NFL Picks Week 3

Before I mention the picks for this week, I just woke up from a nap that came out of nowhere, and when I woke up, Saint Tim Tebow was on the ground, barely moving. I was like, WTF just happened? Then I saw the replay, and let me tell you, Tebow got jacked up!! Good job Gators, let your entire program get flattened by a defender untouched.

Now, onto Week 3 NFL Picks. Came back down to earth last week, with an 8-8 record. It is still respectable, but not what we expect here at SportsTown. The overall record lies at 21-10. I feel another 12-4 day coming again, I smell it... or is that what I just put in the oven. Whoops!

Green Bay Packers 38, St. Louis Rams 17 - Let me see, pissed off stud QB? Check. A star WR that got shutout last week? Check? Opposition is one of the worst 3 teams in football? Check. Green Bay is going to remind the Rams fans about The Greatest Show on Turf tomorrow, which is harsh to that fanbase.

Philadelphia Eagles 34, KC Chiefs 20 - No Mcnabb again. The Michael Vick Sideshow is in full blast this week and half the offense is questionable for the game. I do not care if the Eagles practice squad had to play this game. This is the same KC Chiefs team that lost to the Raiders last week when Jamarcus Russell's completion percentage sounded more like DUI than anything else. Russell still has not completed 10 passes all week long, but this dsyfunctional bunch lost. You expect them to win IN Philly now?

Baltimore Ravens 41, Cleveland Browns 3 - This is like if Mike Tyson from 1986 fought Waldo from the Van Halen Hot for Teacher video. It's just not fair, but of course we will watch! This country loves a good old American bloodbath. By the way, I bet 99% of this country's knockout pool pickm is the Ravens this week.

New England Patriots 24, Atlanta Falcons 20 - I love the Falcons. Love everything about this team, to the way it is ran, the coach, and of course, Matt Ryan. They are just not ready to win this type of game on the road, when we all know Bill Belichick and Tom Brady are going to be in complete Rocky in Russia mode after last week.

Washington Redskins 27, Detroit Lions 20 - Everyone and their mother is picking the Lions to finally break the losing streak. I say, prove it to me first. The Redskins have put up points against the Lions in recents years, so I have no idea why people are trying to call out a complete posh pick. Although, if the Lions won this game, Daniel Synder would electricute himself, put on a black hood, put in yellow contacts, and become The Emperor from Star Wars in a fit of rage. Maybe thats reason enough to.... nope.

New York Jets 13, Tennessess Titans 10 - Suppose to rain at the Meadowlands tomorrow, so expect an ugly game. I just doubt that set  of hyenas Rex Ryan sends out on defense would let Chris Johnson break one off like he did non-stop last week. This Titans team may become the best 0-3 team of all time.

Minnesota Vikings 21, SF 49ers 17 - I am really liking what Mike Singletary is doing in SF. They will keep this game close, but I just do not see the Vikings losing this game at home. Of course, I am rooting against The Days of Our Favre on a weekly basis though.

New York Giants 31, Tampa Bay Bucs 13 - The Bucs defensive glory is a figment of the past now. If Trent Edwards and Fred Jackson can carve up this defense, what do you think Eli Manning and Brandon Jacobs will do? Especially Manning coming off perhaps one of his top 2-3 games in his career.

Houston Texans 38, Jacksonville Jaguars 20 - The aerial show of Houston finally broke out last week. Now, they have to get Steve Slaton involved. Put both together, and you have yourself a real serious offense. Kurt Warner is still completing passes in Jacksonville tonight. I think he is up to 123 comp. in 125 attempts.

Chicago Bears 23, Seattle Seahawks 9 - I cringed last week seeing Matt Hasselback get hit like that. I knew right away he was going to be hurt. I just did not know that when he tried to stand up, he looked like Timmy from South Park. The Hawks are toast without the bald hero. Bears start catching steam.

