The first post I started this blog with was an entry (The Place That We Have Come to Fear The Most) about my beloved Sacramento Kings and what was thought to be the last game of professional basketball ever to be played in Sacramento. It was a difficult night, as I couldn’t bring myself to even watch the game, let alone attend the game (I turned down tickets to go because it was just too hard). The next day, I remember sitting at my dining room table eating lunch and participating in a live chat with Sacramento Kings’ beat writer Jason Jones, and former Sacramento Kings’ beat writers Marty McNeal and Sam Amick. The live chat took place of the Bee’s website and it was suppose to be a chat about the Sacramento Kings’ season, how it ended, and the last game in Sacramento. My question was the first question the three of them answered. I answered them, “What were their favorite memory covering the Kings and their favorite memory at Arco Arena (now Power Balance Pavilion)?” My question seemingly high jacked their chat room, with other people sending in their favorite moments and memories they had experienced with the Kings and at Arco. I remember being brought to tears, weeping like a 4-year old whose ice cream fell off the cone after three licks. The very thought of not seeing NBA basketball being played in Sacramento and the thought of not being able to take my kids to their very first Kings basketball just tore me up inside. Many felt the same.
That was the first post, April 14th, 2011. Sense then, there has been a wide variety of topics that I have discussed here on this forum. My first attempt at actually putting together a thought provoking topic was a three-part series titled, “Talkin’ about my Generation” where I discussed “generational” baseball players from the past, present, and the future. It was my first major step, shooting for something in between a Ken Burns Baseball piece, and simple piece on ESPN’s E:60.
I also discussed “My Christmas” also known as the NFL Draft. I produced my mock draft and then evaluated it to the actual draft, while also evaluating how each team performed in the draft; handing out my draft grades.
There was “The Greatest Comeback in Sacramento History” occurring on May 3rd, when it was announced that the Sacramento Kings would forego relocating to Anaheim for one season, and allow the City Council one more opportunity to put together a plan to build a new Entertainment and Sports Complex. I posted a timeline of the sequence of events that lead us to this point; truly a great day in Sacramento history.
Then there was Willie Mays’ Birthday. Every year on May 6th I plan to pay homage to the greatest living baseball player. Say Hey Willie Mays.
We had the Lakers implosion and elimination by the eventually champs Dallas Mavericks, leading me to call for the Lakers to explode their team and start rebuilding, and entertain the idea of trading Kobe Bryant while his value is still relatively high.
Speaking of rebuilding, there was rebuilding Rome, my first piece quoted by another blogger (shout out to The Professor, wherever he is), this piece was about the New York Yankees and how their rebuilding process needs to start now for them. I compared it to the likes of Rome not being built in one day.
Let’s remember Will Sheridan. Perhaps my favorite piece/entry, and most controversial I wrote this year, I wrote about former Villanova basketball player Will Sheridan. Will Sheridan this year came out about being an openly gay basketball player; but what intrigued me about the story was that his teammates and coaches knew about his sexuality, yet out of respect for him, kept it a secret from everyone in the general public. I heard about Will’s story from listening to the Jim Rome radio show.
And speaking of basketball, I laid out my blueprint on how to beat everyone’s favorite to win the NBA Finals, the Miami Heat. I suggested that teams should let LBJ and D-Wade score as much as they want, and focus on trying to shut down Chris Bosh, and holding him and all of their supporting players to under 35 points. Think the Dallas Mavericks listened to that piece of advice (I also predicted that the Mavs would beat the Heat in the finals in six games. Check mark for this guy).
I wrote a piece about dying sports, calling out horse racing and boxing.
There was my NBA Finals prediction (see above).
I wrote a fun piece, my mission statement for when I become the Commissioner of Major League Baseball. This piece stems from the Buster Posey tragedy; a senseless collision at home plate that ended with Posey suffering a season-ending ankle injury. I call for more instant replay, eliminating the Home Plate umpire from making balls and strikes calls, and getting rid of base runner collisions. The day I take office is the day Baseball becomes a better game.
