Chachi's NFL Draft Notebook

Like many of you, today I decided to plop down and watch the draft. Here are a few of my thoughts while watching the first round.

• Might have been the least manly intro ever! What exactly does a weird looking guy with a french accent have to do with the NFL draft?
• I have a monster hang over from last night and there's 8 hours of Chris Berman's voice on tap, this will be painful.
• I'm still not sold on Mario Williams and I think the Texans made a huge mistake. A guy who only had sacks in 11 of 23 college games is your #1 pick? Too many question marks for me. I'm also sad that now I can't make fun of the Saints for taking another DE in round 1. They were starting to wander into Matt Millen territory.
• It officially took 11 minutes into the draft coverage for them to reference a crappy Cleveland Browns draft pick.
• I'm not totally sure, but I think the fans at Radio City Music Hall just booed Tagliabue's announcement that the "Texans are on the clock". God bless New Yorkers.
• At this point I'm working under the assumption that Berman is just throwing random words together and hoping they make a funny statement. Excrutiating.
• Mario Williams is picked and the crowd begins the "over-rated" chant. Why do they continue to hold this event in NYC with some of the most volatile and verbally abusive fans in the world in attendance? Actually, ignore that comment. The draft wouldn't be the same without them.
• I'm pretty sick of everyone talking about the so called "draft chart" that the teams use that assigns point values to picks. GM's and coaches should not need a chart to know the value of a draft pick. Isn't most of this common sense? I'm highly anticipating the release of Madden 07 now just to see if the "draft chart" is incorporated into the game.
• What are the odds of Kiper's head exploding on live tv? Can you bet on this in Vegas?
• I may be wrong (and with this hang over it is highly likely), but I think Steve Young just threw out the first "upside" description of the day. Congrats Steve!
• HOLY SHIT! The Jets fans didn't boo the pick of Ferguson! Something is definitely wrong in the world right now. Stock up on canned goods.
• A.J. Hawk to the Packers and no camera on him at home and he's not in attendance. Where the hell is A.J.? Probably busy banging Brady's sister.
• Vernon Davis lost a little respect with his open weeping when he got drafted. There's no crying in the green room! Tell me he's not getting a ton of shit in the locker room this year.
• Michael Irvin just explained that Davis was weeping tears of joy. Thank you Captian Obvious! My roommate E then drops the obligatory "Maybe he's just crying because he's going to the 49ers" joke. Good times.
• My first WHOA! of the day goes to the Raiders and their selection of Huff. Apparently Al Davis has decided to role with Aaron Brooks at QB this year. See you in the top 10 of the draft again next year AL.
• E: "Michael Irvin hasn't spoken for about 10 minutes." Me: "Well, he's either stoned or they turned his mic off after the stupid tears of joy comment." We then spend the next 5 minutes trying to figure out how high Irvin is.
• My second HOLY SHIT! of the day goes to the Bills and their selection of Whitner at #8. The first big reach of the draft and further proof that octogenarians have no business running an NFL team.
• The suspense of a Matt Millen draft pick is always phenomenal. You never know what he's going to do.
• There's a decent chance that Leinart could be the Roethlisberger of this years draft. Decent team with plenty of talent around him and a guy who slipped further down then he thought he should have. Could be, and if it does happen remember you heard it here first.
