Bored

alf, cheer up I'm sure Jackson will get arrested again the in the offseason. Even Artest was at the game tonight, jeez. Great, great game. Never in my wildest dreams would I think they would be up 3-1.

Barkley has always been a great heel. They need to start doubling Howard as he's the only Mav hurting them offensively this entire series. It was huge that Baron got through the half without picking up his third foul.

The Langer Hands? Good Lord. That's why I always hated watching home Braves games; the fans have some dumbass names for fan club's-"Chipper's Chippendales", "Francoeur's Franks", "Langer Hands". Come on, guys, put some thought into it! For years there was a sign in the right field bleachers of the Coliseum that read "Eric's Fox Hounds" for A's cult hero Eric Fox. Trust me we'll come up with something unoriginal for Mr. Langerhans. My personal favorite was always the "Jamie Quirk Fan Club."

After tonight's episode I really can't see any happy ending to the series. I could have done without the visual of Vito Jr. shitting in the shower. The farting sound was enough.

The outfield desperate A's picked up Ryan Langerhans from the Braves for a bag of balls. Might as well just ask RICKEY~ out of semi-retirement.

ESPN & FOX Games to Poison Our Youth MONDAY Yankees (Kei Igawa) at Devil Rays (Casey Fossum), 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPN WEDNESDAY Tigers (Chad Durbin) at White Sox (John Danks), 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN SATURDAY Red Sox at Yankees, 3:55/12:55 PM, FOX Cubs at Cardinals, 3:55/12:55 PM, FOX SUNDAY Cubs at Cardinals, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN

I can't believe ESPN or NFL Network haven't picked this up yet but the 49ers picked up the Colts 1st Round pick for next year in their trade. Granted that pick isn't going to be a great one but at least they are back into the 1st Round next year.

49ers trade out of the 2nd Round with Jarrett, Rice, and Smith all on the board. Makes me think the Darrell Jackson trade will happen. Still waiting to see what picks they got from the Colts.

Yup, NFL Network again this year is going to completely ignore everything after the 1st Round.

A perfect example of why 15 minutes is way too long for picks as teams are just dicking around half the time.

Bye, bye Kwame Harris. Ewww they gave up next year's 1st? Oh fuck they better make the playoffs now so that pick doesn't end being much.

Yesssssssssss Houston doesn't trade, Patrick Willis is coming to the 49ers.

Okay NFL Network's Draft Poetry Jam is so stupid I'm shocked ESPN didn't come up with it. And I highly reccomend people check out Deadspin for their pick-by-pick coverage.

Annnnd we get our first surprise.

There's a rumor that the 49ers will acquire Darrell Jackson from the Seahawks for one of their 4th round picks. That would be a steal if it's true but I can't see why the Seahawks would make such a deal in the division especially for not even a first day pick.

I hope the NFL Network does a better job of covering the post-1st Round picks than they did last year when they were even worse than ESPN when it came to that. It was a shame because their 1st Round coverage was so much more bearable than the usual Chris Berman nonsense.

I really like Denorfia too but he's out for the year so this is purely an organizational move for next year.