Buffalo Bills 34, New Orleans Saints 31 - UPSET SPECIAL!! It most likely will not be this score, with rain in the forecast. If Mother Nature decides to be a bitch, and is on the Bills side, I just think the Saints are in deep trouble. Remember, this is the same Saints defense that gave up close to 400 yards passing to Kevin Kolb!

Cincinnati Bengals 19, Pittsburgh Steelers 16 - UPSET SPECIAL part Deux! I am probaly out of my mind with this one. I have definitely had a sip of the Bengal Kool-Aid. I just really like this defense. Big Ben is going to get hit and hit often in this game. Everyone can just kill me on Monday for this pick.

Oakland Raiders 17, Denver Broncos 10 - I just cannot put this horrific Broncos team 3-0. Find a reason to make this pick legit... please.... ok, Darren Mcfadden goes off in this game. I just cannot have this band of misfits 3-0 and the Titans 0-3.

San Diego Chargers 27, Miami Dolphins 24 - Just stick a fork in the Phins. 45 minutes of time of possession and you lose? Phillip Rivers saw that game and must of been salivating. If Dallas Clark is carving those linebackers and safeties for 150+, what is Mr. Gates going to do? Even LT might score in this game from the VIP booth.

Arizona Cardinals 44, Indy Colts 41 - The equivalent to the Texas Tech-Houston game in college this week. This game will be a fantasy football wet dream come true. 800 yards passing, no doubt about it. When it is all said and done, I am just going with the road team, eventhough it is a mortal sin to go against God (Peyton Manning).

Last, I wish Mexican American boxer Cris Arreola tonight in his Heavyweight Championship fight against Vitali Klitschko. I just hope his fat ass realized that this might be his only shot at a belt, and did not come into this fight close to 3 bills. If he does, another Mexican fighter is going to get embarassed like last week.

Sorry for the popshot Marquez, you are still my favorite fighter, but you did get housed last week.

Part 2 of making the Mets relevant again

Unfortunately for Met fans, I do not think this process will be immediate. There have been too many years, drafts, and 7-figure checks that have passed for that to be a reality. Here is the thing I would do:


-The farm system and scouting basically has to be gutted out completely.

I would be looking at hiring people from several organizations that have had a long reputation for popping out players into the big leagues. Tampa Bay, Philadelphia, Florida, Atlanta, Milwaukee and San Francisco (pitching)are organizations that come to mind . All of these franchises have drafted very well and knows how to groom their farm systems in ways the Mets obviously have not been able to. The more ideas and philosophies will only help.

They also know how to evaluate talent. They know which prospects to make untouchable, and which ones to deal off to bring in someone in the winter or around the trading deadline. The Mets have not been able to do this since the Santana deal, mostly because they do not even have the prospects to land a top player. Forget about this current regime knowing when to deal prospects as well. Miledge was the biggest example.

This really starts with the Amateur Draft. In the new regime, it would be taking the best evaluated talent, high school or college players. This also means, having our first round draft picks to stockpile the farm system (See Budget next). Bring in the best talent, even if we have to pay over the slot that MLB has been suggesting. If we are going to spend money, spend it properly, and that means from the ground up.

We also will keep that pipeline opened from Puerto Rico, South America, and Dominican Republic. Anyway or edge we can use to build the system up, we have to do effectively and properly. Sign as many young talents as possible, and eventually, some of them will blossom into major league talent.

-Start to spend money, especially the payroll wisely.

The Mets are able to field a 150 million dollar payroll. They are blessed in this culture of baseball, that we are one of the big boys when it comes to revenue. That does not mean you can spend it foolishly though. It is time to allocate these funds properly. That means, no more recycling washed up players, no more rethread pitchers, and no more trading for 6 million dollar a year set up men with an arm issue that has a black flag on it darker than the ace of spades.

We would take it easy on free agency for the short term. Keep our draft picks, and spend the money within the system. This is not a team that will be a World Series contender if we sign an outfielder with pop and a starting pitcher. If you believe this, then you have no idea what you are talking about.

