Super Bowl Sunday

The Super Bowl is tomorrow at 6:25PM from Miami,Florida. It looks like it will be a very good game. I think this will be a high scoring shootout type game. I could see it being who ever has the ball last will win. I am picking the Colts to win but I could see the Saints winning also. I think Reggie Bush could be the X factor as he could break a punt return or a run or catch some passes and break loose. I think if the Saints play the way they did against the Vikings they may lose big, they can't expect the Colts to turn the ball over 5 times. As in any football game turnovers will be a huge key. I am going to pick the Colts to win 42-35. What does everyone else think, lets discuss the game and get some predictions in the comments section. I am just hoping for a good game as I have no real rooting interest although I would like to see Peyton and the Colts win another one. Does anyone have any thoughts on the halftime show?? commercials?? The pregame with Carrie Underwood doing the national anthem and Daughtry performing??

CC Sabathia and Lebron James

CC Sabathia was at the New York Knicks game last night. He is a big fan of basketball as evidenced by him taking different teammates to Orlando Magic games last spring training. He also took them to a Cleveland Cavs game when the Yankees were in Cleveland over the summer. He now is residing in NJ in the offseason and has been to a couple of Nets games and was here at the Knicks game. He wants his buddy Lebron James to come to NY and is trying to recruit him to the Knicks. I am sure the Knicks fans like this. He said he would come to more games if Lebron were playing in MSG. He also said some interesting things about what appears to be his ex teammate Johnny Damon. He stated that it isn't over yet and Damon could wind up back with the Yankees. He also said that he misses Johnny, that he is a great guy. He stated that once you win a championship you are hungry for more. He stated that he doesn't just want one, he wants five. He seems to have been indoctrined into the Yankee way quickly. The Yankees are never satisfied with one, once they are on top they like to stay there for as long as they can. I think this Lebron James story is fascinating and if CC really has the pull that he thinks he does then he will be even more of a hero in NY. I guess we will see what happens on July 1st when free agency begins in the NBA.

The Calm before the Storm

The title says it all, as we all wait for the snow up here in the Tristate area we can start thinking of spring training. The Yankees truck day will be on Monday. That is the day where all the equipment and stuff needed for spring training is loaded up and heads down to Tampa. Pitchers and catchers will be reporting to spring training in 13 days. Derek Jeter is already down there working out and Joba Chamberlain will be heading there on Monday. I am sure there may be some others. It has been a long cold winter and I am sure we will be getting hammered with snow this month but at least we can think spring with pitchers and catchers about to report to spring training. It is time to get excited and feel the warmth of spring. It has been quiet for a couple of weeks now but we will be geared up now to bring all the news and notes from spring training. I will be posting pictures of spring training as well so come back and check it out once spring training begins. The Minnesota Twins signed Orlando Cabrera. The Toronto Blue Jays signed reliever Kevin Gregg. Melvin Mora signed with the Colorado Rockies for 1 yr and 1.275 million. There aren't many free agents left out there but one notable is Johnny Damon. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. His agent Scott Boras is still claiming there are 3 or 4 teams out there. I haven't seen one that has offered him anything. Detroit has been the chatter lately but they were clearing money off of their books so who knows.

Derek Jeters Contract Status

The New York Yankees will come to a interesting place at the end of this season. Derek Jeters contract is up and they have will have to pay him. He will be 36 yrs old and is a shortstop which is a story for another day. Derek Jeter is the Yankees and will be for the next 50 or 60 years. He will eventually retire but will still be the one that comes out last at the Old Timers Days and will be the best known and most popular Yankee. The Yankees could never let him wear another uniform and he doesn't want to either. The debate will be how much will he get and how much should he get. Derek Jeter may want to act tough with the Yankees although I doubt he will and if he does then what happens. The reason I have brough all this up is because Derek Jeter had a one on one interview with Harold Reynolds. The interview ran on MLB Network last night and if you haven't seen it, it is a good one. Here is the video, enjoy it. Hank Steinbrenner after missing for months now resurfaced today. He had this to say: He like the Yankees move so far and thinks they have a good chance of repeating. Here is what he had to say about Derek Jeter and his contract situation " We will get into all of that eventually. Jeters place in Yankees history is obvious, so I think you can pretty much assume from there." A little side not to this, Jeter is already down in Tampa working out. Those quotes from Steinbrenner came courtesy of the AP and were posted on the great Lohud Yankees Blog by Chad Jennings and Sam Borden.

Joba Rules

The New York Yankees and Joba Chamberlain have gone back and forth between starter and reliever. He was a started last year until the playoffs and stated just the other day he intends on being a starter this season. He was at the Thurman Munson Awards dinner last night and had some things to say. He did state that he wants to be a starter but the Yankees have the final call and if the told him you are going to be a setup man and be ready to inherit MO's job when he retires he would be ready and able to do that. He stated he just wants to be told what to do and then stick with that. Joel Sherman of the NY Post had a article in todays paper about this and stated that Joba is going to be the setup man and Phil Hughes will be the 5th starter. I have been saying this for a while and I agree with it. The thing about Joba is he just seems different out of the pen. I have been in the Joba as a starter camp and I still believe he can be a very good starting pitcher. The thing though that the Yankees couldn't ignore and most of the fans was that he was sitting at 89-91 as a stater and looked tentative. Joba went back to the pen for the postseason and was back up in the high 90's and just looked dominant again. The Yankees will never admit it publicly but I do think they believe he is better suited for the bullpen now. It is very hard for them because of what they invested for him to be a starter. They went through all this Joba Rules stuff and now finally he is ready to be unleashed this season and what do you know he will most likely end up in the pen. The thing is Phil Hughes will have the rules but the Yankees have Sergio Mitre, Chad Gaudin and some others in the minors to cover the 5th starter role and if there is injury. I think the Yankees best team will be with Joba in the pen and Hughes starting. It will be a debate that will be ongoing but I am sure this is what most people want and will be happy as long as Joba executes in this role the way everyone thinks he will.