I've been lazy with this blog for a few months now so no surprise I'm only getting around to second Draftback before the draft. Decided might as well do one from 10 years ago with the 1997 Draft and it is interesting to look at because one first rounder is in jail and another is dead. Can't beat that combo. 1. St. Louis - Orlando Pace, T, Ohio State Not always glamerous to pick a lineman with the first pick overall but hard to argue with the Rams choice here. Selected to seven Pro Bowls. 2. Oakland - Darrell Russell, DT, USC Lived up to the hype his first few years in the league but drug problems would derail his career among various other issues. Out of the league by 2004 and out of this life by 2005 when he was killed in a car accident. 3. Seattle - Shawn Springs, CB, Ohio State Very good corner all be it a bit inconsistent at times during his career. 4. Baltimore - Peter Boulware, LB, Florida State Would win Defensive Rookie of the Year and was selected to three Pro Bowls. 5. Detroit - Bryant Westbrook, CB, Texas Not a total bust but pretty close to one considering he was a Top 5 pick. 6. Seattle - Walter Jones, T, Florida State A complete bitch when it comes to contracts but he gets the job done. Six Pro Bowl selections. 7. N.Y. Giants - Ike Hilliard, WR, Florida Okay receiver but when you take a receiver this high you'd hope they'd have at least one 1000 yard season and Hilliard has had none. 8. N.Y. Jets - James Farrior, LB, Virginia The Jets had the #1 pick but they traded down. Farrior was considered a bit of a dissapointment while with the Jets but excelled with the Steelers. 9. Arizona - Tom Knight, CB, Iowa It's the Cardinals, so really what did you expect? Three interceptions in his career. 10. New Orleans - Chris Naeole, G, Colorado Big risk taking a guard this high but Naeole has been a solid player. 11. Atlanta - Michael Booker, CB, Nebraska Not very good at all. 12. Tampa Bay - Warrick Dunn, RB, Florida State Has a chance to pass the 10,000 yard mark in rushing this year and one of the true good guys in the NFL. 13. Kansas City - Tony Gonzalez, TE, California Likley on his way to the Hall of Fame but he went to Cal so fuck him. 14. Cincinnati - Reinard Wilson, DE, Florida State Well I guess on the plus side Wilson wasn't horrible like most Bengals' 90's first round picks but still not anything to get excited about. 15. Miami - Yatil Green, WR, Miami Tore his ACL on literally the first day of training camp and never fully recovered. Only played one season in 1999. 16. Tampa Bay - Reidel Anthony, WR, Florida I thought he'd be awesome. I was wrong. 17. Washington - Kenard Lang, DE, Miami Average at best. 18. Tennessee - Kenny Holmes, DE, Miami Another unspectacular Miami end. 19. Indianapolis - Tarik Glenn, T, California Has developed into a very good tackle and selected to the last three Pro Bowls. But another Cal product, bleh. 20. Minnesota - Dwayne Rudd, LB, Alabama A complete beast at Alabama...not so much in the NFL. Best known for his helmet tossing incident in 2002 that cost the Browns a game. 21. Jacksonville - Renaldo Wynn, DE, Notre Dame Mediocre. 22. Dallas - David LaFleur, TE, LSU LaSucked. 23. Buffalo - Antowain Smith, RB, Houston Decent although he has to be one of the worst backs ever to have two 1,000 yard seasons. 24. Pittsburgh - Chad Scott, CB, Maryland Has been a solid DB. 25. Philadelphia - Jon Harris, DE, Virginia Two years. Two sacks. Bust. 26. San Francisco - Jim Druckenmiller, QB, Virginia Tech Jesus tap dancing Christ, I had blocked this pick out of my memory. Horrible. Seriously do not know what the fuck they were thinking here especially with Jake Plummer on the board who seemed like a pefect fit for the 49ers offense at the time. 27. Carolina - Rae Carruth, WR, Colorado Yessss it's everyone's favorite hiring a guy to kill your pregnent girlfriend and get found hiding in the trunk of your car wide receiver. Complete disphit. 28. Denver - Trevor Pryce, DE, Clemson The string of mediocre ends, um, ends here. Four time Pro Bowl selection. 29. New England - Chris Canty, CB, Kansas State Lasted four years and no one really noticed. 30. Green Bay - Ross Verba, G, Iowa I just like the Deadspin entry on him. Other Players of Note 34. Baltimore - Jamie Sharper, LB, Virginia 36. N.Y. Giants - Tiki Barber, RB, Virginia 42. Arizona - Jake Plummer, QB, Arizona State 43. Cincinnati - Corey Dillon, RB, Washington 44. Miami - Sam Madison, CB, Louisville 52. Buffalo - Marcellus Wiley, DE, Columbia 60. Green Bay - Darren Sharper, S, William & Mary 65. Dallas - Dexter Coakley, LB, Appalachian State 66. Tampa Bay - Ronde Barber, CB, Virginia 69. Chicago - Bob Sapp, G, Washington 71. Philadelphia - Duce Staley, RB, South Carolina 73. Miami - Jason Taylor, DE, Akron 91. Pittsburgh - Mike Vrabel, LB, Ohio State 98. Tennessee - Derrick Mason, WR, Michigan State 108. Chicago - Marcus Robinson, WR, South Carolina 229. N.Y. Jets - Jason Ferguson, DT, Georgia

Didn't Baron learn anything from the Tim Duncan incident? I'm still not sure what he or Jackson did to get their first technicals, if anything it should have been Barnes. Oh well at least they get the split.

Good lord the A's outfield is a mess. Not only is Mark Kotsay and Milton Bradley on the DL, Travis Buck and Bobby Kielty are banged up and have been unavailable the last couple days, now Nick Swisher leaves in the first inning today with an ankle injury. Marco Scutaro is now in right field and they have Danny Putnam in center who had to be called up from Double-A due to all the injuries.

Edit: Wrong thread.

Four year old gets JACKED UP at Colorado State scrimmage Don't worry, the kid is fine.

I hope you are all sitting down when I tell you this...Rich Harden and Milton Bradley have both been placed on the DL. Really didn't see it coming with those two.

