the pinjockey

The only thing he accomplished was being around longer than Watters (13 seasons to 10). Bettis played 48 more games than Watters and only had 220 more yards from scrimmage and 3 TDs in his career. The TDs are especially skewed in Watters favor, IMO, since he is that close and Bettis has been a glorified goal line back the last few years. Watters was in the top 10 in rushing TDs, yards from scrimmage and total TDs more often than Bettis and was in the top 10 in rushing yards the same amount as Bettis (5 times each). Playoff numbers (for the clutch/crunch time arguement): Bettis: 708 yards and 9 TDs in 13 games (43 yards, 0 TDs in SB appearance) Watters: 1117 total yards and 12 TDs in 11 games (108 total yards, 3 TDs in SB appearance) Again, the only accomplishment Bettis has is longevity which should be commended. But the HOF should be for greatness, not length of existence.

Cunningham is a shame. He had HOF talent, but he got no coaching at all in Philly. Buddy Ryan's classic "go make 5 plays and let the defense win the game" gameplan. I'd go Matthews in a lock and as a homer pick Eric Allen. Am I going to get yelled at for saying Watters has a much better case for the hall than Jerome Bettis?

I think it is damning in and of itself that he is only averaging 26 mpg. That is less than Shaq, whose conditioning has been an acknowledged issue all season. Centers that average at least as many minutes as Curry and their Rebounds per 48 minutes Marcus Camby, DEN 18.4 Ben Wallace, DET 16.3 S. Dalembert, PHI 16.0 Tim Duncan, SAS 15.6 S. O'Neal, MIA 15.5 J. Magloire, MIL 15.1 Emeka Okafor, CHA 14.3 Chris Kaman, LAC 14.0 Kurt Thomas, PHO 13.9 Yao Ming, HOU 13.4 J. O'Neal, IND 13.2 Andrew Bogut, MIL 12.8 Mehmet Okur, UTH 12.7 Zaza Pachulia, ATL 12.7 Z. Ilgauskas, CLE 12.1 Chris Mihm, LAL 12.0 Eddy Curry 11.5 Haven't seen it mentioned anywhere, Steven Hunter was traded to NOK for 2nd round picks in 06 and 07. Looking around on Sixers boards, I see them ripping Billy King for this one. Did it turn out to be a dud signing? Sure. But when he signed, everyone thought he would be fine as an athletic big to spell Sammy for 15-20 minutes a game. No one could have seen him falling behind Michael Bradley and Shavlik Randolph (Randolph is doing what Hunter should have been). To be able to get something for the terrible signing, IMO is the sign of being a decent GM. Not that King is a great GM, but ripping him over this move is using way too much hindsight.

I am interested to see if the voters took Moon's CFL career into account. You throw in those yards and he threw for 70,000 yards in his career. If he was borderline with a few other candidates that may have helped put him over the top. That said, I would have put Thomas in over him. When you have the five year run he had (89-93) plus a few other quality seasons (three more 1000 yard seasons), that is HOF worthy. It isn't like Terrell Davis who had a few years and that was it, Thomas had a legitimate, 10 year RB career.

They would certainly be the weakest of the three, but Nitty has shown in IMO he can at least hold his own. He has struggled lately, but that has been one part exhaustion (stretch with 17 straight starts) and 99 parts noone playing in front of him (or Esche) for the past two weeks. Brodeur and Roy wrapped up into one would not have helped over the past two weeks, when the whole team has had no energy. My biggest concern with him is eased by there being no shootouts in the playoffs. Nitty has been god awful in those.

I'd take Ottawa, but don't rule out the Flyers either. If they can get healthy (minus Primeau, he's toast) they'll have a ton of depth since the Phantoms have been up all year. Either way, I don't see the East being that weak with at least three legitimate teams that can come out.

Well, given my disdain of the Nunez signing, you can imagine how great I think passing up a good signing to leave room for him is. I'll disagree with you on the idea that it is not a make or break signing. If they got anything at all from 3B last year, they make the playoffs (anything respectable and they might be there handily).

I hear what you are saying, but I don't know how it applies in this case. In Branyan's situation he could be had for a song, so there isn't really a need to protect negotiating leverage. I would think he would jump on 400-500 ABs in Philly at whatever price, as opposed to a minor league deal with Tampa. Plus, if the rumblings are anywhere near accurate, Gillick has been begging for a pitcher (starter or back end of the pen) all offseason.

"We gon' hit" Rhodes is reportedly in Philly for a physical. http://www.cleveland.com/newslogs/plaindea..._01.html#108231

Well I guess I have to root for a Michaels for a "proven veteran" reliever deal now. From a mlb.com chat with Gillick I was holding out hope that one move was going to be unconnected to the other, but apparently that was a pipe dream. If it means getting Madson a legit shot in the rotation go ahead and move Michaels for whatever reliever is available. Another brilliant move: Yes, who would ever want those strikeouts when you can trot David Bell out there to throw a .199/.260/.287/.547 line against righties, but by golly he only struck out 53 times in those ABs against RHP. Branyan is obviously not the perfect 3B solution and his Ks would be problematic in the Phils line up, but come on. Compared to the other options currently available this was a no-brainer.

