Here at Clipboard Duty, we have been a little slow through the summer. Basically, we have been waiting for football season to start. The time has come for our writers to put their necks out and tell you what will, won't, and may happen for this season.
We will have several writers, both Clipboard writers and guests, preview the NCAA and NFL season's coming up. And during the season, yours truly will be doing a weekly NCAA post, while Tyson (I believe) will be doing his NFL thing.
We will do our best every week for you folks that read us... all.. 18 of you. If you have something to contribute, do not be afraid to share what you feel.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
Lebron James did nothing wrong and owes the City of Cleveland nothing!
Mere seconds after Lebron James uttered the line, "This fall, man this is very tough, um, this fall I'm going to take my talents to South Beach and join the Miami Heat," The city of Cleveland busted out in complete shock and anger, feeling as though they were just completely betrayed by James as he made his "Decision" on a 1-hour ESPN special, or spectacle. It is clear that those in Cleveland, and even many around the country feel as though James owed the Cavaliers something.Why and what would James owe to the Cavs and the city of Cleveland? Did he somehow owe it to them to stay there and resign, and continue to play with lesser talent surrounding him? Did he somehow owe it to them to stick it out with a team that for 2 straight years had the best regular season record, but in both instances did not advance to the NBA Finals? And did he somehow screw over Cleveland with this decision to join the Heat, leaving them hanging with no real contingency plan?
The answer to all of that is a resounding ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!
James owed the city and the franchise (and now especially majority owner Dan Gilbert after this childish rant) nothing at this point. He did not owe them to stay with the team and continue to try and win a championship there. He had earned himself the right to decide the best place for himself to play, and he took that right. He gave Cleveland 7 good years of his life and career, and turned a sad franchise around and put them back on the map. If anything, the Cavs and Gilbert owed him more to give him a better chance to win a championship, and they failed to deliver.
After a disappointing end to a 2008-09 season where James and the Cavs were ousted earlier than expected by the Magic, the Cavs "tried" to give James some better surroundings, and I emphasize the word tried because they brought in a seemingly 78 year old Shaquille O'Neal, who at this point, is little more than a cutout of his former self, still a huge body in the middle, but nowhere near the dominant force he was when winning titles with the Lakers, or even near the level when he won in 2006 with Dwyane Wade and the Heat. Mid-season, they brought in Antawn Jamison, who throughout his career has been little more than a highlight reel, never showing any signs of being a winner or a true cog to a championship team. Let's not all get to excited at once.
Fact is James is arguably the best player in the league, and in this blogger's mind, far and away the best player, not taking anything away from Kobe, and did much more than he owed by seriously considering the Cavs offer to return, but he chose a situation that he feels is best for him, sentiments felt by many others, playing alongside Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami, and since when is it wrong for a player to do what's right for him?
Reporters, Columnists, fans and the like in and around Cleveland feel as though he slapped them in the face, and in a small way he did, but only because this was made out to be a big spectacle with the ESPN special, but don't for a second think that ESPN did not want every last part of that as well. Many feel like James is taking the cheap road here, and bailing on his situation and unfinished business, and comparing him to players like Kobe and Dirk, who stuck with their teams when in similar situations.
Well let's take a quick look at that. Kobe had already won 3 titles by the time his chance to go elsewhere had come up a few years back, but he decided to take the money in L.A., continue to play for one of the best coaches ever, and still, did not win again until the Lakers made some key moves, most notably bringing in a superstar big man in his prime in Pau Gasol, and allowing some of the other guys to continue to develop until they won again in 2009. Dirk Nowitzki just in the past few days decided to take the Mavericks offer and remain in Dallas, but until his team brings in another true star to put alongside him, the Mavs will most likely continue to be just like the Cavs with Lebron, great regular seasons, disappointing postseason.
In both cases, they both entertained other offers, and if they were both so loyal to their teams as some want to make it out to seem, then they would have never gotten to that point and signed extensions well before then, but just like James, they explored other opportunities to see if there was anything better. In reality, they are no different than James. They all took the situation they felt was best for them.
James is no different than any other free agent who went to another team, other than the fact that he was by far the most coveted free agent in sports history, but this is becoming a bigger story because people want to make him out to be a bad guy for this.
It seems as though so many feel very threatened by this team comprised of 3 superstars, 2 of which are arguably top 5 in the league, with Bosh not far behind, and are acting out from that by trying to fault James for this. Faulting James for making a decision he felt was right for him, and leaving a situation in Cleveland where the front office frankly was not doing enough to help him win.
