The Luckiest Call I've Ever Made

http://thefirstblackpunter.blogspot.com/2010/09/i-cant-wait.html

On 11:30 AM, September 3rd, Troy Tulowitzki had 12 home runs. In the following 14 games he went on to score 23 runs, drive in 31 and go yahtz 14 times. His average went up 9 points, OBP 5 points and of course the rise in slugging by a staggering 92 points. His slugging rose, on average, 6.57 points a game for a 14-game span. The craziest part is, it might not even be over. Baseball works in cycles. Players get hot, players get cold, he just can't keep it up for the entire season, but he doesn't need to hit 162 home runs for the Colorado Rockies to win the division.

The fact is, Troy Tulowitzki is a stud, I've been saying it for a while, I'd take Troy Tulowitzki over Hanley Ramirez if the league was redrafted. You just can't teach desire, hustle or fielding. Hanley Ramirez is an athlete playing shortstop, he's truly better suited as an outfielder, even a center fielder. Hanley's filthy, Tulo's just better overall.

If the Rockies make the playoffs, they also win the World Series. Troy Tulowitzki also wins the MVP. But if they miss the playoffs, Votto wins the MVP and the Twins win the World Series.

I'd put money on the fact that Troy Tulowitzki will eventually make the Hall of Fame.

*I'd also bet that Grant Green is the next Troy Tulowitzki, but a less athletic version playing in the Coliseum, not Coors Field.

*Nothing to do with the fact that both their names have repeating initials.

Louis Murphy Monthly

He's going to have magazines named after him. Get him while you can.

Rearview

Why don't running backs use little rear view mirrors in their helmets?

Or do they?

On the Mark

Here is my proposal, as a die-hard Jets fan, and you have to hear me out.

This defense is good. It's good enough to honestly nearly win games on it's own, sure we have to deal with some refs and some Ravens sometimes, but this defense is pretty special. If Jenkins' injury is serious, it obviously goes down a notch, but the defensive backs, when corralled, are stellar. Ellis and Taylor off the rush obviously isn't the greatest ever but the guys know their way around the game. As an aside, I agreed with the Taylor signing, but it still pains me because I have always disliked the guy. He went to Akron! But he had some really nice tackles on Rice during the game tonight, literally just one-armed Ray Rice. Not easy. Anyways, here is my proposal:

Start Mark Brunell. As in, bench Mark Sanchez, and play Mark Brunell. While we're at it, start Ladainian. Greene is good in moderation, but I truly don't believe he has the RB1 talent, and this is again, coming from a Jets fan. I like him as a player, he's a bruiser, he occasionally has speed, but he's a poor man's Rashard Mendenhall. Ladainian Tomlinson was the best running back of all-time for most of a decade. I mean, he was legitimately one of the best players to ever grip a football. His natural talent is freakish. One of the best running backs ever, ever, and he never won a Super Bowl ring. Not one, blame it on whoever you want, but he never won a single ring. The Jets are primed and ready, and most importantly, hungry for a Super Bowl title. Thomas Jones broke 1,000 rushing yards five times in his first ten years in the NFL (this being his eleventh). Three of those seasons were with these New York Jets (who now have an improved O-Line as opposed to three years ago) as a 29, 30, and 31 year-old man. For the first five years of his career, all of which were sub-1000 yard seasons (but also sub-240 carry seasons), he averaged 3.84 yards per carry.

One thing I'll admit is that LT's legs aren't nearly as fresh as TJ's were, but Ladainian Tomlinson also has also averaged 4.3 yards a carry for his a career. Tomlinson's a more dynamic pass catcher than Jones was or Greene is right now. Tomlinson's 31, so he's be on the back-end of Jones' Jets career, but all I want is a Super Bowl ring this year. Did I mention Mark Brunell has already had the honor of hoisting a Lombardi trophy on Super Bowl Sunday? He's been there, as the backup for Drew Brees last year.

Ladainian Tomlinson, a relatively underrated, true legend of the game, will lead these New York football Jets to the 2010 Super Bowl. And I was at the game last night, and I'm that optimistic about my beloved Jets.