• Jay Cutler looks like a Burger King employee more then a QB. I wouldn't draft him on that basis alone. Ding fries are done!
• Why is Jaws yelling? He's in the studio with no crowd noise to yell over. There's a 50-50 shot at Jaws and Berman causing blood to shoot out of my ears.
• Bravo to Haloti Ngata! He did it right and had his draft party in Vegas. Now that is how you do it!
• My worst dressed award for the day goes to Merrill Hodge. Nice pink striped shirt and crap crown jacket Merrill.
• Award for best interview of the first round is going to Ngata. Not only could ESPN not get the video going for it right away, not only was everyone screaming so loud you couldn't hear what the hell he said and not only were there random people walking through the camera shot, but also at the end I swear there was some girl throwing up gang signs in the background. Outstanding!
• My Defensive Rookie of the Year pick is going to Kamerion (pronounced Cameron) Wimbley of the Cleveland Browns. I picture him making the move to stand-up LB like Suggs did his rookie year and feasting on QB's. Playing opposite Willie Mcginest won't hurt either.
• Berman's hit a new low in asinine comments. He just said maybe Cleveland will rename the stadium Wimbley Stadium if he plays well. That's not even remotely funny. JACKASS!
• They just showed a live shot of the Vikings draft party at the Vikings Practice Bubble. They really named it the Practice Bubble? This is one of the many things wrong in Minnesota. I predict the Vikings won't make the playoffs till they rename and come out from their bubble.
• Nick Saban just did a live interview in one of Don Shula's turqoise sport coats from 1985. He's single handily trying to bring them back in style.
• Wow! Every guy on the NFL Live set doesn't like the Cromartie pick by San Diego and I actually agree with them. What the hell is wrong with me?
• Random question: Is there a rampant wart problem in the US that I'm not aware of Dr. Scholls?
• I wonder how many draft picks it wil take for the KC defense to be respectable again. I say the next 5 years worth.
• Highlight of the draft - Berman attempting to interview Herm Edwards while the Jets fans boo and yell insults at the screen with Herm's face on it. This includes the bonus of Jackson and Irvin laughing at the whole thing off screen while the interview is taking place.
• I'm fairly sure that Bill Belichick could draft Spud Webb at nose tackle and Berman and Mortensen would trip over each other to kiss his ass first and say what a great pick it was.
• My first WHO? of the draft goes to Davin Joseph. Tampa Bay selected him and not one of the talking heads had even brought up his name as a first round possibility. Oops.
• I have now officially lost all love for Santonio Holmes and I wish VD on him. Steelers Suck!
• Ater Buffalo's second pick I'm certain Marv Levy has lost his mind and he's taking draft advice from his dog. Lets just hope his cat is giving Marv better financial advice.
• Carolina Panthers pick at #27 - DeAngelo Williams, Offensive Rookie of the Year.
• ESPN keeps showing a blurb about the fact Vince Young is the third QB to go #3 in the last 7 years. The other two, Akili Smith and Joey Harrington. If I was Vince, I wouldn't want my name in the same sentence as those two.
• Random question: Who would you rather beat the crap out of; David Blaine or David Copperfield? I say Blaine.
• At this point I'm not sure who is more of an embarrasment to the rest of the guys covering the draft; Berman or Irvin. I say Berman, but only because he talks alot more than Irvin.
• The New York Giants DE had more combined sacks then any other pair of DE's in the NFL. Seems like a pretty solid position on the team, right? So who do they draft? A DE! Brilliant!

