Dom's Dish - Thursday, March 1, 2007
31 days to Phillies opening day! With the March 11th deadline fast approaching to sign MVP Ryan Howard, word is Howard will finally get a little dough in the area of $1 million for the year. Doing so, the Phils payroll would be in the area of $95-$100 million this year. Big news for small market teams, but Philly is no small market. With the Yankees consistently over the $200 M mark and the Mets fast approaching, a state of the art ballpark (it gets rowdy in Left field), and some die hard fans looking for a pennant run this season, $100 M is not too big a deal to me. At least the Phils didn't overpay for Soriano or Gil Meche! Now if we can only find a way to keep the starting pitching healthy, Lieber under 250 and Burrell to hit at least .275, that pennant run isn't so far off after all.
Lovie pay day! The Super Bowl (losing) coach who was the worst paid (not least, worst paid) in the league last year, well now he'll make up for those years. The coach received a 4-yr $22 million extension putting him in the elite $5 mil club. It sure did take them long enough, everyone out in Chicago was starting to worry "on the inside" and if by "on the inside" I mean "in public" "in newspapers" and "not on the inside." I do wonder though if the contract includes a clause whether or not to back Rex Grossman as his QB?
NFL free agency starts in 7 hours! Word is Jeff Garcia will be elsewhere (likely the Raiders now since his former QB Coach is there in Oak-town) and since Stallworth hasn't been signed, the Eagles will be sticking to their guns in not overpaying for older and injury prone players. Some other big names have already moved around and/or been re-signed. My boys out in San Diego have re-signed Lorenzo Neal and cut Keenan McCardell. Some other big names cut: Jamal Lewis (RB, Ravens), Joey Porter (LB, Steelers) and Brad Johnson (QB, Minnesota). Already a trade involving 3 players and a pick, the Lions get RB Tatum Bell, T George Foster and likely a 5th round pick for CD Dre Bly. Dre Bly, Champ Bailey, John Lynch all in the same defensive backfield? That sure will be a force to stop the Colts. As for players that have already re-signed? Mike Alstott and Fred Taylor in the state of Florida. Some big names to watch out for and the huge contracts they'll get: Adalius Thomas, who has played every defensive position for at least one snap the Ravens in the past few years - wow, Nate Clements, a "shut-down" type corner up in Buffalo who will be worth every penny if not hurt. The Gil Meche of this year's offseason who gets extremely overpaid? I'd hate to say it, but Jeff Garcia or Leonard Davis (T from the Az Cardinals). Let the madness begin tonight!
Oh and by the way, Bill Parcells signed with ESPN as an analyst and will be on radio and TV for the upcoming system. No maybe they're out of room for Marty-ball?
What's the deal with the Oscar's? It's worse than a Monday Night Football Overtime game! I was up until like 12:45 am watching so I could see who won Best Picture! Every year, they know it is going to run late, but why do they insist on pushing the start time back to 8:30pm EST this year? I don't watch it religiously, but it seemed to lack some of the star quality at the event, at least they didn't show them on TV. It seemed to be a much older, more serious crowd. Again, maybe that's just me. And Jack Nicholson - what a piece of work. I can't wait to actually see The Departed.
Around the balls:
Giant-orange- LeBron James' girlfriend is expecting the couple's second child. Second?!? I didn't know he had a first? I guess David Stern looks down on it, since a.) it was out of wedlock and b.) LeBron, Jr. doesn't wear a 3-piece suit to home games. Though I'm told Jr. does play with a plastic ball, not a leather one. This also explains why LeBron always looks tired. Base- Something you may have seen, the 2007 Topps Derek Jeter baseball card contains Photoshopped images of Mickey Mantle holding a bat and watching Jeter hit, and President George Bush. I'm sure having Mantle on the card will appreciate the value of the card, however I am a little skeptical as to President Bush on the card. At least he doesn't have a cartoon bubble coming out of his mouth saying something dumb...
Rubber-non- Man I hate still bringing this up, but Martin Brodeur is a beast. The other night he posted his 12th shutout of the season. He is in his 13th season in the league and this is his best so far, in a "new game" that's supposed to be higher scoring and more exciting. Gary Bettman, the Commish must hate him. Talk about hot too - 10-3 the NJ Devils went in the month of Feb!
Brown-oblong- For those that missed the combine coverage, the best part (aside from John Locke, the Strength coach from Arizona that yells and calls everyone meatheads) was the coin toss. The toss decided the draft order between two teams for the 3rd pick in the draft: Tampa Bay and Cleveland. Cleveland won that one. (They have to NBA-ify the draft in some way) Now if they could only stop ending up at the top of the draft every year.
Little-white- So, maybe Tiger is not back. Then again, the media will come up with something saying that a match play tournament is not a "real tournament" and they'll keep his 7-event PGA streak going. Either way, I think the pressure is off and in about a month at the Masters Tiger will prevail for his fifth Green Jacket.
Green-fuzzy- Roger Federer, though, is still going. 38 straight wins and counting. This time he is doing it down in Dubai, U.A.E. He is having much success there as has Tiger and former TCNJ President Harold Eickhoff (of Eickhoff Commons fame (TCNJ dining hall)). He is only 8 away from the record set in 1977. Again, instead of an ambulance chaser, I'm a history chaser. Go Roger!
Program Alert:
This Sunday on ABC, Arena Football, the ESPN way. Mike and Mike (ESPN Radio morning hosts) will be leading the coverage. This coupled with free agent news, FOOTBALL IS BACK!!!
--------------------------------
For those new to "the dish", I once dreamed of being a sports-caster having my own column. Let me know if you don't like it, and/or want to be discontinued from the list. If you have another email address to send it to, send that to me also. For older issues of the dish, email me. domsantillo@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment