Eli Manning – Overpaid and Overrated NY Giants Quarterback

Check out the news from a few days ago…

ALBANY, N.Y. — Eli Manning has agreed to a new six-year, $97.5 million contract extension with the New York Giants that will make him among the highest-paid players in the NFL with an average salary of roughly $15.3 million, a source told ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen…. See Eli Manning as agreed to…

Pretty amazing contract considering he may not be one of the top 10 quarterbacks in the NFL. (He’s probably the third best quarterback in his family.)

He is credited with getting to and winning the Super Bowl. His gun-toting buddy Plaxico Burress, was his savior during that run. Manning would throw passes that Burress would “go and get”. You can see how Manning’s productivity declined once Burress was missing from the field.

Manning also benefits from having the best rushing offense in the NFL. Please take a look at the chart below. Plug in some of the other quarterbacks into the Giants… and consider how much of a better team they’d be…

2008 NFL Team Rushing Statistics

(from  http://topofthethread.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=1257&message=1)

Jets Fans – One Year Ago

Hey fellow Jets fans… This is where we were a year ago…

Good riddance! Welcome Mark Sanchez!

It’s time for individual sports records to take a backseat…

Regarding team sports such as baseball, football, hockey, soccer — only:

As fans, we have been pushed to say

• Who cares about Barry Bonds, or Hank Aaron having the most home runs
• Who cares about Roger Clemens having 350 wins and over 4,000 strikeouts
• Who cares that Mark McGuire beat out Sammy Sosa in the 1998 Roger Maris home run chase
• So what — Alex Rodriguez has 500 plus home runs and counting…..

Cheating has taken place and will always take place.

Focusing on team records is, at least, an equal playing field (no pun intended). Think about it.

A-Rod recently admitted using steroids from 2001 – 2003.  Let’s assume that at least 104 players used performance enhancing drugs during that era. Who won the World Series from 2001 – 2003 (Arizona Diamondbacks,   Anaheim Angels, Florida Marlins). Fine.

So we can assume that at LEAST 100 of the 700 major league players “cheated” using performance enhancing drugs.  For round numbers, that’s 14% of the players.  Let’s assume there is an equal distribution of  “cheaters”. 14% of the Diamondbacks cheated. 14% of the Angels cheated. And 14% of the Marlins cheated.

Continuing, 14% of the NY Yankees, NY Mets, and Boston Red Sox also cheated, and did NOT win the World Series.

As a fan, I have no problem with it.  Those seasons were entertaining and fun to watch.  It is an equal playing field because all the teams and players probably had access to the same performance enhancing drugs. Teams made decisions. Individuals made decisions. That was THAT era.

When the rules were set outlawing steriods, the number probably went from 14% to 2% (a guess).  Again, the cheaters were probably evenly distributed amongst the league.

So all the teams and players probably had a representative sample of cheaters.

As new drugs come on the scene, everyone will have access to them. New masking agents come on the scene, everyone will have access to them. It’s illegal but fair.

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The same holds true for football.  As time as gone on, steriods/HGH testing has gotten tougher. People still use then and there is probably an equal distribution amongst the teams and players.

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This may seem like bizarre logic, but it makes sense for the “team results”. Of course it does not help the individual records that are affected by this cheating.

I know it’s not realistic, but perhaps we should come up with an alternative to “individual records”. Perhaps we should discuss using a word like “highlights”.

One of the “highlights” of the 1998 season was McGuire and Sosa competing to hit the most home runs… I know,I know, it’s weak…

(photo nflheadline.com gain-weight-muscle-fast.com)

NY Jets vs Tennessee Titans – another broken heart – not

(It’s 2 hours before the start of the Jets / Titans game…)

A Jets fans broken heart

We, Jet fans have been waiting for a long time for a championship.  As Jet fans we get excited time after time only to have our hearts broken (time after time.) We have learned to be cautiously optimistic as a defense mechanism.

Today is the day we finally get our due.  Last week we beat the Patriots. This week we will beat the Titans. (It would be interesting if the Jets wore their Titans uniforms today ;>) )

How did we get here?

The Jets organization did a great job in the off season. They improved their offensive line.  They improved their defensive line.  Of course there is also the Favre deal.  But the Favre deal was icing on the cake. They improved the foundation of the team before Favre was in the picture.

