I apologize for the lack of updates lately. With Greg's departure, I've been pretty busy over the past couple of weeks. Thanks for the support and I hope you all continue to enjoy the show. - DS
Swish: Danny Granger
It was a bit of a surprise for me to see Danny Granger win the NBA’s Most Improved Player Award earlier this week. Though Granger improved in just about every offensive category – most notably becoming the 5th leading scorer in the league – I felt like I wasn’t surprised with what he did this season. Granger has now increased his scoring average by at least five points per game in each of his first four seasons in the NBA. As a rookie out of New Mexico, Granger averaged 9.7 points per game, then bumped that to 13.9 during his sophomore campaign. He made another significant leap into 2008-09, jumping from 19.1 ppg to 25.8. If this trend continues, Granger should be dropping 50+ a game by the 2014-15 season (realistic). Outside of the numbers, Granger has become the unquestioned team-leader and face of the Pacers' franchise. He made his first All-Star appearance, and earned an invite to the USA Basketball camp this summer, which will give him a chance to potentially play on the 2012 Olympic team in London. Granger has talked to us on the show about working to improve his defense, which is an area in which he still needs improvement. Though he’s already become a prolific NBA scorer and cemented himself as a star player, Granger will need to improve his all-around skills before he reaches superstar status.
Now every casual NBA fan knows the name "Danny Granger"
Brick: Manny Ramirez
The only thing worse than getting caught using performance-enhancing drugs is botching your attempt at an excuse or explanation. Literally minutes after news of Manny’s positive test hit the news, super-agent Scott Boras was playing damage control. Originally, Boras said that his client “didn’t know what he was taking”. Once word leaked that Manny had taken female fertility drugs, that excuse went right out the window. Unless Manny wanted to get pregnant (doubtful, even for Manny), the only possible reason for taking female fertility drugs was to boost back up his testosterone following a steroids cycle. I haven’t exactly been shy regarding my feelings about Manny Ramirez, but I’m being honest when I say that I was upset by this news. Despite his antics and propensity to show-up pitchers following home runs, Manny was one of the few perceived “clean” guys. Seeing as how Ramirez has so much natural ability, it was hard to believe that he would have to resort to performance-enhancing drugs. Now in the last six months, both Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez have had baseball fans balking at giving any player the benefit of the doubt anymore. If A-Rod and Manny have used, it’s pretty foolish to assume guys like Ken Griffey Jr. and Albert Pujols didn’t. It’s a shame that some clean guys are going to get lumped in with the cheaters. Sadly, at this point it’s guilty until proven innocent.
Air Ball: The NBA, Mark Cuban, Kenyon Martin et al.
I don’t mind when things get heated and nasty during the NBA Playoffs. It’s enertaining to see teams mouthing off at each other, playing physical, and adding some intrigue to their matchup. That being said, I have a really low tolerance for profanity and other foolishness, especially in front of fans. The whole story starts with some sort of a confrontation between Mavs owner Mark Cuban and Kenyon Martin’s mom. Apparently after Game 3, Cuban made a remark about the Nuggets being “thugs” and directed that statement specifically about Kenyon to his mother, who was sitting courtside. Needless to say, Kenyon didn’t take too kindly to this, but decided to remedy the problem by acting like a complete jerk. During Game 4, Martin screamed profanities at Mavericks’ fans from the press table, nearly hopped into the stands, cursed out a group of reporters, and made physical threats towards Cuban. I don’t mind these things when just players, coaches, or owners are involved, but when fans (some of whom are children) have to see a display like that, it’s unacceptable. The NBA’s inability to nip this in the bud before the situation escalated has drawn my ire as well. Since he can’t handle acting like a big boy, Mark Cuban should be disallowed from joining his team on the court for the rest of the postseason. I also believe that Kenyon Martin should've served at least a one game suspension for his display. Uncalled flagrant fouls, officiating gaffes, paltry punishments and now profanity-laced tirades? The NBA is letting these Playoffs get out of hand.
So, Junior Tier 1 Hockey doesn’t generally garner headline attention - that’s understandable. But we would be remiss to not mention a team that has brought the city of Indianapolis their first pro sports championship since Super Bowl XLI. After dropping Game 1 in their best-of-five set with Fargo, the Ice took over their championship series, outscoring the Force 16-2 over the next three games to capture their first Clark Cup Championship. Brett Bennett gave up just four goals over the course of the series, and forward Mike Cichy earned Playoff MVP honors after tabulating 25 points during the postseason. Don’t forget about the job that head coach Jeff Blashill did with this team. Blashill joined the Ice last year after a six-year assistant stint at Miami (OH), who went all the way to the National Championship game just a few weeks ago, and immediately guided the team to a title in his debut season. The Championship was Indiana’s first as member of the USHL and the first title for the franchise since winning the 2000 Miron Cup in the CHL as the Indianapolis Ice.
