Week 15: Deuces Wild

Statistics might be the best factual information out there. You can manipulate them nearly any way you want. You can analyze them for days if you'd like. You can create equations, charts, and graphs with them. You can base entire reports, studies, or, in this case, articles on them. The sky is the limit when dealing with statistics.

Statistics can be formed many ways. They can be decimals, percentages, or fractions. They can be counting numbers, whole numbers, or integers. Let's put it like this, if there is a way to write a digit, then there statistics using that way.

In the NFL, statistics are formed mainly from decimals, percentages, whole numbers, and integers. The passer rating system uses decimals. The quarterback completion percentage obviously uses percentages. Pass completions, pass attempts, rush attempts, receptions, catches, etc. all use whole numbers (numbers that start with 0 and go up from there). Passing, rushing, and receiving yards also use whole numbers, but could use integers (negative as well as positive numbers).

Now that I've set you up with all that info on statistics, I'm going to use none of it. (Yea, I know, you're all confused as hell right now. Hang in there though.) I'm going to be talking about ordinal numbers. You know, numbers like first, second, third, fourth, etc. These numbers are the most important numbers in the sports world. Don't believe me? At the end of the day, where do you want your team to be? I would hope the answer is first. It doesn't matter to you that your quarterback has a crappy passer rating, or that your running back didn't reach 1,000 yards. As long as you can say your team was first, nothing else matters.

While first is the most important ordinal number in sports, this past week in the NFL the number 'second' certainly popped up a lot. There were two pretty big firsts, though, one being the undefeated Green Bay Packers were defeated and the other being the winless Indianapolis Colts won. Week 15 was also the first time four teams score 40 or more points. But seconds still reigned supreme.

Let's start off with the what could have been but wasn't since I already brought that up. If the Packers won the rest of their regular seasons games and then went on to win the Super Bowl, then they would have been the second team to go undefeated since the 1972 Miami Dolphins team. If the Colts lost the rest of their regular season games, then they would have been the second team to go winless since the 2008 Detroit Lions. Two big seconds no more after Week 15.

The San Francisco 49ers have become the second team to go 15 straight weeks without allowing a rushing score. The Chicago Bears did it in 1985. I'm sure there are more seconds like this one, but they are probably more obscure and not nearly as big as that.

Moving on to the wins and losses portion of the seconds. Tebow and his Broncos lost for the second time this year to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. The first lost coming Week 8 against the Lions. In both of those losses the defense surrendered 40 or more points. The Jets were torched by three touchdowns or more for the second time. This time by the Eagles and previously by the Patriots in Week 10. (I don't know whether Jets fans are pissed or depressed.) The Steelers lost for the second time to someone other than the Ravens. The Niners did them in this time with the Texans beating them last in Week 4. While doing so, the Niners held an opponent to just a field goal for the second time this year. The Bucs were their victims the first time back in Week 5. It was also the second time Ben Roethlisberger threw for 330 yards in a losing effort.
As you can see, there were plenty of easy seconds to pickup on.

To conclude, I don't really have a point. I was just fascinated on all the seconds and felt like sharing them with the world. I'm sure Week 15 had plenty more firsts, seconds, thirds, fourths, etc., but I didn't want to dig too deep. When you dig too deep, the statistics start sound stupid and pointless, and people start losing interest. This is why I barely scratched the surfaces in this article. The deepest one I threw in was about the Niners going 15 straight weeks without allowing a rushing TD, but my friends at ESPN helped me out on that (No, I'm not really friends nor am I affiliated with anyone at ESPN. It's just an expression.) I hope you enjoyed all the secondary stats I provided. I just had to point out that deuces were better than aces, at least for one week.

Crosby's Concussion Continued

About 11 months ago, I wrote an article about star hockey player, Sidney Crosby, entitled "Crosby's Concussion." That article was read by 95 people, exactly five times more than my second most read article, "Storming in with a Championship Mentality," which was about the St. John's men's basketball team. This statistic prompted me to write a follow up on Sid the Kid (who is out with concussion-like symptoms, again).

Last article I was ripping Crosby for blaming the NHL for what was all his, and his team's, fault. He should never played the game after the infamous Steckel hit. But that's in the past, that was almost a year ago. Crosby returned to the ice November 21, a home game against the NY Islanders. He scored two goals and assisted two more. It was a glorious return for the NHL's best player. (Ovechkin fans don't even try to dispute this. Crosby has 12 points in 8 games while Ovechkin has 22 in 31. That's just sad.) Those two goals are the only two he has, but he has been an assist machine this year grabbing 10 in eight games. Unfortunately, after the eighth game, he complained of headaches and has been out ever since.

