And With the First Pick in the 2012 Draft....

This Thursday is the biggest day in off season football, months of testing, comparing, contracting, and arguing will come down to the NFL DRAFT. While no one is ever positive what will happen, one thing is for sure, one team will flush and one team will bust. Each year there is a bust, the most notable in history where Ryan Leaf and Jamarcus Russell; Leaf went second overall behind Manning in 98, the team which drafted him traded away most other picks and continued to struggle. Russell Went first overall, and still has fantastic tallent, however he was to lazy to compete at the NFL level.

My picks for the draft are similar to most, but a few things will change by thursday, teams will trade, make uneducated impulse picks, and overpay, or underpay for the greatest athletes in 2012.

To view my draft go to: http://predictpick.nfl.com/picks/view

Guillen Suspension

Marlins skipper, Ozzie Guillen  said he “loved” Castro. "I respect Fidel Castro. You know why? A lot of people have wanted to kill Fidel Castro for the last 60 years, but that is still here."

The words of the long time skipper and my personal favorite has made waves by his words about his respect for the dictator. This has caused the Miami population, many of which are Cubans to picket the skipper and they want him to sit be fired

Miami, or "North Cuba" received some information finding out Guillen was suspended for 5 games for his words. This suspension will take up 2.7% of the seasons games for his words which he felt where taken out of context, however the suspension has been issued and is now active. 

#1 UK, Baylor #1

After fantastic seasons for both Kentucky men and Baylor woman basketball teams, both rained supreme after the madness came to an end. Coming into the tournaments both teams where ranked #1 in the nation and both moved through and where crowned campions.

Kentucky started off the year ranked #1 but had an early season loss to Indiana which dropped them a few places in the NCAA ranking. Vengeance became the them of theme for the Wildcats as they moved through ranks over the season. Indiana had a second chance to beat the best, however UK had other plans for the year. Determination was the name of the game, and the three staring sophomores and two starting freshman showed how dominate they where all season long.

Baylor had the best year for athletics in history, top ranked mens basketball team, Heisman Trophy winner and a sucessful football season, however both where eclipsed by the best record in the history of women's basketball. Brittney Griner, the second woman to ever dunk in a march madness tournament, lead the Bears to a 40-0 championship.

Tiger on the rise

After falling from grace and spending years without a win Tiger has been showing improvement and has even won a tourney.

Once the face of the PGA, Tiger had more sponsorships worldwide than any other athlete, deals with Gillette, Nike, and of course PGA's clothing brand he was the favorite son of golf. However since his affair he lost most all sponsorships; he also has been in a battle with injuries. Even though he has struggled for a few years now he is still the mot popular golfer in the world.

Now Woods is once again a contender in the world of pro golf and still is a fan favorite.

New Orleans Underwater!

After the Saints won a Super Bowl, and have had a handful of Pro-Bowlers and numerous other awards, a new hurricane hit the New Orleans, hurricane Goodell.

The commisherner of the NFL Roger Goodell has finally penalized the Saints organization after the Saints had numerous players over multiple seasons receive “bounties” for injuring other teams player. One such bounty was on Bret Farve’s head in the NFC Championship, for $10,000.

The team was fined $500,000, stripped of two second round draft picks, one in the 2012 draft and one in the 2013 draft, the teams head coach Sean Payton has been suspended for the 2012 season. The Saints GM also will be suspended for half of the 2012 season. The suspensions are to follow, including the Saints former defensive coach.

The Saints will struggle over the next season due to the penalties of their actions. 

The Madness Begins

I do not need to go into detail about march madness,  since selection Sunday tens of millions of sports fans have filled out their brackets. The top ranked schools are Michigan State, North Carolina, the Kentucky, and Syracuse. In my own bracket i have three of the four schools in the final four. GO ORANGE.

THE END OF AN ERA

Since 1998 the Indianapolis Colts will have a new Quarterback. March 7th 2012 marks the end of Peyton Manning's career with the colts, during which time he lead them to 18 playoff games, 2 Super bowls, and one NFL Superbowl championship. 

The journey with the Colts was a long and successful one for Manning, he managed to bring the team from the worst in the NFL to a premier team for many years. Many sports fans tribute the location of the 2011 season's Superbowl to Peyton because of everything he did to put Indianapolis on the football map. 

The journey to his release started early in the year of 2011, he had his first of four surgeries on his neck, which would cause him to miss the entire 2011 season. The loss of Manning for a year became a catalyst for the future of the Colts franchise. A young quarterback at Stanford University has been the favorite for the overall draft pick of the 2012 draft since before the 2011 draft. Andrew Luck will be the first draft pick for the Colts and is the reason that Manning is currently searching for a new team. 

The Destination for Manning is unclear, however one thing is for sure, Peyton Manning will continue to make headlines over the next year. Manning Mania has officially started. 