The next is to learn how to budget the payroll properly. No more trying re-tread pitchers(Livan Hernandez, Tim Redding, Oliver Perez), no more reclamation projects(Jeff Francoeur). To go to an even more extent, no more 8 digit salaries for pitchers that go 1 inning at a time (KRod, Wagner).

The one thing I will give Omar Minaya credit with. He locked up Jose Reyes and David Wright to long term contracts. This is one thing that must be continued in the new regime. Once we get the farm machine running, we need to keep this young player’s long term. Build a core foundation. Only after that, can we start bringing in the Matt Hollidays or John Lackeys of the FA market to put the team over the top.

- Entertain offers for OF Carlos Beltran this off-season.

There may not be a big market out there for a player that was injured more than half the season, but Beltran is still a Five-Tool Outfielder that could warrant interest from contending teams. Now, I am not saying that we just take the best offer, but if a contending team with good prospects (like San Francisco) called us up and put together a good package that would start the process of re-tooling the organization, I would have to take it, and I would personally fly Beltran to JFK myself.

-Get into the Aroldis Chapman sweepstakes

Here is the perfect example of what the Mets should be going after. The Cuban defector is a 21 (probably 23 but still) starting pitcher that throws around 100 mph. He is also lefty flamethrower, which is as rare as a Palestinian liking an Israeli.

Chapman will only cost money. No draft picks required. This is the type of talent the Mets do not see in the first round of the amateur drafts. Scoop him up, and hopefully he can eventually come up and learn from the best lefty in the business, Johan Santana.

This is also a move that the fan base of the Mets can get behind. This is the type of move that will make the Met fans anticipate; bringing in a 21 year old lefty that if the franchise gets lucky, can become the young ace for a decade.

- Stop making Citi-Field into a tribute of another organizations history.

This is one is more pointed at ownership. Citi Field is gorgeous. Wilpon got his dream stadium. He just has to realize that the Brooklyn Dodgers were never part of this franchise. While it is nice to remember the past, there is more stuff to honor the Bk. Dodgers at the field than the Mets, who in 40 years do have some good history to honor.

Am I the only one that thinks it is a slap in the fact that there is a Jackie Robinson Rotunda, and nothing for the Met legend himself Tom Seaver? Mr. Wilpon, Seaver, not Robinson is a big reason why this franchise is so loved by the fans that line your pockets in US currency. I am sorry, but kids taking pictures with Mr. Met at a shrine for a non-Met, just does not seem right...

If you disagree with me, email me or leave a comment

College Football Picks for Week 4

We finally had a solid week, going 7-3 in the picks last week. I am still stunned by the USC upset. I still cannot believe SI.com's Stewart Mandel hit that one big time. That should count as 4 wins on your record there.

Before the picks, another top 15 team falls on a Thursday night ESPN game. This is really becoming the trend nowadays huh? Last night's victim as Mississippi, who could not move the ball on South Carolina. I guess the Old Ball Coach Spurrier still has some magic left in him afterall. Alabama is the big threat to Florida in the SEC clearly now, not Ole Miss.

Now, onto the dreaded picks. SportsTown is 17-14 overall now on the season. It will be a quick rundown this week.

Ohio St. 38, Illinois 17 - Fightin Iliini are just creampuffs.

North Carolina 16, Georgia Tech 10 - Zero confidence in GT after getting embarassed.

TCU 20, Clemson 9 - Big win for the BCS Buster.

Miami Fla. 28, Virginia Tech 27 - Sets up a monster game with Oklahoma.

Alabama 41, Arkansas 28 - Tricky game for The Tide, as Arkansas will keep this one close.

Notre Dame 31, Purdue 27 - I might be running the Jimmy Clausen for Heisman campaign real soon.

Stanford 23, Washington 20 - Back to Earth for the Huskies after last week's miracle.

California 31, Oregon 20 - Speaking of the Heisman, RB Jahvid Best is making a case for it as well.

Georgia 41, Arizona St. 13 - The Bulldogs are scoring big now, I do not see the Sun Devils stopping them.

