Cheech Tremendous

You mean Fridays? TNA is on Thursday last time I checked.

ESPN fired Sean Salisbury. Or maybe he quit. Either way, he gone. From the Star Tribune:

I wouldn't watch Austin-Hogan if it happened tonight on free television. Maybe I don't speak for the majority of former fans though.

Forgive me for a dullard, but since I am not in touch with the Chicago sports community, what is the actual story here and why should we be outraged? Who has determined that Wrigley needs updating? If updating is needed, why would it take place during the season (Fenway is in like year 5 of its remodel and they haven't missed one home game)? How does this factor into the sale of the team and stadium? What are the viable alternatives? I just don't understand the politics of what is going on, especially because I can't find an article about it anywhere.

Every wrestling fan orders Mania anyways. How many more people would be interested in seeing a match that hasn't meant anything in 5-10 years? I'm not saying Mayweather will draw more, but at least he appeals to a new demographic that might actually pump money into the product.

Bringing in Mayweather has less to do with a casual audience and more to do with the 2.4 million people he drew for a PPV fight with De La Hoya. This guy has been on cards that have doubled the number of buys of WWE's best drawing shows. It's debatable how much of that audience can cross over, but Mayweather is the biggest legit draw that they could get.

I opened this fully expecting it to be a dustinbeaverton thread. The Rock doesn't owe anyone jack shit. He had a great wrestling career and has now moved on to better endeavors.

But how often does a team go from shitty enough to miss the playoffs to title contender in one season? It's not that often that a team with no playoff experience will be good enough to have a shot at winning a couple post-season series. How far did playoff experience get Dallas and Miami last year? Where was the playoff experience for the Pistons against the Cavs? The Jazz sure gagged their way to a Western Conference Finals appearance. Look it doesn't hurt to have players who have played an extended season, or a coach who knows how to prepare a gameplan for a slowed down playoff atmosphere, but the notion that just being in the playoffs better equips you is overrated and cliche.

Baseball America released their top 100 prospect rankings today. The full list is available from their website. Here's the top 20. 1- Jay Bruce, OF - Reds 2- Evan Longoria, 3B - Rays 3- Joba Chamberlain, P - Yankees 4- Clay Buchholz, P - Red Sox 5- Colby Rasmus, OF - Cardinals 6- Cameron Maybin, OF - Marlins 7- Clayton Kershaw, P - Dodgers 8- Franklin Morales, P - Rockies 9- Homer Bailey, P - Reds 10- David Price, P - Rays 11- Travis Snider, OF - Blue Jays 12- Matt Wieters, C - Orioles 13- Jacoby Ellsbury, OF - Red Sox 14- Andrew McCutchen, OF - Pirates 15- Jake McGee, P - Rays 16- Brandon Wood, SS/3B - Angels 17- Wade Davis, P - Rays 18- Mike Moustakas, SS - Royals 19- Elvis Andrus, SS - Rangers 20- Fernando Martinez, OF - Mets

It's correlation and not causation. The normal trajectory of a team is to get better over a few years, with players maturing and free agent acquisitions filling out a roster. Gaining playoff experience is just part of the process, but I don't think it plays any role in their ability to win in the postseason. I don't think a team stands a better chance just because a player has been in the playoffs before.

Knicks basketball... It's fantastic!

Playoff experience is one of those old writer cliches that has little application in real life. I don't think a team gains any special ability because they have players who have been in that situation before.

By the way, let me point out that I am sooo happy that we get to hear arrogant Lakers fans back on their high horse this spring when the playoffs roll around. I know a lot of people around this board dislike the Pats and Yankees, but growing up on the west coast there was nothing worse than a conceited Lakers fan. Uggh.

The ESPN ticker said the Vikings are getting a 6th-round pick. The article I read called it a sixth round pick as well. That whole Moss trade sure worked out nicely for the Vikings, didn't it?

Ha... sucks for the Rockets. There's your number 9 seed and the dream of a 50-win team missing the playoffs is over.

What was the point in closing the Benoit thread? Yeah it sucked, but it was fun watching people continually argue about something that happened 8 months ago with every single beaten to death since then.

I checked a couple boxing websites and they seem to be treating the news as a joke and an act that tarnishes both Mayweather and his legacy. If Mayweather isn't able to draw in boxing fans, who will he bring in?

Aren't CW and MyNetwork in about the same number of households? I thought I recently read that they both have about 95% coverage in the US.

I have a hard time believing Mayweather is getting that much for his appearance. He got $35 million for the De La Hoya fight, but that was the highest grossing PPV in history. He would need to secure at least 1 million additional buys to get that kind of money from WWE. I couldn't find it on the Yahoo Sports page, but then I realized that you meant the actual Yahoo homepage. That's some big time publicity.

The Stat Mongers select: Conor Jackson, 1B and his eyebrows

That just seems petty.

I'm not sure that's correct. The Rays have a miniscule payroll, but I don't think it's because they are overly cheap. They've just never seen the upside in paying for marginal upgrades when there was no hope of competing and they had promising youngsters at every position who needed to play. I could easily see theme extending their payroll in the $60-$80 million range, especially with a new stadium on the way.

Catchers are notorious for being late developers. The fact that Navarro had a good second half at age 24 is a sign that he could still develop into a better than average player. Still, signing Piazza to DH for 80 games, catch for 40 and play 1B for another 10-15 might not be the worst use of resources.

They don't want to sign all three. They've expressed interest in bringing in Bonds or Piazza for DH and Lofton to try and win an outfield spot. Those are good low cost, high reward type signings. A team like Tampa Bay can take a gamble on some of these bargain guys. What's the lol for?

In fairness, they did get a great deal in return. Andrew Miller could be every bit as good as Willis within two seasons. In all fairness, Andew Miller could be better than Willis this season. Giving up Willis was the smart move given his decline over the past few seasons. He may well bounce back, but Florida was savvy in moving him at the right time to maximize their return. 2008 Projections: Willis - 200 IP, 4.55 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, 123 K Miller - 170 IP, 4.52 ERA, 1.48 WHIP, 146 K