He has said all along his biggest thing is winning, and it is now more clear than ever that that is his main focus. He took less money than what he could have gotten in Cleveland, and after 7 years of trying to win there and giving a titles a couple of decent runs, he is going to try and win a title elsewhere, and most likely he will.
Cleveland had their chance with him, and had their chance to put the rest of the pieces of the puzzle together to bring that titles to their city, and failed to do just that.
Gilbert and the Cavs have absolutely nobody but themselves to blame for this. Of course, they will continue to blame James and live with envy.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Diamondbacks rid themselves of Manager AJ Hinch and GM Josh Byrnes
Just a small forewarning, there is definitely some bias associated with this particular blog, and some definite frustration as well.
Word just came down the that last place Arizona Diamondbacks just fired GM Josh Byrnes, the man who once was the understudy to Theo Epsetin in Boston, and came so highly regarded. Going along with him is Manager AJ Hinch, if we can truly call him a Manager. He had absolutely ZERO managerial experience prior to being hired on May 7th of last year to replace the then fired Bob Melvin.
At the very moment of this writing, Buster Olney of ESPN is tweeting how absolutely baffling it is that the DBacks fired Byrnes, reporting a high ranking executive said "That is a brutal decision. They just tore apart one of the best front offices in baseball." I can only simply wonder how anyone could possibly say such a thing about that front office.
This is the same GM that traded closer Jose Valverde following a 47 save season in a playoff year of 2007 for Chad Qualls, the same Chad Qualls who is a very high chance of blowing a save every time out, even if he were face 3 pitchers due up in the 9th. Sure, they got a couple other players in the deal as well, but it does not even come close to making up. Oh, and Valverde, who is now in Detroit, is 18 of 19 in save opportunities with a 0.53 ERA. Qualls, meanwhile, lost his job yet again.
Byrnes also is responsible for garnering Eric Byrnes a ridiculous contract a few years back, and now as a result, the DBacks are paying the guy in the neighborhood of $10 million to play beer league softball. Then this past off season, made trades including the Tigers and Yankees sending away former 1st round draft pick Max Scherzer and highly touted prospect Austin Jackson and in return, receiving Ian Kennedy and Edwin Jackson.
Edwin Jackson was an All-Star last season, but sure would not have been had the All-Star game been played at seasons end. Kennedy has talent, but is unproven. Meanwhile, all Austin Jackson has done is cover loads of ground in center field on an everyday basis, and hit well over .300 thus far as a rookie. Edwin provided the DBacks with an 8 walk no-hitter. Other than that, not much else other than a home run in week 1 of the season against the Pirates.
Perhaps it is a lot of frustration on my part to why I think this is a great move, and I am sure I do not see as much as some of the front office execs and baseball analysts, but Byrnes seems to have assembled a team with all young talent, and zero leadership to go along with it, and that starts with his decision to make AJ Hinch a manager, and unnecessarily fire Bob Melvin last season.
This is a squad loaded with guys who can potentially be stars in this league. Justin Upton is already an All-Star and can barely legally drink. The kid has all the tools, and looks the be a cornerstone of the franchise. Mark Reynolds is a tremendous power hitter, but he may continue to set strikeout records if somebody does not get a hold of him and help him. Chris Young in center is another 5 tool player, and seems to have things on the right track. Stephen Drew, Dan Haren, Miguel Montero all appear to be mainstays to hopefully turn this team around, but somewhere, they need to have some leadership.
They cannot continue to watch lead after lead given away by a bullpen who is nearly 2 runs worse per 9 innings than any other bullpen in the NL, and they shouldn't have to. It was Byrnes who assembled this pitching staff, and particularly the bullpen, and it is Hinch who fails to hold them accountable for their failures.
I was part way through a blog about how many different ways this team can lose a game when this news broke, and decided to change my tune, but just must give those way some mention. Whether it be the more common blown save by ways of walks, hits and home runs, or the more baffling methods like Esmerling Vasquez balking in the winning run in Los Angeles, or just a few days ago, watching Aaron Heilman try and give away a game in Tampa when BJ Upton crushed a ball that appeared to be gone, but was caught in the very deepest part of the ballpark, only to follow that up with a throwing error in the 9th to help allow the Cardinals to score 3 runs to win the game.
This team definitely needs a few key players in the coming year or two to really become a serious contender, but the biggest thing they needed was leadership, and new Manager Kirk Gibson is the absolute right guy to provide that in the mind of this blogger.