Penn St. 24, Iowa 10 - JoePa gets his revenge from last season's loss. Vaults Penn St. ahead in the polls.

And, my favorite game of the week....

Houston 52, Texas Tech 45 - This game is going to have an Arena League Football feel to it. 74 is way too low of an Over/Under for this game. The Merry-Go-Round starts at 9:15 pm est., on the ESPN family of networks.

My plan on making the New York Mets a relevant Franchise again Part 1

I never bring it up, but I am a die-hard New York Mets fan. I have been ever since I was a kid, when the Mets ruled New York, and baseball in 1986. I remember being in the first grade, and my father bringing me to Game 6 as my first baseball game. Imagaine that? Game 6, the comeback. Gary Carter, Kevin Mitchell, and Ray Knight with consectuive 2 out singles with the season on the line. Mookie Wilson's grinding at bat, getting a wild pitch from Bob Stanley to tie the game. Then, the Buckner play, Mets win, force a Game 7.

I still remember at age 6, way beyond my bedtime, as Shea Stadium turned into an insane asylum. It was the first time I realized that the earth can shake from noise. Grown men and women, cheering and even crying in joy collectively.

For Game 7, my mother forced me to go to sleep because it was a school night. I popped a tape into the VHS(It actually might of been Beta!), and recorded the rest of the game. I was so excited the next morning, it was almost like Christmas. I woke up on my own at 6am, skipped breakfast, and ran right to the television, and pressed play. Like, Christmas, I got exactly what I wanted. Orosco striking out Marty Barrett, flips the glove in the air, everyone bum-rushes him at the mound. Mets win the World Series.

I was hooked for life from there.

Looking back at that era now, the Mets had the perfect blend. Yes, they picked up free agents and veterans throiugh trades (Keith Hernandez, Gary Carter), but most of what made those Met teams was through within the system. They knew how to evaluate young talent and either traded for it (Ron Darling, Howard Johnson) or drafted accordingly (Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, Kevin Mitchell, Lenny Dykstra).

The Mets back then had a sturdy foundation in the management. Davey Johnson was the manager, Mel Stottlemyer was the head of a loaded young pitching rotation, Frank Cashen, the General Manager, fielded a front office that knew how to scout and draft, but most important of all, the Mets had an owner that truly cared about winning in Nelson Doubleday Jr.

Present day, the Mets have an owner, Fred Wilpon, that is in the newspaper more about being ripped off in Bernie Madoff's ponzie scheme than his frustrations with a subpar Met team and organization. The Mets have a GM that has made two great moves (Delgado and Santana), then tried to patch work everything else up. They have a scouting system that has not carved out anything in years.

Unfortunately, we cannot fire an owner. We can only hope that he changes his attitude and had more passion towards building a baseball organization properly. It is also in his power to clean house and hire the right people to make this franchise respectable once again.

Omar Minaya has become a circus show. From the way he handled the firing of ex-manager Willie Randolph, the entire Tony Benazard saga of attempting to be a hot headed gangster with scouts and minor league players, and how he did not sell at the trading deadline, because the sub .500 Mets were "still in the race", it is obvious that Minaya has lost the grasp to do his job. I will not talk about that again, I will talk about why he should REALLY be shitcanned. Those three reasons are how he handles free agents and budgeting,  the farm system and how he drafts, and how he will buy anything from another team to try and attempt to catch lightning in a bottle.

Lets start with the Mets payroll and how they spend money. In 2009, the Mets payroll was anywhere from 145 mil-150 mil, depending on what site you looked at, which was 2nd in the MLB to the Gordon Gecko Yankees.

In some situations, Minaya spent properly (Johan Santana), but the signings and trades have slowly drifted to being mostly bad lately.