I don't know why you would be concerned about Betancourt for the roids. He pitched fine after the suspension last year. And if Rhodes is all they can get for Michaels, then keeping him should be an option. I think Victorino should be a solid player, but there is nothing wrong with keeping Michaels around just in case he has problems adjusting to the majors full time (relying on Victorino and one of Roberson/Bergeron/Kroeger does concern me a little bit). Plus they could use the legit bench bat. If a month into the season they are proven to need a middle reliever and Victorino is adjusting, they can always revisit a deal since there is always someone on the market.

You seem to be a lot higher on the deal than I am al. I can't see giving up Michaels for a guy who has pitched as few innings as Rhodes the last couple years (avg. 45 1/3 IP/year the last 3 years). The bench is already going to be weak as is. Get something else back with him or do what is necessary to turn it into Betancourt and I think the deal works. But using one of your two trading chips for a older middle reliever seems so....Wadeish.

They are allowed to put Nedved's salary in the cap space Primeau is taking up. There is some "replacement" provision. If Primeau comes back this year they would then be over the cap and have to make room for Nedved (or get rid of him if he doesn't perform). This is where the Flyers are going to make out like bandits having the Phantoms right next door. They have been saving money all season by not actually promoting players, but just bringing them up for the games. Take Umberger for example, the whole fall at least, they were having him practice with the Phantoms and brought him up for games. Each day he practiced with the Phantoms saved $5000 against the cap.

They need some help at forward. The way they are set up right now: 1st line - Forsberg creating everything 2nd-4th line - Succeed through forechecking, can't create to save their lives. If you are solid at defending a forecheck, you can take away 3/4 of the team. While Nedved is unlikely to be the answer, at least he'll bring a little something different to the forwards (different from Brian Savage or Donald Brashear at least). And with the returns of Joni and Desjardins, plus the development of Freddy Meyer they could afford to lose Seidenberg. Disclaimer: Please disregard entire post if this results in RJ Umberger being sent to the Phantoms. If that were to happen Clarke and Hitch should be beaten immediately.

While I think he is a little overrated at 9, I can buy him there. Once you pass him, then you are into the Jacobs/Croyle/Basanez tier of QBs. Detroit could use a QB and I can't see him getting back to them in the second round (Miami, Baltimore, Dallas, Minnesota (if Childress moves Culpepper)) could all be possibilities. Of course, if I am Detroit and I want a QB, I try to move up to get Leinart/Young. Calhoun should have waited until White made his decision. As soon as White turned pro, he was at best going to project as the 4th best RB. Can't see how that is worth leaving early for. He should pray that either Carolina, Pitt or Jax rates him as the 4th best RB and hope he can slip in with one of them.

1. Houston -- *Reggie Bush, RB, USC 2. New Orleans -- Matt Leinart, QB, USC 3. Tennessee -- *Vince Young, QB, Texas 4. New York Jets -- D'Brickashaw Ferguson, OT, Virginia 5. Green Bay -- *Mario Williams, DE, NC State 6. Oakland -- A.J. Hawk, LB, Ohio State 7. San Francisco -- DeMeco Ryans, LB, Alabama 8. Buffalo -- *Haloti Ngata, DT, Oregon 9. Detroit -- Jay Cutler, QB, Vanderbilt 10. Arizona -- DeAngelo Williams, RB, Memphis 11. St. Louis -- *Vernon Davis, TE, Maryland 12. Cleveland -- Chad Greenway, LB, Iowa 13. Baltimore -- Tamba Hali, DE, Penn State 14. Philadelphia -- *Santonio Holmes, WR, Ohio State 15. Atlanta -- Michael Huff, DB, Texas 16. Miami -- *Winston Justice, OT, USC 17. Minnesota -- *LenDale White, RB, USC 18. Dallas -- Jimmy Williams, DB, Virginia Tech 19. San Diego -- *Ko Simpson, DB, South Carolina 20. Kansas City -- *Ashton Youboty, CB, Ohio State 21. New England -- Bobby Carpenter, LB, Ohio State 22. Denver (from Wash.) -- Mathias Kiwanuka, DE, Boston College 23. Tampa Bay -- Derek Hagan, WR, Arizona State 24. Cincinnati -- Claude Wroten, DT, LSU 25. New York Giants -- *Ernie Sims, LB, Florida State 26. Chicago -- *Leonard Pope, TE, Georgia 27. Carolina -- *Anthony Fasano, TE, Notre Dame 28. Pittsburgh -- *Antonio Cromartie, CB, Florida State 29. Jacksonville -- Thomas Howard, LB, UTEP 30. Indianapolis -- *Laurence Maroney, RB, Minnesota 31. Denver -- *Darnell Bing, DB, USC 32. Seattle -- *Chad Jackson, WR, Florida I don't see a chance in hell of Holmes going to the Eagles. If the top 13 shakes out like Kiper thinks (and assuming they don't trade), I would be surprised if they passed on Winston Justice. As I have previously said, if Reid is able to get a guy he think can be a stud OT for the next decade I do not see him passing it up.