As the first round came to a close I hopped in my car to run to Burger King to grab a Whopper and see if Jay Cutler was there. On the way I flipped to ESPN's radio coverage of the draft and was blown away by how good Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic were handling it. They were professional, informative, and when they made a joke it was atleast amusing. Next year, I'm sitting in my car and listening to the draft.

The Official NFL Draft Drinking Game

Or, how to make Saturday more enjoyable. I just stumbled upon this and wanted to throw it out there for everyone's enjoyment.

Click here

Chachi's Baseball Rankings

I figured now that we're 20 or so games in I'd take a look at how things are shaping up and take a crack at ranking the MLB from 1 to 30. Keep in mind that I'm not only taking into consideration the team's current record, but also other factors such as; injuries, playing above or below capabilities, and other factors that may help them rise above or sink even further. I want this to be an ever changing list from month to month based on how teams are playing and what trends I may be seeing. Here's my first stab at the list of 30.

1. Chicago White Sox - The pitching is back and the bats are coming around
2. St. Louis Cardinals - Lack of quality outfield play may doom their World Series chances
3. New York Mets - Great pitching and a potent offense has this team humming
4. New York Yankees - Tied for fewest runs against and 4th in runs scored, current record will correct itself
5. Boston Red Sox - Starting pitching could carry this team all the way to the World Series
6. Houston Astros - Where did these guys come from? Imagine if Lidge was pitching well. They get an asterix though for already playing 13 home games
7. Los Angeles Angels - Much better team than their record shows
8. Toronto Blue Jays - Rios, Glaus, Molina, Overbay, and Wells can put up some runs
9. Detroit Tigers - How long can this really last? For now, the pitchers have been exceeding expectattions and Mr. Shelton has all of Michigan believing
10. Chicago Cubs - Almost certainly will fall without D. Lee, but they were looking good
11. Texas Rangers - Making some noise in a weak (so far) division
12. Milwaukee Brewers - They've given up more runs then they've scored, but are still finding ways to win some games
13. Cincinnati Reds - Just like always, this won't last. Only teams that have given up more runs are Baltimore, Tampa, and Pittsburgh; not good company.
14. Oakland Athletics - Need to get in gear (although they are notoriously slow starters)
15. Los Angeles Dodgers - Too good of a team in too bad of a division not to win it
16. Cleveland Indians - The bullpen looks terrible and the starters aren't far behind
17. Baltimore Orioles - If the starters settle down they could still make some noise
18. San Francisco Giants - If they got rid of the gimp in left they may have a shot at winning the West
19. Philadelphia Phillies - The starters can't get anyone out and the offense can't seem to score, especially at hitter-friendly Citizens Bank Park
20. Atlanta Braves - Just look really, really bad this year. Not sure what is going on with them
21. Arizona Diamonbacks - I'm not sold on them quite yet
22. Colorado Rockies - 6-2 on the road so far. Could they have finally figured something out?
23. Tampa Bay - The best of the worse, so that's something
24. Minnesota Twins - I see much pain in the state of Minnesota this summer
25. Seattle Mariners - 15 home games already and 5-10 in them, need I say more
26. San Diego Padres - Peavy and company are looking pretty bad so far. Hey, how's that Mike Piazza thing working out so far?
27. Washington Nationals - The pitching that made them last year just isn't there this year
28. Florida Marlins - Atleast the young guys are fun to watch
29. Pittsburgh Pirates - If you live in Pittsburgh, I would start actively rooting for Mark Cuban to buy the team (And for the record I'm all for this and I think he would be great)
    
30. Kansas City Royals - Sad and depressing. The people of KC have officially started preparing for football season

As always, commments are appreciated and mostly ignored.

Chachi's Monday Ramblings

For the record, my one fantasy baseball team is sucking it up big time and yet my other is opening up a comfortable first place lead. Is it possible to be a genius and an idiot at the exact same time? On to my thoughts for today.

• So far in the MLB we are seeing quite a resurgence from the older pitchers this year. Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling, and even Jose Contreras are all looking great while many younger "studs", like Felix Hernandez and Carlos Zambrano, are struggling. Goes to show what age and experience can do for you.
• Congrats to Lebron for getting his first playoff win! A few more by him and I actually might start paying attention to the league for the first time since Jordan retired. And, for the record, I'm rooting for the Heat to win it all because I really want Shaq to win a ring sans Kobe. That and we could get weeks of Shaq-isms afterwards. He really might be the best interview subject in all of sports.
• Reggie Bush should be the #1 pick Saturday hands down. Forget all the Mario Williams talk, Bush is a game changer and the Texans sorely need him. (The Texans sorely need a lot of things though. I'm almost positive they could have Bush, Williams and Ferguson next year and still not finish above .500)
• This year's top 5 fantasy football pick who is guaranteed to have a bad year; Shaun Alexander, the newest Madden cover boy. You can say you don't believe in curses or jinxes, but just look at the last 5 or 6 guys that appeared on the cover and see if you still feel confident with him as your pick come August.
  
• I caught some of the College All-Star Challenge and Vince Young looked head and shoulders above the rest of the QB's. I know Leinart and Cutler weren't there, but he looked fantastic and I think he will be a better QB then Leinart in the NFL. Just my opinion.
• Also, if you catch Battle of the Gridiron Stars, try and catch Jake Delhomme doing the Home Run Derby portion. The man was killing the ball. Yes, he was using a metal bat, but you could see he had a good swing and could probably even knock a few out in the real Derby. I'm now actively rooting for MLB to allow one guest hitter for every Home Run Derby and they need to start with Delhomme.
  