ESPN/FOX Games to Poison Our Youth MONDAY Mets (John Maine) at Phillies (Freddy Garcia), 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPN WEDNESDAY Indians (Jeremy Sowers) at Yankees (Kei Igawa), 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPN2 SATURDAY Yankees at Red Sox, 3:55/12:55 PM, FOX Cardinals at Cubs, 3:55/12:55 PM, FOX SUNDAY Yankees at Red Sox, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN

This past week the Golden State Warriors ended 13 years of misery by finally clinching a playoff bid. My interest in the Warriors has never come close to my passion for the A's or even the 49ers but I'm excited never the less. As a kid I was a bandwagon Laker fan, which was hard not to do in the 80's, but around age 12 or 13 I dumped my bandwagon ways and started rooting strictly for the local teams then finally adopting the Warriors as my NBA team. I was a freshman in high school the last time the Warriors were in the playoffs and I only have vague memories of their season. I do remember going to their fan fest that year and getting my picture taken with Byron Houston, well because the lines for Chris Mullin and Latrell Sprewell were way too long. Damn little I knew at the time how oddly cool it would have been to have a picture taken with Sprewell although I seem to remember Houston got arrested on gun posession charges later in the year. Now trying to figure out an entry for this I finally found an excuse to use paperofrecord.com. It's a free newspaper archive service that happens to have an expansive archive of old Sporting News. The Sporting News was still some what relevent then, although by then had already lost of a lot of it's prestige, so I figured it'd be interesting to check out an issue from 13 years ago this week and see what was being talked about in the world of sports. Cover Story: Soar Subject. Can Danny Manning and the Hawks rise to occasion? -Hawks had the #1 seed in the East going into the playoffs but they would be pushed to five games by the Heat in the first round and then lost in six to the Pacers in conference semis. Sound Bites: Gorge Steinbrenner, giving yet another manager a vote of confidence: -Hey he didn't lie. He'd fire him after 1995 instead. Who would have thought that 12 years later Steinbrenner hadn't fired another manager since? Showalter has of course been fired from two more jobs since. -The NFL announced for the first time their games would be available by pay-per-view for home dish owners. -In 1994 for the first time those advertisements behind home plate started popping up and in the "Voice of the Fan" section there is one from a fan saying he won't purchase any product shown behind homeplate and urging others to do the same. How'd that boycott turn out? A Lively Debate: Only two weeks into the season, juicy theories abound about the core of the game - the ball itself. -Everyone in baseball seemed to be hitting homeruns to start the season and many thought the ball was juiced. The word "steroids" is never mentioned once in the article. I miss those days. -In a little blurb with an update on the baseball labor situation it is mentioned that Senator George Mitchell is a lock to be the next commissioner, if he wants the job. Guess he didn't want it. -Dave Stewart accuses Barry Bonds of not respecting anyone but himself. Get out! -In the Expos' notes section, pitcher Ken Hill shows why his future wouldn't have been as a GM. Expos were off to a slow 4-8 start and he complained about them trading Delino DeShield to the Dodgers in the offseason and saying that teams didn't fear them anymore. Who did the Expos receive for DeShields? Some guy named Pedro Martinez. -Of course this time of year the NFL Draft was about to happen and they had an article ranking the top defensive players in the draft. Defensive Ends: 1. Willie McGinest 2. Henry Ford 3. Joe Johnson 4. Shante Carver 5. Fernando Smith Defensive Tackles: 1. Dan Wilkinson 2. Bryant Young 3. Sam Adams 4. Romeo Bandinson 5. William Gaines Outside Linebackers: 1. Trev Alberts 2. John Thierry 3. Jamir Miller 4. Rob Fredrickson 5. Ron Woolfork Inside Linebackers: 1. Winfred Tubbs 2. Kevin Mitchell 3. Allen Aldridge 4. Ken Alexander 5. Jermaine Younger Cornerbacks: 1. Aaron Glenn 2. Antonio Langham 3. Dewayne Washington 4. Thomas Randolph 5. Tyronne Drakeford Safties: 1. Toby Wright 2. Marvin Goodwin 3. Van Malone 4. Jason Sehorn 5. Anthony Phillips -They added a quick Top 50 overall rankings. Comment on Heath Shuler: "A cut above Rick Mirer." High praise indeed. -Also they had a mock 1st Round draft. Most interesting pick they had...Charlie Ward 19th overall to the Vikings. Ooookaaay. -Speculation that the Raiders might move to Orlando. Damn, too bad that didn't happen. A's might have had a new stadium in Oakland by now. -Charles Barkley on the Knicks. Knicks would come within one win of winning it all. -Dennis Rodman on the Sonics. Wow, Rodman surprisingly prophetic as the Sonics were shocked by the Nuggets in the 1st round.