Thursday Night Observations

Time for Sweezy to get on the soapbox and opine on some of the events of our time...

- In the final year of Yankee Stadium, its fitting that it hosts the All-Star game. I am hoping though that this is the last great moment in the stadium. I'd find it hilarious if there was no October baseball in The Bronx this year so that we could avoid all the sob stories about Yankee Nostalgia. Hopefully the stadium and the Yanks will go out in the most painful way possible, and I can't think of a better way than a meaningless game between a Red Sox team that has already clinched the division and a Yankees team with no postseason hope.

- On the subject of the All-Star game, its time for fans to be eliminated from voting for the starters. Their idiocy is one of the major factors ruining the Summertime Classic. Simply put, marginal players like Dustin Pedroia and Kosuke Fukudome do not deserve to even be in the stadium, let alone starting for their respective leagues. MLB should do something like allow fans to keep voting, but rig the votes so that more deserving players get the nod, such as Ian Kinsler or Carlos Lee.

- Could it also be the All-Star game has been losing ratings because of the deplorable announcers in charge of calling the events? First up you have Chris Berman saying the same hideously annoying catchphrases he has for the last 20 years during the Home Run Derby, and then you have the smug Joe Buck and senile Tim McCarver calling the actual game. If MLB was serious about making the All-Star game relevant, it would replace these hacks with people who are actually interested in describing the game instead of hearing their own voices and reveling in their bloated sense of self-importance.

- Its amazing how Todd Jones is still a closer. Thats all i'm going to say after today's performance. He better not be seen in Athens, Georgia tonight or he's gonna get got.

- Another banner day for the NFL as another player, Matt Jones, gets arrested for felony possession of cocaine. I'd argue that this charge is much more serious than anything Michael Vick or Adam Jones have been convicted of, but racism still doesn't exist in sports right?

- If breaking news is considered to be Brett Favre sending a text message, then its going to be a long hot summer full of worthless Favre speculation. I don't know whats more unbelievable about this; the fact that news sources deemed this important enough to smother with coverage, or the fact that supposed country yokel Favre even knew how to text message. Maybe he learned how to in rehab.

- I'm calling it right now, Sixers in the NBA Finals next year. People are about to learn just how good Elton Brand is.

- This whole Brandon Jennings to Europe thing is pretty interesting, I'm just shocked someone hasn't done it before. There's really no language barrier in large European cities, the players will get paid handsomely for their services, and European poon is no joke (though still not close to SEC Poon).

- Its pretty hilarious to hear the things that Charlie Weis says. Earlier this week he commented that its possible for Notre Dame to be 11-0 heading into a game with USC in November, and in regards to winning that game Weis said "Anything's possible." This is coming from the (gaping) mouth of a man who could possibly be the most incompetent head coach in Notre Dame history. Seriously this man makes Bob Davie look like Tom Osborne. Weis has used every excuse in the book for his lackluster career record, I'm just waiting for the day that someone actually calls him out on the bullshit that is his coaching prowess and overall just his worth as a human being. At least it keeps Notre Dame a laughingstock for the entire country, which I guess is a gift i should be more thankful for.

- Its been a pretty good week for viewing entertainment in the life of the Sweezic One. First I saw Wall-E on Tuesday which was absolutely incredible. Its good to see creative and innovative movies get shine at the expense of the formulaic tripe that Hollywood has overdosed upon in recent years. Tonight is also the 2nd season premiere of Burn Notice. If you've never seen the show, you are missing out. Not only is it fun and entertaining, but it also provided awesome tips if you ever have the need to blow shit up, escape from evil people or just be a menace to society in general. Finally, next weekend will be the opening of The Dark Knight. This movie is getting a ton of hype, and with the actors and producers involved I have a feeling its going to be beyond justified after all is said and done.

Alright I feel sick to my stomach for including that disgusting picture of Charlie Weis. So I will leave you now with a glorious picture of SEC Poon to cleanse your mind with.

Signing Day Wrap-up

Yesterday was one of the biggest days on the college football schedule. So much happened on signing day that its time to catch up on the course of events, and look at what it means for the future of college football. Here's 5 important observations from Signing Day.

