For the 2nd straight game, the Terps knock off a top 25 team when they defeated the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. I guess the ankle twist that Nik Caner-Medley suffered during the Duke game didn't hurt him that much. He lead the team with 19 points and is really becoming an offensive force for the Terps. The Terps did lead at halftime by 10, but let Georgia Tech make it a game in the second half, and for the second straight game the 8 point gap really didn't happen until real late in the second half. This whole game was well fought by both teams, but in the end the Terps came away with the win. The next opponent for the Terps is Clemson which should be an easy game with the roll the Terps are on right now, just as long as the Terps don't look past the Tigers. According to CBS Sportsline, the Terps are ranked #22 in the AP poll and #24 in the Coaches poll. The Terps are also in 4th place in the ACC now.
The O's have agreed to terms with the Cubs for Sosa. The only question left is whether Bud Selig will approve it. Here is a good article about it that I agree with. (it would be stupid for me to write the same article): Most Valuable Network - Flying Orioles ??? More Thoughts on Sosa and the 2005 Baltimore Orioles
The Terps get a big win last night by beating the #2 team in the nation, the Blue Devils. Everyone hates Duke if you are a Terp fan, so this win was extra special. After losing to NC State just two days prior, the Terps finally step up their defense to compete with Duke. The Terps still made to many bad shots and turnovers, but they forced more turnovers then they gave away. Nik Caner-Medley led the way with 25 points and 5 rebounds, one of which he injured his ankle. Nik kept the terps within striking distance of the Blue Devils the whole game. The Terps were down by 4 points at the half and fought back throughout the 2nd half. The lead changed plenty of times during the game, and the ending score was a little misleading. It wasn't until within 4 minutes, that the Terps started to pull away. Under two minutes, Coach K. Of the Blue Devils had the players failing the Terps. Amazingly, the Terps shot great at the line, which hasn't happened all year. The Terps hit 20-24 from the foul line, but still shot poorly out 3 point arc. This game could be the breakthough game of the year for the Terps. All year the Terps seemed antsy and impatient while playing good teams, and now they have gotten over the hump beating the #2 team in the country. Just a fan hoping I am right.
Carlos Delgado finally agrees to a contract, sadly with the Florida Marlins, Tuesday. I know I wanted the merry-go-round to stop, but I wanted it to stop in Baltimore, dammit. The front office offered Delgado 48 million over 4 years and were out bidded by the Marlins, who offered 52 million over 4 years and an option for a 5th year that would make it a 64 million dollar deal. This deal is just another strikeout for the O's this offseason. The O's lost bidding wars with Carl Pavano and Richie Sexson. The only real aquistions the O's have had is to the bullpen. I guess the only real player out their now in free agency is outfielder Magglio Ordonez who is now talking to the Detroit Tigers. Ah, the fun of being a Baltimore fan during the offseason.
The ride for teams trying to win the 1B man continues this weekend and Monday morning. The Mets and Texas were reportily out of the running for Delgado. And it seemed Monday morning that the only teams competing for him were the O's and the Marlins. The Mets then told ESPN that they did not drop out of the bidding war for Delgado. They were just waiting for Delgado to return their call. God when will this all stop. I wish that someone would just win and get it over with. The way this offseason is going for the O's, don't expect him in orange and black.