No reports of a specific hit on Crosby have surfaced, which is not good for Sid. It would be better for a specific hit because then that could be the explanation of why Crosby is sidelined. Instead, he is out because he simply can't play hockey without the symptoms resurfacing. When you play hockey, you are expected to be able to take bone-jarring hits, get up, and continue playing. Right now, Crosby cannot do this without suffering major aftereffects, a very ominous sign.

Right now, it seems that the Penguins are willing to take a patient approach with their young captain, which makes sense because the kid can still play when he's on the ice. The question remains how long Crosby's latest setback will, well, set him back. It's been two weeks and all that's happened is that the Penguins put him on the injured list. This could either be procedural, or it could mean Crosby is not close to coming back any time soon. Since the move is retroactive to the amount of time he has already missed, he can be taken off the injury list at any point (players are required to miss two weeks if they are put on the injured list). But if he were coming back soon, I don't think the Pens would have made that move. This leads me to believe that Crosby may go through what he went through in the beginning of the year, which was not being able to do anything until the symptoms left and then increasing his rehabilitation at a very slow rate. I am predicting at least another two weeks, which would make a month total.

Depending on his recovery time and return to the ice, you may hear retirement speculation for Crosby. Retirement is something Sid the Kid should be seriously considering for two reasons. The major one being health reasons. Head injuries and concussions are no joke, and could lead to serious problems later in life or even death. (Yea, I know what you're thinking, 'But Troy Aikman suffered at least eight concussions in his career and he seems fine.' Well just because someone seems fine doesn't mean they actually are, you don't know what kind of problems Aikman could have. Even if he was fine, there are always exceptions to the rule, but would you want to gamble with a head injury? No? Thank you.) The other reason being no team is going to want a player who can barely play, no matter how good the player is. If Crosby doesn't retire and plays on, then the Penguins, or any other team, will never be able to pinpoint when his symptoms could return. This may mean Crosby will be forced to retire.

I don't think Crosby will consider retiring just yet though. Why you ask? The main reason being because he is only 24 years old. He could decide to take two, three, or even four years off and still be near his prime. (If he decided to do this, he may have to find a new team though. I don't think the Penguins are that patient.) His youth also means he still has the energy and drive to get back to the ice. The older you are, the harder it is to find the will to come back, unless your name is either Michael Jordan or Brett Favre. Another reason he won't retire any time soon is that he is has already made one comeback, and played well. This is an encouraging point for Crosby because it should be a definite confidence booster.

Yep, Sidney Crosby will be back. No one knows when, but everyone's waiting. After all, you know, there's nothing better than a good comeback story.

References

http://spotlightsonsports.blogspot.com/2011/01/crosbys-concussion.html#inscore_ifheight_xdc_500
http://www.blogger.com/stats2.g?blogID=6086517375313657516#posts,ALL_TIME
http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/7363769/sidney-crosby-put-injured-list-pittsburgh-penguins
http://espn.go.com/nhl/player/gamelog/_/id/3114/sidney-crosby
http://espn.go.com/nhl/player/_/id/3101/alex-ovechkin

NBA: Nuclear Beginnings Achieved

About a month ago, when the owners and players of the NBA were still fighting over money, David Stern said something about a nuclear winter if a deal didn't get done soon. What did he mean? I haven't a clue. I don't thing anyone knows. After all, the man is 70 years old and he's the commissioner of the NBA, which in recent years has become less about basketball and about more money. His job has been about keeping the wolves at bay rather than doing what's best for the league. So when he preached about a nuclear winter, I'm sure it was a just desperation scare tactic. I'm sure he didn't mean that he was going to interfere with the trading of one of the league's top stars a month later, right?

