L.T. no longer a Bolt

The San Diego Chargers released running back LaDainian Tomlinson today. I have a few brief words to the Chargers organization.
Are you completely stupid or were you just raised to be complete idiots.
Sure L.T. was on a downfall but by no means is he washed out. And what do you plan on relying on Darren Sproles as your No. 1 running back next year, because that plan will fail miserably.
Sproles is a great No. 2 running back with a great skill set for returning kick offs and punts. That is it though.
Maybe the Chargers plan is to draft a great running back out of the draft this year. But with the 28th draft slot, that doesn't seem like a solid plan either.
No L.T. was not great anymore but with the combination of L.T. as the No.1 running back and Sproles as the No. 2, the Chargers had a great backfield.
Now they have a undersized running back with little starting experience, wise choice.
Not to mention this years running back draft class is poor to say the least with only two projected running backs to go in the top 30.
I hope the Chargers have their eye on someone to trade for, otherwise I foresee this move as a huge mistake, despite the fact that L.T.'s production was on the down.

Olympics or Dog Show

I sat down tonight Feb. 16 to watch my beloved SportsCenter only to become furious with the content. The Worlds best athletes are competing in Vancouver, in the Olympic games and SportsCenter is covering a DOG SHOW. Are you serious! Why would anyone watching SportsCenter seriously care about a DOG SHOW! Its a show not a sport. Mean while we have athletes giving it their all in Vancouver to bring home Olympic gold and all we see on SportsCenter is the bottom ticker telling us who won medals. I want highlights. I want interviews.
Give me some Olympic highlights so I don't have to search online to watch reruns of the events I want to see. SportsCenter is suppose to fill the viewer in on the days events and I get nothing on the Olympics. Sorry I can't sit home all day to see every event like I want to.
Get it right SportsCenter. Give me some Olympic highlights.

What is the meaning of MVP?

By now everyone is aware Peyton Manning was named the NFL MVP for the fourth time in his NFL career, becoming the first player to ever achieve this.
Now granted, Manning and the Colts had a good season, but I have some issues with this.
Everyone remember the running back who set record after record this season for the Tennessee Titans and was the main reason the Titans finished the season 8-8, after an 0-6 start. Chris Johnson was only the sixth NFL player to ever rush for more than 2,000 yards in a single season. He set himself above everyone else by setting an NFL record for most yards for scrimmage in a single season. He rushed for more than 100 yards in 11 consecutive games, including a tie for an NFL record with six consecutive games with more than 125 yards.
Manning, what is it you did this year? He threw more interceptions than 26 other NFL starting quarterbacks, ranking himself with the likes of Matt Cassel and Josh Freeman.
Be proud of yourself.
Manning took the least amount of hits of any quarterback, but only achieved the sixth highest quarterback rating in the NFL.
No to mention Drew Brees tops all of Manning's stats, for the exception of total yards. His completion percentage and overall quarterback rating were both higher than Manning's. Brees threw fewer interceptions and more touchdowns all while being sacked more than him.
Now Manning did have a great year as far as yards and completion percentage goes, but I would say just about any quarterback could sit behind the Colts offensive line and have as good of a year as he did. Manning throws to the best tight ends in the NFL, Dallas Clark and Reggie Wayne is arguably one of the best receivers in the NFL. Quarterbacks would love to have his receivers.
Now I am not going to sit here and try to explain to you why I don't believe Manning should have one the MVP award. Oh wait I just did.
Here is my problem with the MVP award. It is no longer about the best player in the NFL, it's about the best player on the best team. It's called the Most Valuable Player because it's the person most valuable to the team. Sure Peyton is a great reason the Colts went 14-2 in the regular season, but with that offensive line and receiving core, most quarterbacks could have produced a good season.
Now please if anyone out there has the explanation for to me as to why Chris Johnson did not win the MVP, please enlighten me. Never mind, don't explain to me why he didn't win the MVP, but how he didn't get a single vote.
"I didn't even get one vote at all (for MVP)," Johnson said. "Like the season I had, it seemed like, 'What more do they want me to do?' That just felt like rookie of the year; it's a quarterback thing I guess."
Well at least Johnson realizes what the MVP award has become. It's all about the most recognizable player on the most recognizable team. The voters for the MVP should be ashamed of themselves for not even recognizing Johnson.
Fine so be it if Manning won the MVP, Johnson should have had some sort of recognition, even if it was a single vote. He was the only unanimous selection to the Associated Press team, but not good enough for one MVP vote.
Get it right Associated Press. Since the AP took control of all MVP voting in 2002 only two running backs have won the MVP award, Shawn Alexander and LaDainian Tomlinson. It's not the award for the best quarterback it's the player who has the most value to his team. Start voting that way.