RG3 #2?

After a stunning NFL combine in Indianapolis the top two draft picks have most likely all ready been chosen. With no shock to anyone Andrew Luck has already been told that the Indianapolis Colts will draft him first overall. Luck has been compared to Payton Manning by his style of play in college; however Robert Griffin III shocked and awed at the combine.

RG3's combine results are only comparable to those of Micheal Vick's results from 2001. Vick ran a 4.33 40-yard dash,  and a 38" vertical jump, RG3 ran a 4.41 and a 39" vertical jump. While it is difficult to draft a quarterback based on his measurable without his watching him throw at the combine; however RG3 has shown unbelievable accuracy over the last year at Baylor University, where he won the Heisman Award.

The Rams have the second overall pick, Jeff Fisher the head coach of the Rams has publicly stated they are willing to trade their second pick. Of all the teams who do not have an a QB the Browns are most likely to trade up and in order to draft RG3. Other possible teams who may trade up are the Redskins, Dolphins, Seahawks, or even the Bills.

 While the destination my not yet be curtain yet it appears RG3 is indeed #2.

Money Ball

Money Ball, Billy Bean Strikes Again.

Billy Bean, a man who revolutionized the modern management styles of major league baseball is once again dealing and wheeling players. His latest victim, is a muli-time All-Star and 2 time world series player. Manny Ramirez was signed early this month by Mr. Money Ball him self for a fraction of what he once was paid in LA and Boston, $500,000 is what he is bringing home while playing for an A's club team, not the MLB. 

Ramirez retired after failing performance enhancing drug tests, he came back to set an example for his kids that quitting is not the right thing to do. 

I Believe Its Pronounced LIN-Sanity

Like most young athletes that have an outstanding coming out party ESPN can not talk about anything else. Tim Tebow is still going through his love affair with the media has got the back seat over the last few weeks to Tom Brady but more specifically Jeremy Lin.

Lin went to Harvard and majored in economics, two weeks ago New York was planning on releasing the young point guard once Carmelo Anthony was going to return. Now he is averaging over 22 points and about 7 assists a game in February.

Its not clear if Lin will continue to be perform at such a high level but one thing is for sure, ESPN & New York has a new golden boy. 

Taking Home The Hardware

While the Patriots and Giants have been getting all the attention over the last two weeks the major NFL awards have fell by the wayside. Below are the NFL's best and the award they won.

MVP:

AARON RODGERS

Yards:4,643 CMP %: 68.3  TD's: 45  QBR: 122.5

Offensive Player of the Year:

DREW BREES

Yards: 5,476 CMP %: 71.2  TD's: 46  QBR: 110.6

Defensive Player of the Year:

TKL: 70 Sack: 14 INT: 2  FF: 7

Offensive Rookie of the Year:        Defensive Rookie of the Year:

Yards: 4,051 CMP %: 60.0  PTD's: 21 RTD's:14 QBR: 84.5                            TKL: 64 Sack: 11.5  FF: 2

                 

NFL Man of the Year:

NFL Head Coach of the Year:

First year coach: 12-4 record, 2nd in NFC,

Ray Lewis #1 LB EVER

My favorite player of all time, Ray Lewis was named ESPN's #1 player of any era. Since 1996, the year the Ravens where introduced to the NFL, Ray Lewis has been the leader, 13 Pro bowls later he says he will come back for one more bowl. Ray said at the Pro bowl 1-29 "no more pro bowls, next year its a Super bowl. 

Jim Brown: “Ray Lewis embodies everything that a player should have and more because not only does he fulfill his role, but he helps everybody else on the team. He has a great heart, and his mental toughness is as good as it gets. You don’t want to have a physical tough guy without him being mentally tough and having heart, which means he can hang in there and give up a certain part of himself that other people are afraid to give up.” 

His leadership is unparalleled and he will go down as one of if not the greatest players of all time. 

For full article on Lewis being #1 See : http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/52953/nfl-any-era-ray-lewis-is-no-1

RIP JOE PA

Joe Paterno passed away this last week of a broken heart from what happened over the last several months. Paterno dedicated over 50 years to Penn State and will go down as one of the greatest coaches of all time. Joe Paterno's reputation may have been damaged by the actions of a former coach, however he was still a fantastic coach.

Paterno won two national championships in the 80's as well as several Big Ten championships. He also won 24 bowl games, more than any other coach. 

Thank you Joe Pa for all the memories, and shame on the media for blowing up his small part in the Penn State scandal, Joe Pa did his job and never did anything wrong. 

RIP JOE PA

Sinner= Winner

 

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I know I am not the only one who is excited that Tim Tebow is out of the playoffs. I just hope now ESPN will find something new to talk about. 

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