Considering a recent message board hoax (Manny for Abreu) threw everyone into a panic for four days, I doubt the rumor mill has any plans of slowing down. At this point I wish Tejada, Ramirez, and/or Abreu would get traded just to end all the speculation. Rumors are fun to debate early in the offseason, but enough is enough.

Should I find it innovative or just sad that NBC, IMO, is doing more in the first period of their first game of coverage to market the stars than the NHL ever has. The "star clock" that shows when the stars, Forsberg/Sakic in Colorado/Philly case, are on the ice is pretty damn brilliant.

Am I the only one who didn't think the trailer looked completely terrible for the movie itself? It looks like a very paint by numbers, kids trapped with a killer on the loose movie. That has a market and if marketed as such could be a fine, forgettable film. Unfortunately, the fact they are using the movie as a vehicle for the wrestler and not the other way around kills the audience. One more note: if they ever want to make money, the name WWE Films must go. The audience immediately crapped on the trailer as soon as their production logo flashed up on screen.

Franklin's BR page http://www.baseball-reference.com/f/frankry01.shtml The sponsor is gold.

What a stupid, stupid contract. From ESPN's story: "The Phillies were attracted to Franklin in part by his durability. He has averaged 31 starts and 201 innings over the past three seasons." Woohoo. He won't even have the common courtesy to get injured when he blows. 200 IP of a 6 ERA coming up. He had a career best GB/FB ratio last year and still allowed 28 HRs in 190 IP (a wonderful 18 HRs in 106 2/3 IP on the road). Dead horse alert: Padilla at $4mil bad, Franklin at $2.6 apparently good?

USC seemed so worried about containing the ground game and preventing the deep ball that they forgot the mid-range stuff. All those 10-20 yard passes! Granted, Young has a very quick release but so many of those yards were racked up by receivers who had no one around them for five yards when they caught it. That tight end was ALWAYS open when Young needed him, it seemed. You think USC would like, put a body on him at some point. I think a lot of this has to do with how great the offensive line played. They weren't able to get any pass rush on Young. With time eventually the middle of the field will open up and he can make easy decisions. Especially when they had to bring the blitz. They still couldn't get to him and it only opened up more of the field. They only tackled Young for a loss once and that only lost one yard. Young played a great game, but I think the O-line is due for a nice chunk of credit.

Week 4 vs. StL - 35 att., 296 yds. Week 7 vs. Denver - 42 att., 214 yards Week 8 vs. Washington - 31 att., 146 yards Week 9 vs. SF - 33 att. 251 yards Week 10 vs. Minn- 48 att., 291 yards Week 13 vs. Dallas - 31 att., 152 yards Week 15 vs. KC - 32 att., 186 yards Week 16 vs. Washington - 41 att., 244 yards IMO, when it comes to the playoffs you have to just root blindly. In the regular season, you can question if a loss wouldn't be bad or that they might need to lose to learn something. But when it comes to the playoffs, I can't see being anything but a rah rah fanboy as the future means nothing. When a SB now and the future becomes gravy.

WHAT?! WHAT!!!? Just taking the first line here instead of quoting the whole post. I couldn't agree with BwG more. It is Forsberg that makes the line run. If he is having an off night, the game is entirely in the hands of the second and third lines. They have a very hard time scoring if it is not a Forsberg set up. Gagne is showing this year that he is a finisher, but I could argue he has regressed in other areas of his game. With playing next to Forsberg, Gagne now appears to be scared to death of actually handling the puck. Everyone being healthy, the second best player on the team is Joni Pitkanen. They have been scraping by in a lot of 1 goal games without him, doing a solid job hiding how much they actually are missing him. This season, in 25 games with him they are at 4.04 GPG, without him 3.07 GPG in 14 games.

I think Cole showed enough that he can be trusted to at least be decent next year. I like Mike Patterson and think he will be a quality player, but they desperately need to get someone else in there with him at DT (Walker is way too inconsistent, Rayburn is a 3rd DT nothing more, Thomas...um he is a nice guy). I think they need to either pray that he falls or move up to grab Ngata. By the way, I have a serious man crush on Garrett Mills out of Tulsa and think he would be a nice compliment to LJ.