• Keith Hernandez made a stupid comment about women in the dugout and now everyone is up in arms about it. Hernandez even said during the broadcast that he was "just teasing" and yet everyone is still talking about it. The joke might not have been funny and may have been in poor taste, but it was a joke none the less and it should really be let go. I swear people today are so up tight that the smallest thing sets off the hugest shit storm. I'd almost gurantee that the female trainer in question has heard ruder, cruder and in even poorer taste jokes hanging around the Padres clubhouse. $20 says in a week we don't hear much about this anymore, but for the next few days it will be all over talk radio and ESPN. The lesson as always here is: Men tell stupid, sophomoric jokes and open their mouths when they shouldn't. Gee, big suprise.
• In an interview Barry Bonds says he doesn't think he'll pass Hank Aaron due to his various ailments. He even says when talking about his bad knee, "My knee could get better. Maybe there will be some kind of solution they can come up with that would make the pain go away. Who knows?" Gee Barry, if only some type of drugs or modern medicine could be used to help you out. I wonder who you could call for that sort of thing?
• My fun item of the week comes from armchairgm.com where they did a list of the 8 Mascots the Need to Die. I was astounded to find out that there was an actual college mascot named Keggy the Keg. I proudly applaud Dartmouth and its ballsy-as-hell administration that approved this mascot. Finally, a mascot students can get behind and cheer for. (As a personal bonus, Lil' Red from Nebraska appears on this list who I have already personally hung with an electrical cord from the dublinhuskers loft and thought of killing many other times!)
  

Baffled Buckeye Fan

Holy ugly ass jersey Batman! Did we turn into Nebraska here in Ohio overnight and nobody told me? What the hell is going on here and why do we feel the need to tinker with the jerseys? I was fine with the whole move before I saw them and now I'm firmly against it. This doesn't even look like it remotely belongs at The Ohio State University. I know it "could be worse", but it also could be better. I'm not talking about just messing with the width of stripes or moving the numbers from the top of the pads to the sleeves, but the total exclusion of the gray not only looks bad but is against tradition and history. We bleed Scarlet & Gray around here, not scarlet, white and black. I have to go now and buy an OSU jersey that actually looks like it belongs at OSU before these ugly things hit the stores.

P.S. This jersey will now totally confuse my buddy Gus from Nebraska who won't know who the hell he's rooting for. Either that or it will make him feel eeriely at home. Glad we could help buddy.

Chachi's Monday Ramblings

• Everybody was making a big deal about two NASCAR girlfriends having an arguement in the pits. Wow, two people yelling at each other. What a big deal! If they would have got in a cat fight this might have been news and I might have started paying attention to NASCAR. They didn't so I don't care. If you're going to be a real sport you have to have some real chick fights. See cheerleaders, Carolina Panthers for examples.
• I'm not too big on Sportscenter's draft room thing they are doing with Kiper, Mortensen, and Jackson. I like the idea of recapping the teams year and needs, but it's just creepy how they actively try and avoid looking at the cameras like they are just 3 guys sitting around talking to each other. It's just plain weird.
  
• Enrique Rojas wrote an article on ESPN.com (here) about Pedro being one of the best Latin pitchers ever. No shit. My question is why segregate him off amongst the Latin pitchers? Hell, Shark can make a great arguement for Pedro being one of the best pitchers ever regardless of ethnicity. I think Mr. Rojas took the easy way out.
• Prince Fielder stole his first base of his career this week. He is already half way to his father's career 2 stolen bases. Perhaps he just caught the pitcher and catcher off guard. I need to see video of this to be sure the catcher didn't die or something.
  
• Francisco Liriano has filthy stuff and should be in the starting rotation sooner rather than later. In 8.1 IP he has given up 5 hits, 1 walk and struck out 13 while not surrendering a run. Give the man the ball and let him help the struggling rotation already.
• Albert Pujols is a big, scary man who is absolutely killing the ball and may be the best pure hitter of his generation. Reds fans, you know what I'm talking about.
• To the Yankee haters that were rallying around their 1-4 start, they have since gone 5-2. Yes, I know that only makes the 6-6, but they are definitely playing well and will be around in October.
  