I end the month of May paying tribute to those baseball players who sacrificed their careers to service in the military during time of war. I re-posted a blog entry from another site that was well-written about the subject.
June came, and so did major allegations on Ohio State’s football program. It was discovered that head football coach Jim Tressel lied to NCAA officials about his players selling autograph memorabilia in return for cash, tattoos, and even drugs. He would resign from his post. I can’t wait to visit The Horseshoe next September.
Shaq officially retired from the NBA, and I hate to say this, but I’m going to miss the Big Diesel. Top 5 center of all-time in this bloggers opinion.
The NBA finals are on their way, and so is my NBA Finals prediction results (see above), reviewing the highlights and my thoughts on how the Mavs brought their talents to South Beach (and won). You have an epic Game 2, a LeBron melt down, and Dirk going nuts!!
An epic rant occurred when San Francisco Giants GM Brian Sabean went off about the aforementioned Buster Posey tragedy, calling out Florida Marlins outfield Scott Cousins for his vicious hit on Posey, saying he would be happy if Cousins never played another game in the major. A little harsh, but completely understand his point of view.
The judgment finally came down on USC stemming from the Reggie Bush recruitment and pay-for-play scandal: 2-years of bowl ineligibility, vacated bowl and regular season wins, vacated 2004 National Championship win, and Reggie loses his Heisman. Vacating the 2004 National Championship win leads me on a rant about my horrible bet I made on that game at the Sportsbook in the old Caesars Palace in South Lake Tahoe. I actually took Oklahoma and the under, $50 buck two-pick parlay.
LBJ fills up a stat sheet, but during the NBA Finals, he is turning out to not be the “closer” the Miami Heat thought they were getting. Kyra Sedgwick was not impressed.
The Mavs finally prevailed and beat the Heat in an awesome NBA Finals. It renewed a lot of the casual fan’s interest in the sports. Hopefully it carries over through the lockout and into the following season.
I wrote about my attempt to complete Baseball’s trifecta, going to see games at the Old Yankee Stadium, Wrigley Field, and Fenway. I’m 2/3 of the way there.
After taking some heat for my Mission Statement and my stance on the Buster Posey tragedy, I posted an article written by Marcos Breton of the Sacramento Bee, who essentially agreed with my position. I guess I just like seeing I’m not alone.
As the NBA draft neared, I wrote about my exciting for Jimmermania and how he could very possibly become a Sacramento Kings. Call it foreshadowing, but this Kings fan couldn’t be happily.
If you know me, you know how I like my mocks, and the NBA draft is no different. I posted my NBA draft mock draft, comparing it to the actually draft (I didn’t fare that much better than my NFL Draft mock), and finished with a review of the draft and how I thought teams did; giving them my draft grades.
As we start to enter the dog-days of summer, it becomes a real dry point of sports, and I ranted about that very topic; having to suffer watching on Sportscenter Women’s World Cup highlights and Women’s tennis highlights.
July is here, and the Baseball All-Star game is here; signaling the true start of summer in my opinion. I give you guys my All-Star starters and complete rosters.
We had the one year anniversary of “The Decision” and I hammered LBJ on the disappointment he has become and of that whole debacle. He could have done better.
Then there is my ideal. Number #2, De-rek Je-ter, Number #2. Jetes got his 3,000 career hit, hitting a home run no less. How much cooler can this guy get?
As the baseball trade deadline nears, I contemplate whether or not the Giants have enough on the roster to make the playoffs and if they should make any of the rumored traded they are involved in.
For as great as Women’s World Cup soccer can get – and not to take away from the great story of the U.S. Women’s team – but they choked away the championship game to Japan, and they heard it for me.
This blogger got a little impatient with the NFL Lockout. Then, as the clouds part in the sky and light shined down upon commish GODdell and labor reps, the NFL lockout ends and we have football. I pointed out the major highlights of the deal.