Packers season ends

For all of you reading this, the Super Bowl opponents have been decided and every Packers fan is wondering what went wrong. Why did another trip to the playoffs end up in disappointment?
First let's look at the positives and what Packers' fans have to look forward to next year and the years to follow.
For all of you Packers or Brett Favre fans who were so angered when Green Bay moved on and gave Aaron Rodgers the starting job, let me first say this. Shut up.
Rodgers was the main reason the Packers finished 11-5 and his numbers were exceptional. Rodgers threw for 4,434 yards, 200 more yards than Favre and scored 35 touchdowns, which is two more than Favre. They both threw seven interceptions and Favre slightly edged out Rodgers in overall quarterback rating.
To give you a better perspective, Rodgers threw for 46 less yards than Peyton Manning. He scored two more touchdowns than Manning and threw nine less interceptions.
Where were Rodgers' MVP votes? Nowhere, but that's a totally different story.
Needless to say the Packers made the correct move because I can just about guarantee if Favre would have taken the hits Rodgers did this season and got sacked 16 more times than he did in Minnesota, he wouldn't be the quarterback. Rodgers took the most hits of any quarterback in the NFL and got up every time, when a lot of quarterbacks would not have bounced back.
Thus I will touch on the first thing the Packers need to find a way to improve. The Packers gave up 50 sacks this season which is way too many. As the season progressed the offensive line did improve and if it can continue to do so this offseason then little change needs to occur. However, not all of the offensive line is young, see left tackle Chad Clifton. A few draft picks for offensive lineman would be a strong suggestion from me, but then again I am just a spectator.
But let's get back to another positive. The Packers have one of the best receiving cores in the NFL, not to mention it is young and deep. No I am not saying Donald Driver is by any means young, but when you put Driver with the likes of Greg Jennings, James Jones, Jordy Nelson and Jermichael Finley, the Packers are set at wide receiver for years to come.
Joining the receiving core, despite the criticism I have had of him in the past, Ryan Grant once again had a quiet but great season. Grant rushed for more than 1,200 yards and 11 touchdowns. For a Packers team that is pass heavy, Grant did his job when called upon and will continue to do so for the Packers in years to come.
Now it's time for the main issue. The Packers defense was overrated all season to say the least and unless drastic changes are made it will become no better next year. Now everyone can sit their reading this and say well our defense had injuries and was ranked No. 1 in the NFL. Good for them, but last time I checked you have a full NFL roster for a reason and our defense fed on the bottom feeders of the NFL. Every time we played an experience quarterback, it was a shoot out to see who could score more.
There are some good things to the defense, but the bad outweighs the good. The defensive line is strong and deep. First round draft pick, nose tackle B.J. Raji began to emerge as an inside power for the Packers and with the return of Mike Montgomery, the Packers defensive line will be solid next year.
An area that many think the Packers are solid in, I beg to differ.
The Packers have an abundance of linebackers, all talented. The problem with the talented linebackers is they are not particularly made for the 3-4 defense scheme. A.J, Hawk is a great linebacker but not a great 3-4 linebacker. His coverage skills are lacking, as is the problem for many of the Packers' linebackers. The so called talented cover linebacker is Brandon Chillar, who on numerous occasions was burnt for big pass plays.
The upside to the linebacker core, rookies Clay Matthews and Brad Jones are solid 3-4 linebackers and will be staple linebackers for years to come.
Nick Barnett is a leader and solid linebacker. He will continue to be the defensive leader for the Packers. Brady Poppinga, I am unsure where his future lies, his cover skills are lacking and his talent is not as superior to previously listed linebackers.
Now you are all probably wondering why I haven't mentioned Packers' defensive star Aaron Kampman? Because I don't believe he is a linebacker. The Packers need to find a place for Kampman on the line. Put him as a defensive end and let him run wild at the quarterback. He is by far the best pass rusher on the team and can not be dropping into coverage when he should be going after the quarterback, it makes me sick. There are plenty of linebackers with the talent to drop into coverage; Kampman is not one of them.
And the number one reason why the Packers defense ruined our chance at a Super Bowl? The secondary.
Thank you Charles Woodson for saving your best years for when you came to Green Bay because he is the only good thing about our secondary including injured Al Harris. Harris you are a bump and run corner, that's it. You can not sit back in a zone or give a receiver cushion because you can not read a route. You jump routes and get burnt on a regular basis.
Everyone remember the Tampa Bay game when Harris was mouthing off to rookie quarterback Josh Freeman? I do. On the next play Harris jumped the hook route and was burnt for a touchdown. One of many mistakes Harris made this season before getting injured. Harris do me a favor, stay injured.
Nick Collins and Atari Bigby I have hope that you will be successful in the 3-4 and being both are still young talents, their future looks bright. But please Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy, do Packers' nation a huge favor and draft some true safeties, instead of trying to convert cornerbacks to play that position. It fails miserably as we all saw.
Now I will give the secondary the benefit of the doubt for Pat Lee and Will Blackman being injured, it did not help the defense. But in the same sense if the Packers are going to send Aaron Rouse packing, send Jarrett Bush and Josh Bell with him and instead draft some more young talented corners, such as Brandon Underwood and Lee.
Next season will be as good as this year, if not better. The Packers are full of young and rising talent that will continue to get better. All in all, the team did exactly what most people should have expected of them after last season. It rebounded well and made the playoffs, which with this young Packers team should be something its fans should get use to for years to come.