• Hey the NBA playoffs are about to start!!!! Anybody care? Anyone? No? Me either.
  

Chachi's Monday Ramblings

I might make this a regular thing barring hang overs, lazy days, and any other excuses I decide to make up.

• During the Masters Sunday they showed some flashback photos of Mickelson and how skinny he used to be. Everybody talks about how he's lost weight, but in my book he'll always be Fat Boy Phil. Hey, everybody needs a nickname. I also want to say that it's impressive that Phil no longer has that petrified look on his face during the final rounds of majors anymore.
• Speaking of the Masters, how many people were really rooting for Phil over Freddie and Tiger. Honestly, maybe 25% of golf fans. I think Phil could win the Grand Slam and still not win any popularity contests. It begs the question, why don't as many people like him? The Pillsbury Dough Boy is fat, and everybody loves him.
• It was just released that none of the Duke players DNA matched the DNA on or "in" the victim. This means one of two things to me: These lacrosse players are arrogant jerks, but not rapist, or, these guys didn't rape her but someone else at their party did, which still means they have some connection to it. Regardless, if these guys were all innnocent and nothing actually happened, someone's going to owe them an apology and a season. By all accounts though most of these guys are dickheads anyway so I'm not going to feel that sorry for them.
• Peerless Price re-signed with Buffalo today making it a full circle for his career. Why is this news? Has this guy even been a factor on a team in the last 3 years? Is SI, who had a link to this story on its main page, actively egging fantasy football players on to try and get them to draft him one more time only to have him ruin a team? (Can you tell I drafted him a couple years ago?)
• Who is this guy playing third for the Tribe and what did he do with Aaron Boone?
• I am exceedingly happy the Tigers finally lost a game. Good for them for coming out strong, but I know too many Tiger fans and I could not bear to hear from all of them if they started the first two weeks undefeated. (Yes, I'm looking in your direction Denny)
  
• On a similar note, Go Brewers! Good for them and their Selig free organisation.
  
• I know it's early, but the Yankees have me a bit worried. 15 runs in game 1, 10 runs in games 2-5 combined, and then 10 runs in game 6. The whole team might be manic-depressive.
• God bless Time Warner and their free MLB Extra Innings preview. It's like Christmas in April.
• No offense to Florida or UCLA, but could anybody have cared less about the NCAA title game. I can't remember a major championship event I could have cared less about. I can't even explain why, I just really didn't care who won or lost. The only fun thing for me was comparing Noah to a troll doll every time he was on the screen. Take a long look at him, you'll see it.
• Apparently there was an in ring brawl during the Judah-Mayweather fight in Vegas. How did I not hear about this till I checked BadJocks.com. (check out BadJocks for video of the brawl) Has boxing become so irrelevent that even the crazy stuff that happens doesn't make ESPN? The answer, of course, is yes!
• In what might be the greatest video ever, someone did a re-enactment of game 6 of the '86 World Series using the video game RBI Baseball and the actual audio from the broadcast of the game. Check it out here. Sorry Shark.
  
• And finally, under NO cricumstance will I watch a tv show produced by Barry Bonds about Barry Bonds with total editorial control held by Barry Bonds. Come on, does he really think we're stupid enough to think that's the "real" him when he can cut out whatever he doesn't like. Please! At this point only the people in San Francisco believe he's not an arrogant, self-centered, drug using asshole and I have a theory on that too. I think it's just because if all the bad stuff turns out to be true they will all have to face the fact that they rooted for, and most likely viciously defended to there friends, a piece of shit. Nobody wants to deal with that.
  

Stacking Up Against the Experts

ESPN.com had 19 of it's baseball "experts" do their predictions for the 2006 season and I wanted to see how Shark and I stacked up with what they thought. I'm going to list our pick for each division and the wild cards and after them what percentage of the ESPN guys agreed with us.