I have live in Texas for 4 years now, but will forever be a fan of the Diamondbacks. After spending 4 years watching this Ranger team be an absolute joke when it comes to pitching, watching them find creative ways to lose a game in which they themselves scored double digits to now currently holding the best record in baseball, I know it is possible to change things with the right leaders in place.
Word just came down the that last place Arizona Diamondbacks just fired GM Josh Byrnes, the man who once was the understudy to Theo Epsetin in Boston, and came so highly regarded. Going along with him is Manager AJ Hinch, if we can truly call him a Manager. He had absolutely ZERO managerial experience prior to being hired on May 7th of last year to replace the then fired Bob Melvin.
At the very moment of this writing, Buster Olney of ESPN is tweeting how absolutely baffling it is that the DBacks fired Byrnes, reporting a high ranking executive said "That is a brutal decision. They just tore apart one of the best front offices in baseball." I can only simply wonder how anyone could possibly say such a thing about that front office.
This is the same GM that traded closer Jose Valverde following a 47 save season in a playoff year of 2007 for Chad Qualls, the same Chad Qualls who is a very high chance of blowing a save every time out, even if he were face 3 pitchers due up in the 9th. Sure, they got a couple other players in the deal as well, but it does not even come close to making up. Oh, and Valverde, who is now in Detroit, is 18 of 19 in save opportunities with a 0.53 ERA. Qualls, meanwhile, lost his job yet again.
Byrnes also is responsible for garnering Eric Byrnes a ridiculous contract a few years back, and now as a result, the DBacks are paying the guy in the neighborhood of $10 million to play beer league softball. Then this past off season, made trades including the Tigers and Yankees sending away former 1st round draft pick Max Scherzer and highly touted prospect Austin Jackson and in return, receiving Ian Kennedy and Edwin Jackson.
Edwin Jackson was an All-Star last season, but sure would not have been had the All-Star game been played at seasons end. Kennedy has talent, but is unproven. Meanwhile, all Austin Jackson has done is cover loads of ground in center field on an everyday basis, and hit well over .300 thus far as a rookie. Edwin provided the DBacks with an 8 walk no-hitter. Other than that, not much else other than a home run in week 1 of the season against the Pirates.
Perhaps it is a lot of frustration on my part to why I think this is a great move, and I am sure I do not see as much as some of the front office execs and baseball analysts, but Byrnes seems to have assembled a team with all young talent, and zero leadership to go along with it, and that starts with his decision to make AJ Hinch a manager, and unnecessarily fire Bob Melvin last season.
This is a squad loaded with guys who can potentially be stars in this league. Justin Upton is already an All-Star and can barely legally drink. The kid has all the tools, and looks the be a cornerstone of the franchise. Mark Reynolds is a tremendous power hitter, but he may continue to set strikeout records if somebody does not get a hold of him and help him. Chris Young in center is another 5 tool player, and seems to have things on the right track. Stephen Drew, Dan Haren, Miguel Montero all appear to be mainstays to hopefully turn this team around, but somewhere, they need to have some leadership.
They cannot continue to watch lead after lead given away by a bullpen who is nearly 2 runs worse per 9 innings than any other bullpen in the NL, and they shouldn't have to. It was Byrnes who assembled this pitching staff, and particularly the bullpen, and it is Hinch who fails to hold them accountable for their failures.
I was part way through a blog about how many different ways this team can lose a game when this news broke, and decided to change my tune, but just must give those way some mention. Whether it be the more common blown save by ways of walks, hits and home runs, or the more baffling methods like Esmerling Vasquez balking in the winning run in Los Angeles, or just a few days ago, watching Aaron Heilman try and give away a game in Tampa when BJ Upton crushed a ball that appeared to be gone, but was caught in the very deepest part of the ballpark, only to follow that up with a throwing error in the 9th to help allow the Cardinals to score 3 runs to win the game.
This team definitely needs a few key players in the coming year or two to really become a serious contender, but the biggest thing they needed was leadership, and new Manager Kirk Gibson is the absolute right guy to provide that in the mind of this blogger.
I have live in Texas for 4 years now, but will forever be a fan of the Diamondbacks. After spending 4 years watching this Ranger team be an absolute joke when it comes to pitching, watching them find creative ways to lose a game in which they themselves scored double digits to now currently holding the best record in baseball, I know it is possible to change things with the right leaders in place.
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