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The Baltimore Ravens hire Clearance Brooks to be the new defensive line coach. He is the second former Miami Dolphins coach hired by the Ravens
Most Valuable Network - Flying Orioles
The O's front office have done little this offseason so far. They went into the offseason with a couple of agendas: Get an Ace pitcher and another Big Bat. Both are lacking with less then a month to go before Spring Training. They have made small pickups for depth, and they have avoided trading away talent for very little. The O's have had plenty of chances to get their man to fill the Ace role in this offseason, and all the chances didn't pan out. First the O's were suppose to be the front runners for Carl Pavano going into the winter meetings and got outbidded by the Yankees. To be honest, Thank God. Pavano has only one good season and is a big roll of the dice if he can do it again. Pavano was well over payed by the Yankees. Next was Tim Hudson, I don't blame the front office for this one, but I do blame the A's front office for wanting so much for Hudson and not allowing the O's 72 hours to negotiate with Hudson. Last thus far is A.J. Burnett, the front office of the Marlins wanted Tim Hudson if they were going to trade Burnett. Since Hudson went to the Braves, the O's had no chance to get Burnett. A couple of players were on the O's radar for a power hitter. Richie Sexson and Carlos Delgado were the front runners for the O's. The O's wanted to make Raffie the full time DH and get another 1B man. Sexson said he wanted to go to Baltimore or Seattle. Scott Boras (Sexson's agent) used the O's to hike up the price for the Mariners. Delgado still has a chance to come to Baltimore, but he has three other teams Delgado is considering. Marlins, Rangers, and Mets are on Delgados list. He is also rumored to want 5 years/15 million a year. This is a total rip off for a bat and no defense in a 32 year old player. Another rumor going around is a trade with the Devil Rays for 3B Audry Huff. This would be a great up for the O's because it could either put Mora back in CF or play 1B instead of overpaying a free agent. Player News thus far: RP Steve Kline: He throws left and will join B.J. Ryan for one of the best lefty tadem in the majors. Picked up as a free agent for 2 year/5.5 million dollars SS Chris Gomez: He will compete this Spring Training for a utility spot in the infield. Picked up as a free agent and then a trade from Philly for money to minor league deal. IF Enrique Wilson: Will compete for a infield utility position during spring training. Picked up as a free agent and signed a minor league deal. IF Chris Stynes: Will compete for a infield utility position during spring training. Picked up as a free agent and signed a minor league deal. Arbitration Deals(all one year contracts): CF Louis Matos: 1.025 million 1B Rafeal Palmeiro: 3 million OF B.J. Surhoff: 1.1 million 2B Jerry Hairston JR: 1.8 million SP Rodrigo Lopez: 2.375 million RP B.J. Ryan: 2.6 million
The Ravens hire Rick Neuheisel to become the QB coach. He was the university of Washington head coach until 2003. He was fired for participation in a college basketball pool. He is a great pick up, and he will improve Kyle Boller's progression of being an NFL quarterback. The Ravens say good by to a great coach, Mike Nolan, who was hired as the 49ers' head coach. He was the Ravens' offensive coordinator. This brings up an interesting situation for the Ravens, who are known for such a great defense, to see who will fill such big shoes that was vacated. Rumors are going around that Jim Fassel will become the new offensive coordinator for the Ravens. Jim Fassel was the head coach of the Giants up until 2003 and senior consultant for the Ravens offense last year.
I know everyone in baseball is patting themselves on the back for being able to come up with a real steroid program. Let me be one of the first to say, too late MLB. Records are tainted now, players already have their blown up contracts (Giambi & Bonds), and any big player will be accused of steroids. To me, Roger Maris is still the single season homerun record holder. Bonds not knowing he was taking steroids from his good friend is a bunch of crap. If you look at pictures of 5 years ago of Bonds, you can see the spike of mass he gained in a short period of time. It was just a really good work out right. Heck, I would include Mark McGwire as being a steroid addict. I mean come on, he lasted two more years after he broke the record because of injuries. His body was breaking down from years of steroids. This record is now just a joke. Now clubs like the Yankees have to play Giambi this year because they can't get rid of him. I hate the Yankees as much as anyone else, but this is just unfair to baseball as a whole. He should not be able to play at all. How much is he going to make in the next couple of years, I think around 84 mil. In the next 4 years. What about Barry Bonds you say, he made 18 mil. Last year, and will be around that this year. He sucks as an outfielder, and wears all that body armor so he can lean over the plate, and is on steroids. He is on track to break career all time records and should be put out of the game to prove a point. All these players have now tainted all big time players in MLB. If someone were to hit 60 homeruns this year, what do you think the first question is going to be. I am also a dedicated baseball fan, but I know a lot of fans that are no more because of this suspicion of steroids in the game. Can MLB get these fans back after alienating them already. I think it will take many years to do such a thing. Good job MLB union. The reason I didn't mention Slammin' Sammy Sosa is because everyone knows how he got in the record books. He is a corky.
