A Look Around the Sporting Landscape

A lot has been happening in the world of sports the last couple weeks since I posted one of my patented "flocks of thought pigeons" on you all. But as Josh Beckett would say just before he heads up to the clubhouse for another Old Milwaukee, "It's about that time."

• This whole debacle surrounding Penn State could not be any better for the Athletic Director. There had been a corpse that's been running his team for the better part of a decade now and he can finally be exorcised. By all accounts Joe Paterno wasn't directly involved, but this is his program and if he isn't running a tight ship than this is on him. Getting Ole JoePa to leave will be the best thing to happen to Penn State since, well probably since they hired him. But there is a diamond in the rough here that could make Penn State very viable again.
  
• I wouldn't expect the Red Sox to be active with any free agents until after a manager is selected, unless given an ultimatum with Jonathan Papelbon. The new manager should be brought in around Thanksgiving which will still give the front office plenty of time to deal with the player personnel decisions. I don't like Dale Sveum, I'm not sure why, maybe it's the fact that he shows up to the biggest interview of his life unshaven and looking like he spent the night out with Mel Gibson, but I don't know how I feel about that guy. I don't want a manager who looks and talks like his catchphrase is, "the sun never sets on a bad ass".
  
• The Mike Maddux name withdrawal didn't catch me by surprise, despite how much I wanted him to be the Red Sox next skipper. His brother was drafted by the Cubs, now works in the Cubs front office, so if he goes anywhere to manage it is going to be Chicago or go back down to Arlington to stay close to his family.
  
• It's surprising to me how much I actually miss the NBA. A lot of the things in the NBA piss me off but there aren't many things in sports more exciting than the last 10 seconds of a one point basketball game. The owners are no doubt being stingy, Scrooge McDuck-bastards but they have all the leverage. The owners are STILL making money as we speak despite no season; the players would at least have some leg to stand on in the public's eye if they didn't come off as pompous, uneducated, gun-wielding, self-absorbed narcissists. Some of the more educated players in the league should decertify the union, work out a deal. Kevin Garnett, you should probably let the other 2 legs of the Big 3 handle this and you can sit the next few plays out.
  
• The Royals the last two offseason have really been brilliant. Yes, they traded away a Cy Young Award winner, but their return on Greinke was monumental and have a bunch of young core guys about to come up to the majors together. If they do as I predicted and sign a few veteran starters the fans in KC could really be in for an exciting summer, and perhaps fall. They've already pulled the wool over Brian Sabean's eyes out in San Fran when they fleeced him for Jonathan Sanchez while only giving up Melky Cabrera as the centerpiece. Jonathan Sanchez did see his BB/9 skyrocket this year (5.9) but a lefty with swing and miss stuff is a commodity that not many teams have. The Royals just made one more step towards competing for the Central in 2012.
  
• The Patriots will be fine. For the first time all season I liked the defense, well, for the first 58 minutes. They generated a pass rush tried multiple corner blitzes and for much of the game the pass defense was more than tolerable it was good. The last 2 minutes was a debauchery.
  
• I'm all set with Chad Johnson, anyone else?
  
• Major hat tip to Dick Lebeau. The Patriots would never tell you, but the Steelers game plan completely dumbfounded them, much like the Jets in the playoffs last year. That being said, what happened to Belichick being the master of the halftime adjustment?
  
• The only player in the NHL I might consider trading Tyler Seguin for in the entire NHL is Steven Stamkos. No one else.
  
• I know that numbers say that 80% of the time the Top 8 teams going into November are the teams that make the playoffs but I think someone poked the Bear with a stick, pun completely intended, and they are about to unleash hell on everyone.
  
• If the Red Sox are going to explore the trade market I think that if you want to predict it, it needs to be outside the box. Ben Cherington doesn't need to make a "splash" but he needs to make an impact that will cement himself. Look for something big, but for a player you probably weren't talking about like a Jair Jurrjens and Martin Prado trade or something along those lines.
  

As always if you are looking for answers you can certainly shoot me an email or if you don't want to talk to me, and let's be honest who does, shoot the rest of the gang something on our Facebook Fan Page.

Stay Tuned

Norton