Realistically, the Jets can win today. They will win today. Yeah, the Jets WILL win today. (It’s still hard to convince myself.)

(original photo ericmchicago.files.wordpress.com)

(Cheating in sports) Give me Barry Bonds on steroids any day!

Do we realize the magnitude of what ex-NBA referee Donaghy is saying? If the NBA influenced the outcome of playoff games, this is devastating! (If this is true, perhaps wrestling’s Vince McMahon should take over for NBA Commissioner David Stern)

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As sports fans, all we ask is players give it their “all” and want to win.

There were, and always will be, cheaters. Cheating is wrong.

1. Cheating to gain an advantage. A Problem.
2. Cheating to lose. A Bigger problem.
3. League involvement in cheating. An even BIGGER problem.

(Alleged) Examples of cheating to gain an advantage…

• Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmero, Jason Giambi, Albert Belle (players) – allegedly used steroids human growth hormone, performance enhancing drugs to gain an advantage…
• Gaylord Perry, Mike Scott, Joe Niekro (players) – spit balls, scuffing, doctoring the baseball to give it movement and to gain an advantage…
• Bill Bellichick – (coach, team) Spy-gate – The NFL’s New England Patriots break the rules filming other teams and their coaches to gain an advantage…
• Ben Johnson, Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery (olympic athetes) – used performance enhancing drugs to gain an advantage…

Cheating. Wrong. Wanting to win. Right.

(Alleged) Examples of cheating to lose…

• Eight members of the 1919 Chicago franchise were banned from baseball for throwing (intentionally losing) games, giving the victory to the Cincinnati Reds.
• Boxers have often been accused of taking dives. There were multiple instances of George Foreman opponents taking dives.( http://www.randlemanland.com/fix.html )

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Tim Donaghy, the NBA referee said he made NBA bets for four years, even wagering on games he worked. He also admitted recommending bets to high-stakes gamblers and collecting $5,000 if his picks hit.

Donaghy is now accusing the NBA of pressuring referees to influence playoff series.

He is a small time person scrambling to get a shorter sentence, but, if this turns out to be true, it will be devastating to the NBA and professional sports.

A league influencing the outcome of games. I, the sports fan, don’t want to hear it

I would much rather have Barry Bonds, trying hard and using steroids, than teams throwing games or leagues influencing outcomes.

Where is a sports fan to turn?

We need sports. We need to believe in the competition. We can’t start questioning every little thing that the “fix was on”… A missed free throw… A missed putt… An umpire blowing a call…

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Note: While we’re on the subject, there is something fishy about the (potential Triple Crown Winner) Big Brown’s Belmont Stakes Race. Was the horse held back because they already had guaranteed money, and, if the horse was hurt or worse during the race, they would be risking the money. Hmmmm….

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Everytime I watch the Yankees they lose (sports and superstitions)

I just put on the NY Yankees game against the Kansas City Royals. It was the 5th inning and the score was tied at 0-0. Within 5 minutes of my putting the game on, KC scored. I immediately thought to change the channel because I was bringing bad luck. Rasner (NYY) had been pitching well up until that point, so I changed from the YES Network to TNT where Cast Away (Tom Hanks) was on.

Sounds crazy? Irrational? In one way or another, most sports fans do it!

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Does this sound familiar, or similar, to you, or your favorite sports fan?

When we were in SUNY Albany, during football season, we watched the Jets every Sunday. Without fail, if they started to play well, no one was allowed to move, switch seats, go get a beer (yes, believe it) or go to the bathroom. Did it work? Sometimes. But it definitely would not have worked if we didn’t follow the ritual.

Duirng one Yankees season, I always sat on the floor at the foot of of my bed. Every game. The Yankees finished in 1st place and won the World Series. (I also wore out the carpet in the bedroom and had to pay to replace it.)

During Jets season, the Wayne Chrebet Bobble Head had to be on the mantle during the Jets game. (Obviously this only works so well in that the Jets haven’t won the Super Bowl since 1969.)

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Another good one was, at school, we always drank Coors Light during football games.

There are more seemly sill superstitions or patterns, but that’s enough for now.

If you are a real sports fan, I am sure you have plenty of your own.

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BTW – I still have Cast Away on the TV and the Yankees lost 2-1… They would have probably lost 5-1 if I watched the game…

(photo i.emode.com)
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