As of right now, the Baltimore Ravens have the 22nd draft pick this April. I don't know whether it is set in stone or depending on the playoffs. If you want a link to ESPN to see the complete order here is the link: 2005 Draft List
The new steroid rule for the MLB will be announced Thursday January 13th. It is suppose to be stiffer penalties and more testing.
The Baltimore Ravens hired a new offensive line coach Wednesday. The new man on the block-Chris Foerster-who was the Miami Dolphins offensive line coach last season.
This game was damned before it started, Gilchrist sat because he was late taking a test. The best player on the Terps team was not in the game. I think that Gary Williams was sending a message to his players. He is right for doing this, but it just sucks that it had to happen against WF. The Terps were down all game from what I saw on highlights. I didn't find the game on any channel, and I hate commenting on something I didn't watch. What I did see is that the team that the players are not on the same page. They made stupid mistakes the whole game and rushed their shots. This year was suppose to be easier then last because the Terps had almost everyone coming back. I think the biggest problem the Terps have is they don't have a true center that can dominate the middle. The Terps also don't have a true shooting guard to hit 3 pointers being as the team hit 1-14 in the game. What is worse is that they hit 7-16 at the line. Someone did comment on this site that the Terps are a late season team, which is true. The Terps do come one strong at the end of the season, but the stats the Terp players have are a little scary. I think they will get rid of the stupid turnovers. The question is which player is going to step up are start shooting good.
The Terps fell out of the AP top 25 poll and Coachs poll after lost to the Tar Heels. They are going to be put to the test against Wake Forest. The Terps biggest weakness against the Tar Heels was their shooting. Can the Terps rebound from a big lost? We will find out.
This link is to the Ravens Official Site for defensive free agents. The Ravens Official Site
The list of canidates for offensive coordinator so far is Rick Neuheisel, Ron Turner, Mike Sheppard, and Scott Linehan.
The Redskins released a list of free agents for the upcoming offseason. Link: The Redskins Official Site
The Washington Redskins hired Bill Musgrave to be the team's offensive assistant-quarterbacks coach according to the Redskins Official Website. He was the QB coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Here is the link to the article: Redskins Official Site
What a crappy game for the Terps yesterday. They lost big to the Tar Heels. Gary Williams said that he wanted to see how his defense was like. Hey Gary, it sucks. The Terps had no inside presence to challenge UNC's May. In the past, the Terps had been good at stopping transition teams, but they failed badly against the Tar Heels. Another problem I saw was the Free Throws the Terps were shooting. The first 15 minutes of the game when it was close, the Terps made a half a dozen trips to the line and not one player could hit two Free Throws. All around, this game was very disappointing and the schedule is only gets harder for the Terps. Coach Williams need to fix the team's problems fast or they are not going to make the NCAA tourny. I could pick apart the whole game, but I turned off the game at half time because I almost threw something at my TV. Next game is at Wake Forest on the January 11th.
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The Orioles have done little this offseason for good and bad. The O's did pick up Steve Kline as a free agent from St. Louis. He is a good Relief Pitcher and is a definite upgrade over Buddy Groom who was released. They also picked up Chris Gomez as a free agent from Toronto as a infield utility player. He is a good cheap pick up. The O's have done nothing else and has not landed a big named free agent. This is a good thing because they are not spending truck loads of money on average players. It also seems as if the players agents are using the O's to hike up player prices. The problem with the O's is that the big name players want to win now, which would be hard with the Yankees and Redsox in the same division. The O's front office has hurt themselves by only trying to pick up #1 starting pitchers when there is good pitchers in the market. It is still early, but the O's need to make a couple of moves if they want to get the wild card spot this year.
