Snakes In My Pants

With the NFL season set to kickoff Thursday night, I thought I’d put out the call to my fellow SiMP authors and come up with our predictions for the 2008 season.

AFC East:
New England  (11-5), New York Jets (8-8), Miami  (6-10), Buffalo  (4-12)

AFC North:
Pittsburgh (10-6), Cleveland (9-7), Cincinatti  (6-10), Baltimore  (3-13)

AFC South:
Jacksonville  (12-4), Indianapolis  (11-5), Houston  (8-8), Tennesee  (6-10)

AFC West:
Denver  (10-6), San Diego  (9-7), Oakland  (5-11), Kansas City (1-15)

NFC East:
Dallas (14-2), Philadelphia (11-5), New York Giants (8-8), Washington (5-11)

NFC North:
Minnesota (10-6), Green Bay (8-8), Chicago (5-11), Detroit (4-12)

NFC South:
New Orleans (13-3), Tampa Bay (9-7), Carolina (7-9), Atlanta (6-10)

NFC West:
Seattle (10-6), Arizona (7-9), St. Louis (6-10), San Francisco (4-12)

Super Bowl:
New Orleans Jacksonville vs. Dallas

Winner:  Dallas

MVP: QB Tony Romo, Dallas
Offensive ROY:  RB Jonathan Stewart, Carolina

As many have suspected, Theo and the Red Sox really had no choice but to trade Manny or face insubordination and perhaps worse the entire season. From this morning’s Boston Globe:

Of all the Manny moments in Boston, the last ranks as one of the most confounding. Within an hour after Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein informed Manny Ramírez he had been traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers Thursday, Ramírez’s agent, Scott Boras, called the Sox back, according to a source with direct knowledge of the negotiations. If the Sox dropped the option years on his contract - which they had agreed to do if they traded him - Boras said Ramírez would not be a problem the rest of the season.

For the Sox, the source said, Ramírez’s pledge of good behavior only served as a tacit admission that his disruptive conduct of the last couple of weeks had been calculated, and they had had good cause to suspect more was in the offing if they did not trade him. The Sox told him thanks but no thanks, what was done was done, and pack plenty of sunscreen.

Read it all..

According to Will Caroll of Baseball Prospectus, Manny may have played his last game for the Red Sox tonight:

Marlins get Manny Ramirez, one prospect (Red Sox), and cash (likely covering Ramirez’s remaining salary)

Pirates get Jeremy Hermida and three prospects (two Marlins, one Red Sox)

Red Sox get Jason Bay and John Grabow

John Grabow is a very awful lefty reliever and Jason Bay is an inconsistent but talented outfielder who is having a pretty decent year.  He’s also young and a better defender.  But still - not the kind of deal I get excited about.  This smacks of Theo having no choice and taking the best of what they can get.  The Marlins and Pirates on the other hand make out like bandits.  Manny has a club option left and if the team owner isn’t tight fisted he’s a major offensive threat in the NL East.  This might just have given the Marlins the divison.

Looks like the Raiders’ actions have resulted in the Patriots getting yet another potential steal.  Jordan started out last year with a bang, but his back gave out yet again.  This gives the Patriots a talented stable of three very productive, but somewhat brittle, running backs.  I like the move.

From the Boston Globe’s The Buzz blog…

Steinbrenners ready to make a splash

The New York Daily News reported that the Yankees’ brain trust will meet Thursday in Tampa to discuss potential moves before the trade deadline. According to a Daily News source, the Steinbrenner brothers are “ready to do whatever they need to do at the deadline. They want to make a run this year.” The source also said that the Steinbrenner brothers have been pleased with the recent play of the Yankees and they want to show the players that they are committed to winning this year.

Looks like the loss of Phillip Daniels caused the Skins to act quickly:  Jason Taylor is now a Redskin and all it cost the Washington was a second-round pick in 2009 and a sixth-rounder in 2010.  Taylor may be on the downside of a Hall of Fame career, but talk about adding an impact player at little to no cost to the franchise.  Looks like Snyder and company have finally traded picks wisely.

I’ve often tried to write something funny about one of my talentless fantasy teams, but I don’t think I’ve ever been able to pen something as amusing as the Onion’s latest: Fantasy Baseball Owner Rips Team In Media.

Mendicus continued his heated rant, calling shortstop Felipe Lopez a “talentless hack whose multiple position eligibility is the only thing saving his ass from waivers,” claiming that pitcher Ian Snell is “killing [him] in WHIP, absolutely killing [him],” and encouraging outfielder Brad Hawpe to “go eat shit.” He then accused the whole team of not stealing enough bases and “not playing like true Beat With Uggla Sticks.”

Wake up, National League: Hank Steinbrenner is talking to you:

“My only message is simple. The National League needs to join the 21st century,” Steinbrenner said in Tampa, Fla. “They need to grow up and join the 21st century.

“Am I (mad) about it? Yes,” Steinbrenner added. “I’ve got my pitchers running the bases, and one of them gets hurt. He’s going to be out. I don’t like that, and it’s about time they address it. That was a rule from the 1800s.”

Read it all..

Everyone’s favorite gap-toothed linebacker is hanging up his spikes.  Maybe it’s so he can work on his second career as a handyman?

After a very disappointing 2007 season that saw the Orange miss the NCAA tournament, the Syracuse men stormed back in 2008 to take the school’s record 10th NCAA D1 lacrosse title with a 13-10 win over Johns Hopkins on Sunday in Gillette.

The championship game wasn’t as close a contest as the semi-final game that Syracuse had to take into double-overtime against Virginia.  The Blue Jays of Johns Hopkins actually started out with a 5-3 lead on the Orange, but after the score was knotted at 5-5, the Orange never trailed and pretty much dominated the game.  The Hopkins netminder was absolutely brilliant, stopping a couple of point-blank shots that by all rights should’ve scored but for his amazing play.

So while Boeheim’s boys can’t seem to buy their way into the field of 64 and the football team is trying to stay out of the bottom 10 teams in all of D1, it’s good to know that there’s at least one thing that remains constant - the men’s team at Syracuse remains the dominant program in NCAA D1 lacrosse.

Congratulations!