Of course, if you have been following NBA news the last two weeks, then you will know exactly what I'm talking about. Yes, star point guard, Chris Paul, was finally traded a few days ago to the LA Clippers (the team I pledged my allegiance to a week earlier after they had signed Caron Butler, no big deal). But he was traded to the wrong LA team (as much as I hate to say it). There was absolutely nothing wrong with the original 3-way trade involving the Lakers, Houston Rockets, and New Orleans Hornets (aside from the Rockets getting completely screwed but everyone's just ignored that part apparently). The trade would have sent Paul to the Lakers, Pau Gasol to the Rockets, and Luis Scola, Kevin Martin, Goran Dragic, Lamar Odom, and the Knicks #1 pick to the Hornets. (Again, what were the Rockets thinking even accepting these terms? You give up two good starters, a great bench player, and a #1 pick for Pau Gasol? Really?....Really?) The trade sent shock waves throughout the NBA. Every owner's heart sank as they thought, "Seriously? The Lakers just got their star of the future?" So logically, they protested, well a good number of them did, and the result was a nuclear explosion (pun intended). Seemingly right after the trade was announced, David Stern vetoed it. Yep, looks like even with a new agreement between the owners and players, a nuclear winter had begun.

Stern said he vetoed the trade because the Hornets could get a better deal for Paul. He felt they could get younger, more cost-friendly players, and a better pick in the draft (which was completely true by the way). So onward to the next team on Chris Paul's wishlist. The Knicks were number 1, but had nothing really to trade away, if you didn't know that nugget, and the Lakers were number 2, but were posterized (again, pun intended) by the commish. Team three for Paul was the LA Clippers; the team that just happened to be able to offer the Hornets the best deal. That deal included young star Eric Gordon, prospect Al-Farouq Aminu, veteran Chris Kaman, and the T-wolves unprotect #1 pick. The deal was eventually agreed upon by the Clippers and NBA execs negotiating on the behalf of the league-owned Hornets (even know the NBA gave Hornets front office full autonomy in trading Paul, which we're also ignoring apparently).

So the Hornets got Eric Gordon, who was on their wishlist; Paul goes to a team he wanted; and the LA Clippers get Chris Paul for (at least) 2 seasons. Everyone's happy, right?  Wrong. The nixed trade left the Lakers and Rockets coping with players they thought they had traded away. Lamar Odom was so distraught that he asked the Lakers to trade him, which they promptly did. (They sent him to Dallas along with a 2nd round pick for a protected 1st round pick and a roughly a 9 million dollar trade exception.) Pau Gasol was deeply saddened. Kobe Bryant was pissed, and I mean pissed after Odom was traded. He was so mad he decided to divorce his wife! OK, fine, that was mutual. He did rip Lakers ownership and had a talk with Lakers GM, Mitch Kupchak, though. And who knows how the three Rocket players feel. (They're doing well, I think. I've heard no reports about how they feel, which leads me to think no one cares about them.) Even Deron Williams of the Nets was angry, calling Stern a "bully."

Now that the Chris Paul dust has settled, NBA fans should be happy. A team that wasn't going to be competitive gave up its star player to an up-and-coming team that will now be ultra competitive. A new LA rivalry was created. It's now Kobe and Pau vs. Paul and Blake. That might just be the best rivalry in the West now, another plus. Come to think of it, things really did work out quite nicely for the NBA. Heck, Stern vetoing that trade may have been one of the best moves he's made during his time as commissioner. (Hahahahaha..hahahaha..ah. Sorry, I just thought about how the commissioner screwing the Lakers and helping the "other team from LA," which is essentially what happened. Wow, that's good stuff.) The nuclear winter came; everyone weathered it; and the NBA came out better than it was before. Holy crap, am I actually praising Stern for interfering with the trade? You betcha I am. You didn't see that one coming, did you? Congratulations David Stern for keeping your word and bringing that nuclear winter. You know, Dwight Howard still needs to be traded. Can you give us an atomic new year next?

References

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/7333285/los-angeles-lakers-deal-acquire-chris-paul-off
http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/7353870/los-angeles-clippers-new-orleans-hornets-agree-chris-paul-trade
http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/7341952/los-angeles-lakers-lamar-odom-dealt-dallas-mavericks-asking-trade
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/12/kobe-bryant-lamar-odom-trade-video_n_1143522.html
http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/story/_/id/7341720/new-jersey-nets-deron-williams-calls-david-stern-bully-talks-orlando-magic-dwight-howard

Conference Changes

All the major NCAA conferences have been going through some big time changes. The SEC and ACC expanded. The Pac-10 grew to be the Pac-12. The Big Ten now has 12 members while the Big 12 only has 10 (yes, I know, it's dumb). And the Big East lost two members originally, then added a replacement, then lost the replacement, then lost another member, and then added three replacements and two other members just for one sport (rollercoaster rides sure are fun). While some of these changes have already occurred, most of them will take affect within the next couple years. Since I grew up watching UConn and currently attend St. John's, I will be focusing on the Big East.