Minaya traded his best hitting prospect, Lastings Miledge (more on him in scouting), for a career 4th OF Ryan Church, and an aging, often injured Catcher Brian Schiender. Granted, Miledge has wound up being a bust, but how many people forget that six months earlier, Minaya could of possibly had ace Dan Haren in a deal centering around Miledge and Aaron Heilman? Church and Schiender have/had amounted very little for the Mets, as Church already has been dealt again, and Schiender has been injured as much as he has played. This deal added on roughly 7 million per year on the payroll per year.

Remember how every Met fan collectively cringed when Minaya gave Luis Castillo, a 2B on the other side of 30, with a history of bad knees, a 4 year-26 million dollar contract extension? What part was the worst of it? That the Mets are stuck with Castillo and his albatross of a contract for two more seasons, unless they eat 60-80% of that contract, or that the extension might of been the only reason the Mets could not sign Orlando Hudson? Sad part is, Hudson really wanted to play for the Mets, and his price tag dropped more than the NASDAQ in W. Bush's last year in office.

The 2008 offseason was by far the worst of it all. The three major moves, trading for RP JJ Putz, signing closer Francisco Rodriguez from the Angels, and Oliver Perez.

Those three moves alone put close to 30 million on the payroll. KRod has not been the typical KRod, with 6 blown saves and an ERA over 3 for the first time since he became a closer. Putz at 6 million for a set up man (Jesus) was a bust. Oliver Perez was The Bust.

Minaya gave Perez a 3 year deal worth 36 million, basically bidding against himself, since no team in baseball, in this economy wanted to risk that money on a wild, erratic headcase. Except Uncle Omar of course. Perez's ERA is close to a touchdown with the PAT, his Whip is close to 2, and his mind is more fragile than Ron Artest's sanity. By the way, the Mets couldve had Bobby Abreu, Randy Wolf, and Hudson for one million more a season combined!

Oh, and lets not forget Omar's scarpeheap/waiver wire All Star team of Livan Hernandez, Jeff Franceour, Tim Redding, Ruddy Lugo, Aaron Sele, Jason Standridge, David Newhan, Sandy Alomar Jr., Ruben Gotay, Chan Ho Park, Killer Burgos, Anderson Hernandez, Jorge Sosa, Ben Johnson, Alay Soler, etc. Do I really need to go on with this list of budding athletes? Ok, thank you.

Next, is the scouting department and farm system, which I am being nice when I say it is easily in the bottom half of baseball. The Mets have not brought up a homegrown starter since the Reyes-Wright combo. Starting pitching? Do we even count Mike Pelfrey? I guess I have to since he really is the only Minaya draft pick that really has a secure spot on the Met roster. Daniel Murphy will most likely be an utility/bench guy. Whoopie!

The Mets offically had 4 Top 100 Prospects at the beginning of the 2009 season, according to Baseball America. They were OF Fernando Martinez, SS Wilmer Flores, SP Jonanthan Niese, and SP Brad Holt. None of them were in the Top 25, with Martinez being the top rated prospect, but sliding down the ranking from the year before.

Martinez was overwhelmed by MLB pitching in his call up, Flores right now is more buzz than action, and Niese will be at best, a #4 starter. Of these prospects, only Holt has had a very good season in the minors this season. These are supposedly the best the Mets have to offer, along with 1st round draft picks 1B Ike Davis, and 2B Reese Havens from the 08 Draft.

A big problem in this, is that Minaya usually buys top Free Agents, and loses his 1st round pick in the deal. Uncle Omar has had three 1st round picks since 2005, and two of them were in the same season of 08. Minaya does not get a shot at the prime prospects because of this, then in turn, he attempts to draft college players, that would  estimate to be ready for MLB service quicker than some of the more raw, but higher ceiling Prep School players. A great example of this would be Eddie Kunz, who Minaya hoped to be at least in the Met bullpen by now. Keep holding your breath Uncle Omar.

Minaya also goes to the Latin countries and signs young, cheap players that could one day be groomed into players on the roster. I will give Omar credit for this one, he duped the Twins into Carlos Gomez and Deolis Guerra, but who else has come from this grapevine yet?

