Sports Quick Hits

Lowell
It came down a couple days ago that World Series MVP had resigned with the Boston Red Sox. The contract is somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 years, 37.5 million dollars. Apparently he left one extra year at 12 mil on the table in Philly to stay with the Sox. Personally I think 12 mil+ for a 36 year old third baseman is a little high. But what are you going to do? He was the MVP and obviously there was a market for him. It’s a great story and I’m very happy for Lowell. Mike is a true class act who has always just gone about his business without much fanfare. He’s a cancer survivor and his comeback is an outstanding story.

Stoudemire
I saw a blurb (and that’s all it was) on the A.P. wires concerning Phoenix Suns forward Amare Stoudemire. Apparently Amare, who missed the entire 2005-06 season, is having recurring pains in his surgically repaired knee. I found it ironic that it really was just a quick blurb because I’m here to tell you it will be a huge story within the near future. Maybe not this season but before too long it’s going to start hindering his play. Microfracture surgery, which Amare had, is an extremely serious procedure that almost never leaves the recipient with anywhere near the athleticism he/she once had. Jason Kidd, Chris Webber, Allan Houston, and a score of other NBA players have testified to the fact that post-surgery their legs just wouldn’t do what they had before. The Suns are in trouble and better hope that they win the title this year because the future is dark. Nash is getting old and his idiot of a coach STILL hasn’t figured out how to manage his minutes. The rest of the team is built around perennial malcontent Shawn Marion and the freakish athletic ability of Amare. But when that athleticism starts to go, Amare will not be a shell of himself. Some players can transition as they age (or get injured) from depending on athleticism to depending on skill and smarts. This is not going to happen with Amare. He was BADLY outplayed by a much younger Dwight Howard in the Olympic qualifying, his motivation is in serious question, his development has stagnated over the last 3 years, and he’s still as dumb as a rock (and not a cool rock like a prism or a geode, I mean like a normal rock that you kick down the street). Not a good future for Amare.

The Pats
This is the best team in the history of the NFL and it’s not even close. The Patriots absolutely DOMINATE everyone that stands in their path. That defense may be a little shaky but it should be noted that the one time they needed them (Colts game) they stepped up and shut Peyton Manning down. I was watching the Sunday Night Football game this week and marveled at how quickly New England could pile up points, not just for themselves but for my fantasy team as well. I have Brady and Wes Welker in my lineup each week and I’m absolutely KILLING the competition. Example: Patriots get the ball back on their own 20 with a little over 2 minutes left in the half. They marched down the field with mechanical precision that the Terminator would be proud of to score. I just sat watching and counting, “There’s one point, there’s two, there’s four…” 22 points they scored for me. On one drive! Amazing.

Mavs Comeback
In the first quarter and a half of last night’s Mavs-Raptors game, Dallas looked TERRIBLE. I was ready for Avery to pull Dirk and the starters and rest them for tonight. It was the worst defense of the Avery era and the offense was just as bad. And then they decided they didn’t feel like losing tonight. Devin Harris went NUTS to end the half and single handedly knocked the deficit down from 24 to 14 at halftime. In the 3rd quarter the Mavs were fighting, trying to get back into it and kept pulling within 2 only to have it pushed back to 4 or 6. And then Mr. MVP himself made an appearance. Dirk came up BIG TIME, playing great defense on one end and then hitting 4 straight 3s to end the quarter. It was amazing, no one was going to stop him. They cruised through the 4th and at the end you could see the looks of exasperation on the faces of Sam Mitchell and the Raptors. It should be noted that this was the second biggest comeback in Mavericks history (24 points) tied with a mid March game in 2006 when they came back from the same deficit, and oh by the way, the opponent that night was also the Raptors. Poor Canadians.

Priest Holmes
Today after yet another spinal injury, Chiefs running back Priest Holmes announced his retirement. I wish him all the best and I have to say he made the right choice. You don’t want to wake up in 5 years and not be able to walk because you took one too many hits to the head. Holmes was always the underdog, sitting behind Ricky Williams at Texas, behind Jamal Lewis in Baltimore, and then sitting behind Larry Johnson at Kansas City. Yet everywhere he went he found a way onto the field and was a BEAST of a runner. He set the record for most touchdowns in a season in 2003 (later broken by Shaun Alexander and LT) and led the league in rushing 3 times. Great career for a classy guy, sorry to see him go.

72 Dolphins
I wrote about the sour grapes of the 72 Miami Dolphins a couple weeks ago and want to reiterate their sorryness once again. Not only are the obnoxious and cranky, they are also overrated. I heard some stats today that really put their 17-0 Super Bowl season into perspective. In that season the Fins didn’t play a SINGLE team that made it to the playoffs. The combined winning percentage of their opponents was 36.7 percent (terrible) and only 2 teams on their schedule had winning seasons. In addition, they often trailed in their games and barely beat a handful of truly awful teams. The Patriots, as noted above, are MOWING through the competition. As I said before, I hope the Dolphins enjoyed last year’s champagne because it’s the last time they’ll get to toast their record.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!