obviously weren’t the marketing opportunities available to small- and mid-market players that there are now. I read a great point today. Peyton Manning is the face of the NFL even though he plays in (perceived) podunk Indianapolis. Bron is bigger and badder, so he can thrive anywhere. It doesn’t have to be in L.A.


Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: , , , , , ,
Categories : Miscellaneous

How to predict fantasy baseball production

10 03 2010

I’ve adapted my approach to fantasy sports during the last year. I value having fun more than ever in fantasy sports, as I really can’t take it as seriously as others in the industry. I enjoy playing the game but delving into complicated mathematical formulas just doesn’t do it for me. Lord knows some guys have to because it’s their full-time job. More power to them.

I prefer to use easy-to-understand metrics for predicting future performance. Sometimes that’s all you need, and the five stats I outlined in a new amNew York article go a long way to helping understand why a player has performed the way he has and how he might perform in the future. Hope you enjoy and remember — fantasy sports are meant for you to have fun. Try to leave the algebraic stuff aside.

Click on the link below to read the story:

Fantasy MLB (Peripheral stats)


Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: , , , ,
Categories : Miscellaneous

A look inside the NCAA tournament selection committee

9 03 2010

College basketball fans who wonder how the NCAA tournament is selected and seeded don’t always get to hear from the people who make those decisions. Fortunately, I was given the opportunity to speak with one of the people in charge for a SLAMonline interview.

Doug Fullerton, who is the commissioner of the Big Sky Conference, was named last spring to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Committee, which counts the selection and seeding of the March tournament among its responsibilities.

Fullerton officially started his committee role last fall and will help make the decisions this Selection Sunday for the first time. Read the interview to discover his views of the committee’s responsibilities, what he looks for in teams, his thoughts on the tournament expanding to 96 teams and a big announcement in regards to college basketball officiating.

Click on the link below to read the story:

Doug Fullerton interview


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Categories : Miscellaneous

In favor of the NY soda tax

8 03 2010

One of the few good ideas proposed by New York governor David Paterson during his governership — and recently backed by New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg — is a soda tax, a.k.a. fat tax, that would attribute a penny per ounce to soda, flavored water, iced tea and other sugary drinks sold at convenience and grocery stores. (Diet sodas would not be included.)

This proposal acknowledges that the increased risk of sugary drinks can lead to short- and long-term health problems, which eventually stress health care and add to the cost of an already expensive system. I agree that these goods, which are generally poor for people’s health, should be taxed. Cigarette taxes in New York City were raised by $.62 per pack last year because of nicotine. People can’t smoke in bars, restaurants or at the work place. Beer, wine and liquor are taxed because of alcohol in New York City, from $.12 to a $1 per gallon.

While the sugar from sodas aren’t as directly destructive as nicotine or alcohol, they still contribute mightily to poor health. The Brooklyn Food Coalition reported in a Web site post last year that that a Harvard Medical School study found that each additional 12 ounce sugary soda consumed per day increases the odds of a child becoming obese by 60 percent.

And yet bodega owners are complaining to New York City’s papers that the penny-per-ounce tax will “kill small local businesses,” according to one bodega owner in an amNew York story. If you buy a Sprite on a regular basis, would you make the decision not to buy it if it costs an extra 12 or 16 or 24 cents? Chances are you’ll be willing to fork over the extra quarter, or dime and two pennies. Plus, the bodega owners probably make most of their money off cigarette and alcohol sales in the first place. An extra 12 or 16 cents per Coke or Sprite isn’t going to be the tipping point in their business’fortunes.

If nothing else, our government, whether it’s on a federal, state or local level, has a social responsibility to look out for the public’s general health. There is a seemingly never-ending amount of evidence that our society can’t protect itself from its drink and food choices. Too many people eat what they want and not necessarily what’s best for their long-term health.

If paying 12 or 16 or 24 extra cents to purchase a drink is what it takes to drive down soda consumption and possibly help steer people toward healthier choices, then it’s a great move. But if people continue to consume as they had on a pre-tax level, then the $400 million or more that could be generated on an annual basis from the soda tax, as has been reported, is a piece of pie that our city and state government could use, hopefully to a positive effect.


Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: , , , , , ,
Categories : Miscellaneous

« Previous Entries


Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.