And what is Uncle Omar going to do in the 2010 offseason? Sign Matt Holliday? Jason Bay? John Lackey? I hope not. It is time to clean house, and stop trying to buy like the Yankees. We are not in competition with the Yankees. We are in competition with the Phillies, Marlins, and Braves. How much of their rosters are homegrown? Hmmm...

This post was about why the Mets need to clean house and fire Omar Minaya, Part 2 will be how I would fix the situation over the course of 3-5 years, both short and long term.

Weekend Wrap-Up

Great weekend for sports, I just could not get fully into it though. Unfortunately, life takes precedent over the awesome world of sports.

I did not catch much College Football on Saturday, but I am sure the look on Pete Carroll's face was priceless after USC lost to Washington. See that Pete? Wave goodbye to that. What is it? Oh, that was your shot at the BCS title game. Congrats to Steve Sarkisian, beating USC with Tyrone Willingham's recruits. Thats something Charlies Weis could not do.

Let me get this straight now. Tebow puts up a Fulton St. fish market type of a stinker, and he still should be considered for the Heisman? Right now, I have Jimmy Clausen, Javhid Best, and Jacory Harris over Tebow by a wide margin.

Have to feel for Nebraska. They go out and play a great game on the road against a top 15 team, just to lose it in the final minute. That has to feel like if you opened your bedroom door after finding out you got a promotion at work, just to see your new boss is in bed with your wife. I seriously would rather have what happened to BYU, and that was getting embarrassed big time against Florida St. Point is, I always rather get backhanded that punched right in the gut.

I would please like to have my 60 dollars back, and the three hours of my life that was the Mayweather-Marquez PPV. If you are a boxing fan, and you wonder why MMA is more popular, watch that fight again. Too much BS in the sport that I love, which I have to admit, really is dying.

I do have to thank Shane Mosely, Bernard Hopkins, and an assist to Max Kellerman for basically putting Mayweather in the corner and on the spot in the post-fight interview. It was funny to watch, but classless. Thing is, to get the attention of a classless punk like Mayweather, you have to stoop to his level, and that is all the way down to the curb.

I did get to watch the NFL all day yesterday. I sat on my duff, with a drink and some cookies, and put on the Direct TV NFL Package, and all was better. Best game of the week was the Pats-Jets game, with Ravens-Chargers and Texans-Titans bringing in the silver and bronze medals there.

The Jets might just be the real deal. They talked more smack last week than Muhammad Ali in Manila, but they backed it up. The defense was stifiling, they did put Brady on his back more than six times. The crowd called the plead from Rex Ryan to be loud, and QB Mark Sanchez really showed alot of moxy in the 2nd half. Excellent win.

CB Darrelle Revis might of proved that he is the best CB in football, going on an island and shutting down Randy Moss this week, after doing the same to Andre Johnson last week, who just abused Cortland Finnegan this week. Speaking of...

How fun was that Texans-Titans game? It looked like someone had joystick control of RB Chris Johnson, and the Texans Andre Johnson. Insane.

This is why Norv Turner will NEVER win anything as a Head Coach. Rivers is roasting the Ravens secondary like chestnuts on an open fire around Christmas, and you run right at Ray Lewis on that play? I think even Gomer Pyle would of not done that. What a dolt.

I hope Giants All Pro DE Justin Tuck is not badly injured after Dallas T Flozell Adams cheaply tripped him. That was completely bush league, by an overrated, has-been, fat, overweight, and lets not forget about lazy player. Only reason why that was a close game last night was because as soon as Tuck as out, the Cowboys went nuts on the running game. Tuck is probably the best DLineman in the league because of the way he plays the run.

Now, tonight's game. I really believe that the Dolphins defense can give Peyton Manning and the Colts fits. If the Fins offense can eat up the clock and keep Manning off the field for large stretches, this game could be very interesting. Indy will not be able to run the ball on this defense either.

Dolphins 17, Colts 13.

Two more weeks for the NHL opener. Bring on more sports!