St. Louis @ Seattle: The Rams swept the Seahawks this season but will not do it a 3rd time. Pick: Seattle NY Jets @ San Diego: This game will be close but the home team will have the advantage here. Pick: San Diego Denver @ Indianapolis: The Broncos have no idea what they got themselves into. Don't look for a repeat of week 17 Pick: Indianapolis Minnesota @ Green Bay: I hate Green Bay, but they are playing the bad Vikings who just lost to the Skins. HaHaHa! Pick: Green Bay 1st round Byes: New England, Pittsburgh, Philladelphia, Atlanta
MLB and the Players Association pedges 1 million dollars to Tsunami help.
Matt Cavanaugh leaves the Ravens as the offensive coordinator. He has been with the Ravens for 6 years including their Super Bowl year.
Ed Reed was named Defensive Player of the Year by AP. He was the big play maker on the Ravens defense. He had 76 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, and 9 INTs. He deserves it and I want to give Ed Reed my congratulations.
I haven't been posting on the Terps so far for two reasons 1) because of the lack of competition the basketball team has been going up against so far, 2) because I have not watch a game yet. Both will change this Saturday at 12pm on ESPN when the Terps go up against the Tar Heels. This game will really gauge the Terps for the year. Can they really compete with the other top teams in the ACC. I think yes, they can. They have a good young team and Gary Williams is the coach. I will write a post after the game and give my thoughts.
The Redskins will have the #9 pick in the NFL draft. I think they have two choices to draft. They should either draft a reciever that can play now to replace Rod Gardner or and offensive lineman who can play now.
The Ravens ended the season on a high and low note Sunday against the Miami. The Ravens won the game but needed some help getting into the playoffs which didn't happen. The Ravens had a little chance becauce the Broncos were going against the Colts' second team players. The day was definitly bitter sweet. Maybe next year they can get over the hump. Here is what it looked like this year and some needs for next year by position. QB: Brian Billick stuck with Kyle Boller throughout the season. Kyle Boller had a 55.6 completion %, 2559 yards 13 TDs, and 11 INTs. These numbers are not that bad for a second year QB. If he would have gotten a little help from his recievers, his numbers would be alot better. Boller did have a rough start in the beginning of the year, but he seemed to turn the corner against the Jets in a surprise victory. Boller is on a learning curve, but he does look like he getting more comfortable as the leader of this team RB: The best part of the offense. Jamal Lewis is the best big back in the league and Chester Taylor is the best backup. Jamal Lewis ran for 1006 yards, 7 TDs, and had a 4.3 average. Chester Taylor ran for 719 yards, 2 TDs, and 4.5 average. The front office did a great thing by getting Taylor a long term deal as a backup. He could start for alot of teams. Reciever: The worse part of the offense. The star of the recievers, Travis Taylor, had the most yards for 421 yards and no TDs. Kevin Johnson was brought in last offseason and only got 373 yards and 1 TD. The Ravens did try for Terrel Owens, but T.O. rejected the Ravens for Philly. What was worse, Todd Heap got hurt early in the year and by the time he came back he was ineffective. They need a lot of help. Offensive Line: The line is a strong part of the Ravens. The line proved themselves when their leader, Jonathan Ogden, went down to injury and were still able to block most of the time. Ogden never really recovered from his injury which was shown against the Colts. The rest of the team was solid and didn't get beat often. Defense: I was going to split this up too, but they are just great all the way around. The defense finished 6th in total defense. Ray Lewis had 146 tackles and 2 fumble recoveries, Ed Reed had 76 tackles with 2 fumble recoveries and 9 INTs and 1 TD. On a great defense, these two had the best year of any defensive players in the league. I don't know how they do it every year.