Mark McGwire

If I were to start taking steroids the likelihood that my performance would improve is great. Do you understand this Mark McGwire?
If you take a drug there are some effects. Say I decide to smoke some weed, my side effects would be hungry, happy and sleepy.
Your effects were power and exceptional fielding to help you hit 70 home runs and win a gold glove. Steroids are a drug and there are some effects, reduced sperm count, shrinking of testicles, development of breast tissue, baldness, high blood pressure and impaired judgment. Oh and did I mention increase in strength and muscle mass?
Thank god you made a career out of your life playing baseball because if you were teaching the youth of America, well our futures would suck.
But then again you were a "role model" at some point in your life. But that all ended when you lied in front of the Supreme Court. You already ruined your imagine once, you could have prevented it the second time around, but no.
And now in 2010 you decide to relieve yourself of your burden of stupidity for the love a drug that shrinks your testicles. I wonder how your wife Stephanie Slemer feels about that whole occurrence?
If you are going to finally muster up those tiny shrinking testicles of yours to tell the world that you cheated to break records and be good at the sport you loved so much, tell the truth. Now you are just a bigger idiot because no one can believe you didn't realize you would have never hit 70 home runs without the use of steroids. That's like saying a 90-year-old man can get an erection without Viagra.
You cheated and the whole world knew it except for you, but I guess that's just a side effect of steroids, impaired judgment, otherwise known as stupidity.
And what took so long? You sat in front of the Grand Jury in 2005 and lied, you fool. It's the Grand Jury. And now in 2010 just because you are becoming the hitting coach of the team you tainted, the St. Louis Cardinals you decide to tell the truth.
Every time I watch "61*," the HBO movie by Billy Crystal, showing the hell and despair Roger Maris went through to break the original home run record by Babe Ruth, I'll think of you, touching his bat and feeling his spirit with you.
If Maris was there that night you broke his record with steroids, I am sure he would have dropped kick you in your shrinking testicles and then rubbed your shiny bald head.

Super Bowl

Those E-Trade baby commercials are the best part about watching the Super Bowl. Who doesn’t love a baby talking? That’s what I thought, no one. Because it is absolutely hilarious. And did you see the Brett Favre commercial? That fool may be playing in 10 years, and after every season the guy is going to retire and come back. Props to Doritos. Their commercials didn’t suck this year, but shame on you, beer commercials. You all sucked, except maybe the house of Bud Light, and well, the Miller High Life commercial was good, but that was to be expected.
Plus Bourbon Street is going to be partying like its 1988, the first time the Saints made the playoffs. And MVP Peyton Manning throws a pick six to basically hand the championship to the Saints. What wasn’t great about this Super Bowl? The Who?
Super Bowl Champions for the first time in franchise history must be a great feeling for the Saints after defeating the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 in dominating fashion Feb. 7.
The Saints slow start was a mere shadow as the high-powered offense started to gain speed in the second quarter while it trailed 6-10 to the Colts, but the burners hit full thrust coming out of halftime. With one of the gutsiest play calls in Super Bowl history, Saints Head Coach Sean Payton calls for an onside kick to start the third quarter and the Saints recovered, mostly thanks to the lack of hand skills by the Colts.
The Saints capitalized with a touchdown to gain its first lead of the game 13-10. Colts quarterback Peyton Manning had an answer as he drove his team down the field to reclaim the lead 17-13,
but this was the end of the offensive explosiveness the Colts had displayed all season. Well, at least until they gave up to rest their players for a run at the Super Bowl.
How did that turn out for the Colts? Not so good. Yeah, next time do the NFL a favor, try during the regular season because resting your players didn’t help. At least the Saints tried for the undefeated season. Yes, they failed but who won the Super Bowl?
Yeah next time don’t throw history out the door because you think it will better your chances to win the Super Bowl. Now back to the game.
The Saints offense answered the Colts touchdown with a field goal, and later a touchdown before Manning seemed like he would bring the Colts down for a game tying touchdown and possibly the first Super Bowl overtime.
Saints cornerback Tracy Porter had a different plan as he jumped a hitch route and picked off Manning, returning it 73 yards for a touchdown to put the final touches on a Saints victory.
The game was not as high scoring as people had expected due to the underestimated speed that both defenses displayed. However, it was the Saints pesky blitz on a third down that made the difference, as its defense had done so much throughout the season.