DIVISION WINNERS
AL East
Chachi: Yankees 68%
Shark: Red Sox 26%

AL Central
Chachi: White Sox 58%
Shark: White Sox 58%

AL West
Chachi: Angels 32%
Shark: A's 63%

NL East
Chachi: Phillies 0%
Shark: Phillies 0%

NL Central
Chachi: Cardinals 95%
Shark: Cardinals 95%

NL West
Chachi: Dodgers 53%
Shark: Giants 42%

WILD CARDS
AL
Chachi: A's 21%
Shark: Indians 16%

NL
Chachi: Mets 47%
Shark: Mets 47%

What we learn from this, well for starters Shark and I are either geniuses when it comes to the Phillies or way off base. The experts also love the A's, the Cardinals (except for one ass that picked the Astros), and really don't know what the hell is going to happen in the NL West. I think one of the bigger suprises was that just barely half of them picked the White Sox to win their division less than a year after winning the pennant. I guess we'll see who's right over the next few months and, from both Shark and myself, go Phillies and prove these guys wrong.

Chachi's 2006 Baseball Predictions

Here are my predictions for the 2006 MLB season including where teams will finish in their division, the playoffs, and awards.

AL EAST
1. New York Yankees
2. Boston Red Sox
3. Toronto Blue Jays
4. Baltimore Orioles
5. Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Obviously I'm going to pick the Yankees to win, but my hardest call was actually at #4 and #5. I want to move the Devil Rays up, but I just don't think it's their year to climb out of the cellar till they get some pitching. Maybe next year. I see a tight race as usual at the top and even see the Blue Jays pushing hard deep into August.

AL CENTRAL
1. Chicago White Sox
2. Cleveland Indians
3. Minnesota Twins
4. Detroit Tigers
5. Kansas City Royals

Chi-Sox are still the team to beat. I almost bumped the Tigers up to #3 and then I remembered it's only Leyland's first season and these are still the Tigers. The division is a lot tougher top to bottom though this year and the White Sox will have their work cut out for them.

AL WEST
1. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (Is this their name again? I have no clue what to call them anymore.)
2. Oakland Athletics
3. Texas Rangers
4. Seattle Mariners

No matter what SI says, the A's are not the #2 team in all of baseball (check out SI's MLB preview and you'll know what I'm talking about). They are, however, the #2 team in their division and if they start slowly the offensively loaded Rangers could pass them by.

NL EAST
1. Philadelphia Phillies
2. New York Mets
3. Atlanta Braves
4. Washington Nationals
5. Florida Marlins (AAA affiliate)

That's right, I'm predicting the Braves downfall. Not only will they lose the division, but they aren't even making the playoffs. It has to happen sometime! Right? Huh? Anybody?

NL CENTRAL
1. St. Louis Cardinals
2. Milwaukee Brewers
3. Chicago Cubs
4. Houston Astros
5. Pittsburgh Pirates
6. Cincinnati Reds

I think the Astros are in for a tumble this year as well and the Brewers will rise to respectability (even more so then they already have for no longer having the Selig family as their owners). And yes, the Pirates, inspired by the Steelers Super Bowl title, will not finish in last. Go Reds! (he says while trying not to laugh out loud)


NL WEST
1. Los Angeles Dodgers
2. San Diego Padres
3. Arizona Diamondbacks
4. San Francisco Giants
5. Colorado Rockies

I almost put the Giants in last for spite, but I stopped myself. I just think 3 40 yr. old outfielders and a steroid scandal spell doom for their season. I really think the top 3 will have a heavy race for the division title at the end of the year and everyone will realize that Arizona has quietly built a decent team while no one was looking.

PLAYOFF PREDICTIONS
AL Divison Series
White Sox over Angels
Yankees over A's

AL Championship Series
White Sox over Yankees

NL Division Series
Phillies over Dodgers
Cardinals over Mets

NL Championship Series
Cardinals over Phillies

WORLD SERIES
White Sox over Cardinals

Not a shocking conclusion unless you know my extreme allegiance to the Yankees, but I'm trying to be objective and I just think that in a 7 game series nobody's beating the Sox rotation.

AWARDS
AL MVP - David Ortiz (BOS)
AL Cy Young - Rich Harden (OAK)
AL Rookie of the Year - Kenji Johjima (SEA)

NL MVP - Albert Pujols (STL)
NL Cy Young - Roy Oswalt (HOU)
NL Rookie of the Year - Prince Fielder (MIL)