For many, many years, the Big East has been known as a strong basketball conference. It has been anchored by the likes of UConn, Syracuse, Pitt, and Georgetown. It was never really known for its football, and yet somehow the conference as an automatic qualifier in the BCS. The automatic qualifier, which has become simply known as AQ, is the golden ticket to a big bowl game. Earlier this year, Syracuse and Pitt decided to leave the Big East for the ACC because it is a better football conference and the two universities will receive more money. In response to this, the Big East added Texas Christian, TCU, to the conference. Recently, TCU and West Virginia decided to leave for the Big 12, which, again, only has 10 members now. (Side Note: The Big 12 lost Texas A&M and Missouri to the SEC and gained TCU and West Virginia. Gotta love when the replacements are better than what walked away.) By the way, if you were wondering, no TCU programs ever played a game in the Big East, but they do still have to pay the 5 million dollar exit fee (apparently all they really wanted to do was give a generous donation to the Big East).

It took years for the Big East to replace these teams. OK, so it was only a couple months, but it seemed like years if you were following the situation, trust me. To replace the three original members that left, the Big East added Houston, Southern Methodist (SMU), and Central Florida (UCF) from Conference-USA in what were clearly moves to boost the conference's football prowess. It then further boosted said football prowess by adding Boise State and San Diego State as football-only members. Because I know you are all dying to know where the rest of the Boise St and San Diego St programs went, BSU's will head to the Western Atlantic Conference and SDSU's will head to the Big West. (Side Note: The Western Atlantic Conference is the dumbest name ever because the closest WAC member to the Atlantic is Lousiana Tech, which is nowhere near the Atlantic.) The Big East is also in talks with adding the Naval Academy as a football-only member.

Overall, I like the new additions to the Big East. We added two football programs in Boise St. and Houston that could end up being in the Top-10 once the final rankings come out after the bowl games. We added decent football programs in San Diego St. and SMU. UCF is below average in football, but hey it gives USF a rival. Gaining a presence on the West Coast and Texas markets, and reinforcing our presence in Florida, will be great for recruiting in all sports. I love the Big East going after Navy but only if it means it'll go after Army as well. The Army-Navy rivalry is one of the more legendary college football rivalries, and I'd love to boast it occurring in my conference each year.

There are two things I don't like with these additions. The first thing is that Houston, SMU, and UCF all have average-to-terrible basketball programs; thus, ending the Big East being a power basketball conference in the future. Yes, the conference will still have a handful or so of teams representing itself in the NCAA Tournament, but the days of it putting double digits into the tournament appear to be over. The other think I don't like is that now our conference name makes no sense. Sure, before this season we had a member from Wisconsin and another from Illinois, but that's two out of 18 members. Now, it has two West Coast teams and two Texas teams to go along with those two, making the name even more illogical. I think they should rename the conference. They could call it the Cornerstone Conference because, if you haven't noticed, it now has members representing the four corners of the country. Boise St. takes care of the northwest corner. San Diego St. takes care of the southwest corner. A few members take care of the northeast corner (St. John's, Providence, UConn, etc.). UCF and USF take care of the southeast corner. The Big East might just be the only conference that will be able to boast this (OK, probably not, but give me credit for coming up with that observation).

To sum this article up, the Cornerstone Conference seems to have found a way to keep itself from collapsing. The basketball side still has plenty of good programs, and the football side will gain plenty of good programs. The football side will probably retain its AQ status, and elite programs like Boise St. and Houston will never get snubbed during bowl selection ever again. The basketball side will still retain some of its power, and may get back to full strength someday. The mediocre-to-terrible teams may get better because the programs are now in the Big East which will hopefully result in them getting better players. Oh, a couple important details I forgot to mention, none of the new additions will actually play in the Big East until 2013, and the departing members can't leave until 2014 (yes, I know, that doesn't make sense). Man, conference changes are fun.