The Redskins finished the season on a good note by beating the Vikings in the final week of the season. The win for the Redskins showed they have heart and a positive attitude for next year. It was a disappointing year for the Redskins, but they showed hope for the next season. The score of the game was misleading for the actual game. The Redskins controlled the ball on both sides of the game, and the game wasn't close until 2 seconds at the end with a Viking hail-mary. Betts ran well in place of Portis, and Ramsey played well enough not to lose the game. The defense was great again and didn't allow Culpepper to go off. The Redskins were helped out by dropped balls from the Viking receivers as well. The Redskins finished off the season winning one more game than last year. However, the feeling around the Redskins was a positive one unlike years past. The season had its ups and downs. Here is a look at the Skins by position. Quarterback: The Redskins signed Mark Brunell in the offseason from Jacksonville and traded a draft pick. Mark Brunell was a huge disappointment for the Redskins. He could not throw the ball with any accuracy or power. He was constantly overthrowing or underthrowing the receivers. Brunell was benched after 9 weeks for Patrick Ramsey. Ramsey made his mistakes deep down field and across the middle of the field. He looked strong in some games and bad in others. Ramsey looked the worse against good defenses and great against bad defenses. Patrick Ramsey had 1665 yards, 62.1 completion %, 10 TDs, 11 INTs, and a 74 rating. Joe Gibbs has said that Patrick Ramsey will be the QB for 2005. Running Back: Clinton Portis was traded from the Broncos for Chump Baily in the offseason. He has been great for the Redskins this season falling just short of rushing for 1500 yards for another year. Gibbs and Portis did have a learning process to go though. Portis is a middle back because he has great speed but is tough enough to go up the middle. The best play to run with him is a zone run which Gibbs found out later in the season. Gibbs likes pulling linemen during runs and Portis wasn't patient enough for them. The Redskins also found out that Ladell Betts is a descent backup for Portis, for Portis went down against the Dallas Cowboys. Betts ran for 118 yards and a TD against the Vikings. receiver: The receivers were one of the most disappointing parts of the Redskins. They all had problems catching the ball and dropping balls constantly. The worse receiver is Rod Gardner, for the only time he wanted to catch the ball was when he was in the endzone. He has never amounted to the receiver worth picking up in the first round in the draft. Coles was the most dependable receiver for the Skins with 950 yards. Rod Gardner is going to become a free agent this coming offseason and the front office should let him go. I have backed up Gardner for a few years now, but I have just gotten fed up. The brightest spot for the Redskins was Chris Cooley. He is a rookie picked up in the late rounds of the draft. Cooley caught 37 receptions for 314 yards and 6 TDs. What a great find. Offensive Line: The offensive line needs the most work during the up coming offseason for the Redskins. It took a major hit in the first preseason game when Jon Jansen got injured for the season with an Achilles tear. That injury set the tone for the whole season. Jansen was suppose to be the anchor of the line and he was gone. Samuels didn't live up to his contract this year, but he will get his money from the front office because the Redskins can't take a chance of not having someone average at left tackle. Right tackle was just a big rotation that never got solidified. Randy Thomas at right guard did his job and will be back next year, for his name wasn't mentioned much which is a good thing for linemen. Center and left guard needs to be upgraded badly. Cory Raymer is just not doing a good enough job their at center, and Derrick Dockery is not talented enough to handle Gibbs responsibility. Defensive line: The line was suppose to be the weakness of the Redskins going into the season and became a solid foundation for the defense. Cornelius Griffin was the star of the line with 6 sacks and a tackling machine. The other members were a bunch of no names that got the job done. The Skins should not touch the line at all. Linebackers: The linebackers were the most amazing part of the defense this year. Gregg Williams could have put anyone in their and they would be stars. Antonio Pierce was the surprise of the defense being so versatile. He learned every linebacker position, so when Williams asked him to be the QB of the defense at MLB. He exceeded everyone's expectations by leading the team in tackles at 112 tackles. Michael Barrow was brought in to be MLB and is now a liability with his huge contract on the bench. Marcus Washington was the other free agent pick up and a good one. He was second on the team with 107 tackles at strong linebacker. Weakside linebacker was a rotation door when Lavar Arrington went down with a bad knee in week 4. It wasn't a stand out position but was solid. Secondary: During the offseason the Skins traded away Chump Bailey, so the pressure was on Fred Smoot to be the shut down corner. He rose to the challenge and became the corner the Skins thought he would be. On the other side, the Redskins brought in Shawn Springs who was know for always being injured. Well, he wasn't this year. Springs has 6 sacks and 5 INTs. He was great at run support and a physical corner in the secondary. He was a great addition during the offseason. Sean Taylor was drafted last year and blossomed in a good hard hitting free safety as a rookie. At times, Taylor was a caught out of position, but that is expected from a rookie. At strong safety, Matt Bowen started off the year at this position. He got injured and put on injure reserve early in the season. Andre Lott was then put at strong safety and he too was injured and on reserve. Finally Ryan Clark was placed and finished at strong safety. All three did a great job at this position. This will be a great rotation or trade bait for next year. All of these guys did a great job this year. The Redskins needs to bring back everyone from the defense and tweak the offense this offseason. If the Redskins can stay away from the overrated players and make some solid additions, they could be a real contending team.