Regardless of their level, the Ice were a great story this year
Brick: Andretti-Green Racing
The weather didn’t do drivers too much of a favor on Pole Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. However, gusty winds and lower-speeds didn’t seem to affect all of the premiere teams. Four of the top five qualifying spots for the 93rd running of the Indianapolis 500 are occupied by superpowers Team Penske (Helio Castroneves on the pole, Ryan Briscoe 2nd) and Ganassi (Dario Franchitti 3rd, Scott Dixon 5th). It was a disappointing qualifying weekend for Andretti-Green, which is regarded as the only other team that has a shot at winning the race. Tony Kanaan motored Hideki Mutoh’s multi-colored backup car to 223.612 mph – good for the outside of Row 3. Teammate Marco Andretti will started 8th, Danica Patrick 10th, and Mutoh is on the inside of Row 6. TK still has as good of a shot at anyone at claiming his first Borg-Warner trophy, but I wouldn’t regard anyone else from AGR as a serious contender. It’s an obvious drop-off from the trio of the Penske, Ganassi, and AGR teams, but so far this season, Andretti-Green is a distant third among those top three.
Air Ball: Alex Cejka
There are collapses and then there are... COLLAPSES. The largest final round lead in the 36-year history of the The Players Championship was gone in just five holes on Sunday for poor Alex Cejka. The choke job took just under an hour. Cejka was five-over through six holes and proceeded to shoot a 7-over 79 to finish seven-strokes behind winner Henrik Stenson. Being paired with Tiger Woods probably didn't help matters - and speaking of choke, how about Tiger's final round? Getting back to Cejka, he went from five strokes up to seven strokes back in one round. According to my math (IU grad), that's a 12-stroke swing! I couldn't find much historical information on epic collapses, but I have to assume that a 12-stroke swing for a third round leader is near record-status. You have to feel for Cejka, who hadn't won a Tournament of any kind since 2002, but blowing a five-stroke lead in six holes is inexcusable for a professional golfer.
Cejka's leaderboard free-fall was complete early Sunday
The Shots Fantasy Update:
Teixshredder, 68 points - from last (12th) to 3rd place!
My squad has since cooled off a bit, but earlier this month my team had a huge, ridiculous, swine-flu-pandemic-level week. I had strong outings from my starting staff including Yovani Gallardo (W, 8 shutout IP, 11 K), Matt Garza (W, 7 2/3 shutout IP, 10 K), Felix Hernandez (W, 8 shutout IP, 9 K) and Justin Verlander (2 Ws, 14 IP, ER, 20 K).
All in all, here is my cumulative pitching numbers from two weeks ago:
Manny's suspension hurts me, but I decided against straight cutting him. Instead, due to strong first base depth (Adrian Gonzalez, Chris Davis), I decided to ship Joey Votto and Fausto Carmona in a deal for Kosuke Fukudome and Freddie Sanchez. This gives me OF depth to replace Manny and a much-needed 2B starter.
DryH***ingIsRacing, 276-point week – 1st and 3rd place (in two leagues)
For the third week in a row, I had the race-winner (Mark Martin) on my bench. Overall, it was a C+ plus week, saved mostly by strong performances from Jeff Gordon (97 pts) and Martin Truex Jr. (90 pts). Sam Hornish started 4th, but finished 30th and Kasey Kahne struggled despite leading 45 laps.
Wii Golf Superstar, 144-point week – 1st place
I was obviously pleased to see C group starter Henrik Stenson shoot that final round 66 and score a season-high 76 points for my team. Unfortunately, the 2nd place team in our league had the same exactly lineup as me so I was unable to add any distance between my team and the rest of the group.
The Shots YouTube clips this week:
Sports related -
Tremendous save by Graham Rahal during Sunday's practice. Not only did Rahal keep the #02 McDonald's car intact, he also probably saved John Andretti from serious injury.
Non-sports related -
Yeah, I'm white. Whatever. If you don't at least nod your head to this, then you have no pulse. Side note: check out the #44 Syracuse jersey riding shotgun at 2:32. That was the legendary number Jim Brown, Ernie Davis and countless others wore when Cuse was actually good at football. It was retired after Rob Konrad was drafted in 1999.
The Shots What to Watch this week:
Preakness Stakes, Saturday
It's hard to believe that a 50-1 underdog winner of the Kentucky Derby can realistically compete for the Triple Crown. Therefore, I'm not going to go with the jockeyless Mine That Bird this weekend (though at 6-1 odds, he's a good money bet). Instead, I'll take favorite-turned-underdog Friesan Fire to save some face from a disappointing Derby finish.
Indy 500 Final Qualifying, Saturday
The final ten spots are up for grabs. Several notables are still hoping for spots including rookie Robert Doornbos (Newman-Haas-Lanigan), Milka Duno, and John Andretti.
The Shots Chick Pick this week: Lo from The Hills
When in doubt, pick someone from The Hills cast.
See you next week.
You can listen to Derek every weekday in The Zone from 3-6 PM on XL 950!