References

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/7327683/big-east-conference-introduces-boise-state-broncos-san-diego-state-aztecs-houston-cougars-smu-mustangs-ucf-knights
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_East_Conference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Athletic_Conference
http://espn.go.com/college-football/standings
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/standings

Ramirez Reality

Before I get into the reality of Ramirez, I would like to say I have returned from an 8-month sabbatical, consisting of things known as 'school', 'summer', and 'internship', and I plan on writing many articles this month. My time away from writing was fun, but there's just too much going on in the sports world to not come back. Now that the sappy stuff is done, it's time to move onto the feature presentation.

Hanley, Manny, and Aramis Ramirez all have the same last name, but that's not the only thing they have in common. Manny and Aramis are currently jobless while Hanley is position-less and resisting a move. Hanley and Aramis should have some good years left while Manny wants to prove he still has some good years left. They're even from the same country, the Dominican Republic. In fact, Manny and Aramis share a hometown in Santo Domingo. I hope the all find themselves happily on a baseball team come spring training too, and I may just have an idea to accomplish this.

You see, Hanley plays shortstop for the Miami Marlins. The Marlins signed one of the top free agents, Jose Reyes, who also happens to be a shortstop. Reports are surfacing that Hanley Ramirez not does want to move to third base, which is what usually happens to shortstops that lose their positions. The reality of the situation is that Hanley will eventually just accept that he has to play third, but what if he throws a fit and wants to be traded?

If he takes this route, I would highly suggest the Marlins just give in to his demands and trade him. Why? Well for starters, he's a budding superstar that they could multiple players in return for. Marlins are in need of starting pitching. There's a team out West that has plenty of that, but lacks offense and a good shortstop. If you were thinking of the San Francisco Giants, then you would be correct. Last season, the Giants traded away their top pitching prospect for an aging bat in Carlos Beltran. I don't see why they couldn't deal for Hanley. If I were Giants GM, Brian Sabean, I would consider doing a trade with Hanley and Matt Cain as the centerpieces.

Hanley is locked up for another three more years and 45 million more dollars, which is a very manageable contract by the way. Matt Cain has one year left on his extension, and would be a good pair with Marlins ace Josh Johnson, not to mention a pitcher that would actually be worth paying. (Sorry, I'm just not a fan of C.J. Wilson or Mark Buehrle.) Now some of you may be thinking that the Giants would be getting the better end of this deal, which is why they could offer one of the two outfielders they just acquired, Melky Cabrera or Angel Pagan. Both are centerfielders by trade and the Marlins don't really have a true centerfielder, which is why you heard Hanley to centerfield a possibility. Both would also be could candidates to bat 2nd behind Jose Reyes.

Now let's discuss what happens if the Marlins do trade Hanley. I'm going to assume he gets traded soon because that's where the other two Ramirezes come in. With Hanley gone, the Marlins will be missing two things, a third baseman and a big bat. The most logical thing to do here would be to sign Aramis Ramirez. This possibility would be the best "quick fix" in the history of baseball. They could also get creative. Manny Ramirez is a horrible outfielder now, so why not move him to first? First is a very hard position to pickup, especially towards the end of your career, but Carlos Lee did it in Houston. The willingness to learn a new position would be the ultimate proof that Manny that not only can, but actually wants to play. If they sign him early enough, he'll have the whole offseason, and a 50-game suspension, to learn the position. While he's serving his suspension, Gaby Sanchez could man first. When he returns, Gaby Sanchez would move to third, which was the first position he played when he was in the minors, by the way. (Mini side note: For those thinking they wouldn't need to replace Hanley's bat because they're signing Pujols, it ain't happening. Pujols got his 10-year, 220 million dollar offer from the only team he's ever known, and if he too takes his talents to South Beach, then it'll make LeBron James look like a saint.)

In conclusion, none of this is going to happen. It's just gives you something to think about because it does have some sense to it. Hanley would be happily playing shortstop on a team that would never force him to move to third. Aramis would happily be playing third base on what seems to be the up-and-coming Marlins, with a moderately large contract. Manny would happily get his chance to continue his career, even if it's at a new position. Again, none of this is going to happen. It's just a reality that the Ramirezes could hope and dream for.

References

http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/3853/aramis-ramirez
http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/2974/manny-ramirez
http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/6195/hanley-ramirez
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7323887/hanley-ramirez-miami-marlins-want-3b-move-source-says
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/extrabaggs/2010/03/28/contract-extension-for-matt-cain-leads-a-busy-morning-of-giants-news/