This was the hardest week to make picks since the opening weeks of the season. Players were sitting out of games, hot teams turned cold, and somehow a team went 15-1 with backups. The teams that sat players were almost all that were guarenteed playoff spots. The list includes Indy, SD, Philly, NE for the last quarter, and Atl. San Deigo some how stopped KC and won. Indy, Philly and Atl. just took their losses, and NE pounded the 49ers by starting everyone including Brady until late in the 3rd quarter. The worse thing this week was the hot teams or heavily favored teams just choked. The Vikings were suppose to stomp the Redskins and came up very short compared to what the score says. Buffalo lost to the Steelers' backups in what was a meaningless game for Pitt. Carolina lost to N.O. which is a huge upset to me, for Carolina came into the game just dominating teams and let the Ain'ts to beat them at home. The most amazing game this week was the Steelers @ Buffalo game. Buffalo came into the game extremely hot, had a good defense, and ran the crap out to McGahee. They were upset to find out that the Steelers have a lot of good backups that could beat most teams. To me, the Steelers have an attitude that they will win every game, and they do. Big Ben, Bettis, Ward, Burress, and most of the defense sat out of the game. Bledsoe played like he did when a Pat., and the Buffalo Defense just didn't come up with enough big plays. What a week.
Week 17 predictions are going to be tough with all the playoff teams sitting down key players. Here is what I think will happen this week... Cincinnati @ Philadephia: Key players will not play for more than a half for Philly. Pick: Cincinnati Detroit @ Tennessee: This is a toss up. Pick: Tennessee Miami @ Baltimore: Two good defenses and two mediocre offenses. Don't expect points Pick: Baltimore New Orleans @ Carolina: A fight for a wild card spot in the playoffs. Pick: Carolina Pittsburgh @ Buffalo: No Big Ben, no win for Pitt. Pick: Buffalo Cleveland @ Houston: Butch Davis is gone. Pick: Houston Green Bay @ Chicago: Who is going to QB the Bears this week? Pick: Green Bay Minnesota @ Washington: Minnesota always loses to a good defense. Pick: Washington NY Jets @ St. Louis: The Rams are wishing they had Warner now. Pick: NY Jets San Francisco @ New England: It doesn't matter who sits for the Pats, they are all good. Pick: New England Atlanta @ Seattle: Vick-less Dirty Birds will not stand a chance. Pick: Seattle Indianapolis @ Denver: No Manning, Broncos are in the playoffs. Pick: Denver Kansas City @ San Diego: Chargers will end on a good note for the season. Pick: San Diego Tampa Bay @ Arizona: The only team Arizona can beat is San Fran, and this ain't the 49ers. Pick: Tampa Bay Jacksonville @ Oakland: Jacksonville will win and not get into the playoffs. Pick: Jacksonville Dallas @ NY Giants: Who Knows? Pick: NY Giants