Fantasy Football

TOP QBs

Aaron Rodgers

Peyton Manning

Tom Brady

Drew Brees

Joe Flacco

Tony Romo

Eli Manning

Matt Schaub
Philip Rivers

Sam Bradford
Matt Ryan

Jay Cutler

Ben Roethlisberger

Carson Palmer

Kevin Kolb

Chad Henne

Josh Freeman

Matthew Stafford

Alex Smith

Fantasy Football

Top 25 WRs

Calvin Johnson

Andre Johnson

Greg Jennings
Miles Austin
Roddy White

Steve Smith (CAR)

Hakeem Nicks

Anquan Boldin

Michael Crabtree

Brandon Marshall

Reggie Wayne

Marques Colston

Wes Welker

Larry Fitzgerald

Randy Moss

Dexter McCluster
Marques Colston

Donald Driver

Mike Wallace
DeSean Jackson

Chad Ochocinco

Dez Bryant

Dwayne Bowe

Mike Williams TB

Mike Sims-Walker
Mike Williams SEA

Top 15 TEs

Antonio Gates
Dallas Clark

JerMichael Finley

Kellen Winslow

Vernon Davis
Jason Witten

Heath Miller

Visanthe Shiancoe

Tony Gonzalez

Owen Daniels
Rob Gronkowski

Brent Celek

Chris Cooley

Zach Miller

Dustin Keller

Fantasy Football

I know I'm a little late so this isn't 100% legit but there are still at least another 15 games to be played for every team in the league.

My Top 20 RBs

Chris Johnson
Ray Rice

Adrian Peterson

Jamaal Charles
Frank Gore

Maurice Jones-Drew

DeAngelo Williams

Michael Turner

Ryan Mathews

Knowshon Moreno
Arian Foster

Pierre Thomas

Ryan Grant

Ronnie Brown
LeSean McCoy

Jahvid Best

Cedric Benson
Shonn Greene

Matt Forte

Ladainian Tomlinson

Jonathan Stewart

Ahmad Bradshaw

Kareem Huggins

Marion Barber

Michael Bush

Shorten the Season

Shorten the Major League Baseball season. I'm pretty sure the only reason we continue to play a 162 game season was the home run chases it has produced. But the single-season record for home runs is 73, produced by a 35 year old man named Barry Lamar. There will never be another Bonds because the steroid era is over.

Shorten the season to 130 or 140 games, relieve some stress on the young pitcher's arms who are the ones driving all the revenue. There would be problems with salaries and what not, but that's something that could be figured out. David Price, Tim Lincecum, Kevin Slowey, Mat Latos, Matt Cain, Francisco Liriano, Jaime Garcia, Neftali Feliz, Phil Hughes, I mean the list goes on and on but there are a ton of young pitchers in the hunt for a pennant right now and are pushing themselves to extents they've never been pushed to in a situation where it could be win or go home for four months.

Now, I say you can either shorten the season and bring the playoffs back so we're hoisting the World Series trophy in mid-September or you just space out the games and give these players A) some rest B) occasional holidays to go see their families.

I know this blog post won't be read by many but 162 game seasons are unnecessary. Injuries are frequent enough and these triple-digit arms are fragile, give the kids a rest and let Sundays in September be about football.

I Found the Next Ray Rice

Dexter McCluster.

Let's go Chiefs.

I Can't Wait

for Troy Tulowitzki to get hot at the same time as Carlos Gonzalez. That was the gayest thing I've ever said. But really, the Rockies are going to win the division.

So are the Cardinals, and the Rangers, and the Twins, Yankees and the Phillies. I now change my opinion on the NL West as I believe it will either be the Giants or the Rockies. I'm going with the Rockies based on the notion that Troy Tulowitzki is about to catch fire. The Giants have the staff to win the division, the Padres even do if they could somehow maintain what they're doing. Which they won't, and to be honest, it's what I've been saying for months. 5/6 isn't too shabby and I had the Rays and Giants winning the wild cards, actually, which I believe will actually still happen. 7/8 on the confidence scale in early September feels good. I can't wait to compare my picks to the ESPN, CBS, Yahoo, and every other expert in the world.