1. Southern football keeps getting stronger and stronger. With 3 teams from the ACC and 4 teams from the SEC in the top 12 of both the Scouts.Inc and Rivals.com ratings, the southern teams just keep on reloading at the expense of the rest of the nation. SEC lynchpins Florida, Georgia and LSU are joined by Nick Saban's Alabama, and Clemson joins FSU and Miami among the best recruiting classes in the nation. Half of the SEC teams were in the Top 25 recruiting classes, and that doesn't even count a Tennesee team who had a top-3 class last year and an Arkansas squad who went through a tough coaching change.

2. The usual suspects stay near the top. While in some years there will be a shock team that rises to near the top of the standings, this year reads like a who's who of recent college powerhouses. Successful teams like USC, Texas and Ohio State are proving that they aren't going to just be good this year, but will still have the foundation to be consistently excellent for years down the line.

3. The big coaching changes did not affect recruiting as much as some believed. Look around the country and you'll see that Michigan still put together a solid class under Rich Rodriguez including stealing some big time players away from fellow Big 10 members Penn State and Purdue on signing day. UCLA under Rick Neuheisel also maintained their solid class and look like they could start challenging USC for the prime-time SoCal talent. Even Bobby Petrino at Arkansas put together a good class in spite of his damaged reputation, including getting 4-star recruit Joe Adams to switch from USC to Arkansas. Along with Ryan Mallett next year, the Hogs may have the scariest offense in the SEC west.

4. Terrelle Pryor is full of himself. By postponing his decision it makes him look like an extremely selfish player. If he was so distracted by basketball, why didnt he tell the schools recruiting him to back off a little more and let him worry about his decision after the season. While Pryor may in fact be the real deal, he's doing a great job of supplanting Jimmy Clausen as recruiting douchebag of the year. Swole's prediction? He'll still end up at Ohio State whenever he makes up his mind.

5. The Big 12 is possibly on its way back to its glory days in the mid to late 1990's. We all know Texas and Oklahoma are going nowhere, but now some of the other schools are catching up. Missouri added the heir apparent to Chase Daniel in Blaine Gabbert, Colorado added top running back Darrell Scott, and Kansas State and Nebraska and Kansas all put together solid recruiting efforts. With all these schools on the upswing, and Big 12 South schools Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and OK State also appearing more competitive, this could be the toughest the conference has been from top to bottom in over a decade.


While Signing Day is mostly a prospective event, it is important to note that you do need the best players to win. While some top prospects won't pan out and diamonds in the rough will emerge, the teams with the deepest classes from top to bottom will be the ones that continue to stay near the top of the polls. Here are 5 early predictions based on yesterday's outcome:

1. Miami's defense will be stifling in a very short time. By locking up that Miami area talent, Randy Shannon will have the players needed to turn The U into the intimidating team it was under Butch Davis. And if either Robert Marve or Jacory Harris can be a solid QB, Miami is going to be top-5 very soon.

2. The Big 10 and Pac 10 will remain very top heavy. Both conferences certainly have their share of teams near the top of the recruiting standings, but the lesser teams are not even close to matching the top squads like USC and Oregon in the Pac-10 and UM, Illinois and Ohio State in the Big 10. This means the talent gap between these teams and the rest is only getting wider which will make their road to the BCS title even easier.

3. Look for the wide receivers to have the most immediate impact out of any position. Julio Jones will give Alabama a perfect replacement for DJ Hall and AJ Green is stepping into a loaded offense at UGA. Other immediate contributors could include Josh Jarboe at Oklahoma and Carl Moore at Florida who will both have experienced signal callers to get them the ball.

4. Terrelle Pryor will do nothing next year. Even the best of the freshmen qb's take a while to adjust to college ball. Tim Tebow didn't throw it hardly at all his freshmen year. Jimmy Clausen was ass on a sandwich. Its simply too much to ask of any QB recruit to come in their freshmen year and be successful.

5. Charlie Weis will continue to get the least out of his talented players because he spends too much time eating and thinking about how great he thinks he is.