Mets receive good injury news

Kevin Kernan of the NY Post had a story on Jose Reyes in todays paper. He was at a private workout with Jose yesterday. Jose has been working out at this complex in Long Island and is doing great according to the article. He will be reporting to spring training in about a week or so ahead of everyone to continue his rehab. He stated that he feels great and can't wait to hit a triple. He knows that he is going to be fine this season and credits the trainer who set up the program for him. It is funny though that even as the Mets got good news with injuries there was another bad injury story. J.J. Putz who pitched for the Mets last season claims the Mets never gave him a physical last season after he hurt his elbow and that they screwed the whole injury up. He even implied that they may have told him to hide his injury from the media. The Mets of course said this isn't true. The thing is who believes the Mets anymore when it comes to these kinds of things. I wouldn't worry about that so much as it involves their image which is already damaged. The important thing for the Mets is to get their sparkplug and ignitor back and it appears they will be getting Jose Reyes back. He will go a long way in determining if they can get back to being a good team or not.

Super Bowl Week

The Super Bowl will be upon us on Sunday but this week is the buildup to the Big Game. It hasn't really gotten too entertaining yet. The one big thing is that the defensive coordinator for the Saints basically said they are going to try and hurt Peyton Manning. The other story line so far is colts defensive end Dwight Freeney being injured. The question is will he even play but even if he does how effective will he be. This is definitely a huge break for the Saints. I expect this to be shootout anyway but this will definitely give the Saints more of a chance. I would expect this game to get in the high 30's if not 40's. It hasn't gotten a lot of attention yet but Archie Manning who is the father of Colts QB Peyton Manning used to be the QB for the New Orleans Saints. It is an interesting story even though of course he is going to root for his son. I don't know if this is a story but Saints running back Reggie Bush said he would propose to his girlfriend Kim Kardashian if the Saints won the Super Bowl. He only needs one more win so lets see what happens. There is actually a prop bet on this to see how long it will take if they win.

Baseball News

It appears that the Minnesota Twins and Joe Mauer are close to getting a long term deal done. There were reports yesterday that he had signed a 10 yr extension, they proved to be false but they are talking and most believe it will get done. I would doubt he will get 10 yrs but maybe 7 or 8. I think if this does eventually happen which it looks like it will it is a good thing for baseball. I think these small market clubs need to keep guys like this and I don't think the Yankees and Red Sox should just be chomping at the bit to go to war against each other for his services. The Oakland Athletics and Cincinatti Reds were busy yesterday. The Reds signed veteran shortstop Orlando Cabrera. The Reds traded Willy Taveras and Adam Rosales to the A's for utility infielder Aaron Miles and a player to be named later. Orlando Hudson is expected to sign this week and the Washington Nationals appear to be the frontrunners. The Nationals have made some moves this offseason and appear to be getting better. They also have Stephen Strasburg and the #1 pick this year. They are headed in the right direction.

Alex Rodriguez a World Champion

Alex Rodriguez started off last season n0t so great. He was revealed to be a steroid cheat and then had to go through that interview on ESPN with Peter Gammons that he admitted to doing it. He then went through the press conference in Tampa where all of his teammates came out to support him and I think that is where it all started with the new and improved A-rod. He got through that and then got the hip injury that I believe was a blessing in disguise. He went away all alone to Colorado to recover and contemplate where his life was headed. He admitted in a interview on the YES network last Thursday that he thought his career could be over, all he could think of was Bo Jackson and it was a scary thought. He got to work on his rehab and credits his recovery to his doctor who did a great job. We all know that Alex Rodriguez came back on May 8th and in his first swing launched a homerun. He went through the season with some ups and downs but amazingly finished with 30 homeruns and 100 rbi's. He finished the season with 2 homeruns and 7 rbi's in the last game knowing he needed that to finish with those round numbers. He of course then went on to have an amazing postseason where he would be the postseason MVP, that award was just presented to him last weekend. He now is not only further away from that surgery and didn't need any further surgery but he is a confident man. Alex Rodriguez is now a World Series Champion and a postseason hero. These are things that can never be taken away from him. He said last week in that interview on YES with Kim Jones that he was tired of that label of being a choker and just frustrated with losing in the playoffs so much. He went out and did something about it this past season along with the rest of that great Yankees team. Alex will now go into this season with something he really hasn't had and that is a ton of confidence. It is hard to predict what someone will do but being healthy and confident the skys the limit for A-rod and that is a scary thought for the opposing pitchers. The Yankees I am sure can't get wait to get started defending their title and knowing that they have one of the greatest players of all time on their side and feeling good about himself.

NBA and NHL

I am looking for someone who has knowledge about the NHL and NBA. I also would like someone that is really into it, of course preferably the local teams. The local teams for me are the Nets, Knicks, Rangers,Devils and I guess you could throw in the Islanders. If you are interested in talking about these teams or have knowledge in general about the NBA and NHL I would like to hear from you. I would like for someone to answer me in the comments section under this post and then we can go from there. I look forward to getting some responses and talk to you soon.