And with the end of the NFL lockout, we take a look at the potential offseason moves for the 49ers.
The end of the NFL lockout and the MLB trade deadline fell in the same week, and madness occurred on the rumor mills, causing for a great week. Trades were made in baseball, tons of free agent movement in the NFL. The news scroll was getting a workout.
As the trade deadline came and went, the Giants acquired Carlos Beltran from the Mets to sure up their lack of power hitting. But instead, they continue to implosion. I offer up some suggestion to Bochy on stopping the skid.
In an effort to create another thought provoking piece, I write about my two worst sports days in my life: Game 6 of the 2002 World Series between the Giants and the Angels, and Games 4, 6, and 7 of the 2002 NBA Western Conference Finals between the Kings and Lakers. Game 6 of the 2002 World Series just ripped my heart out, causing me to go postal in my dorm hall. Games 4, 6, and 7 of the NBA Western Conference just proved that the NBA is ran by a cartel who hand-picks which teams they want to win. Needless to say, 2002 was not a good year for me!!
Jim Thome hits his 600th home run, and the Mother Ship breaks down whether or not he is a hall of famer. Really, guy hits 600th home runs and there is doubt that he is a hall of famer?
Yahoo! unveils their lengthy report into The U’s football and basketball program and inappropriate interaction between a booster named Nevin Shapiro (who prompted a great fantasy football team name) and those sports players. The reported incidents occurred over a span of 8 years and involved 72 players, past and present. I posted my thought and a link to the story. Great read, both my post and the article!
September is here, and with labor day approaching, signifies the height of the sports year. I unveiled my 2011 College Football preview and after looking it over now that the season is over, I think I did a pretty good job on my predictions. An anonymous commenter blasted me for prediction Alabama to beat Oregon in the National Championship game, saying that there was no way Bama runs the table in the SEC. While they didn’t run the table, they still made the BCS title game.
After unveiling my 2011 College Football preview, I revealed my 2011 NFL preview. Again, not to pat myself on the back, but I made some pretty good calls on this one. I called the Lions and the Texans both making the playoffs. I called the Colts finishing with a record of 2-14 without Peyton Manning. So I missed on the Bengals, Eagles, and my beloved San Francisco 49ers; but we all can’t bat 1.000.
The University of Texas is causing a big mess for college football and the Big 12 Conference, almost to the brink of ruining college football in the Midwest.
With all of the mass movement and realignment college football is experiencing due to the power and revenue advantage it hold over other college sports, I post about how the NBA could solve this problem and simply increase their age-limit requirement for incoming rookies. It’s a move that I think the NBA should do regardless.
The Giants season comes to a disappointment end, however with all of the hardship from the Buster Posey tragedy and the other injuries suffered by players on the Giants; I conclude that this season for the Giants is still one to be proud of.
So I got married on October 1st (first greatest day!!), so I took a little hiatus from the blogosphere world. At the end of the month of October, I did do a little run-down recap of the events that occurred in the month of October.
November 1st, a day that will forever be etched in all Giants fans hearts. I can only sum it up this way: "Cruz waiting on Wilson. And the right hander for the Giants throws...SWING AND A MISS! AND THAT'S IT! The Giants... for the first time in 52 years, the Giants are world champions, as they come POURING OUT OF THE DUGOUT....circling Brian Wilson! The bullpen...flying in from left-center field...dancing, hugging....and you can't help but think, that this group is celebrating....for the Say Hey kid, for Will The Thrill, celebrating for number 25, and celebrating for all you Giants fans, wherever you are... Giants fans...this party is just getting started!" HAPPY ANNIVERSARY GIANTS FANS!!!!
I’m trying to branch out and write more gimmicky pieces, so I started with the good, the bad, and the ugly of the NFL mid-season point. I also handed out my mid-season awards.
The Penn State scandal rocked the sports world and the nation. I still can’t believe the events that occurred from the scandal. I still wish it wasn’t true, Joe Pa.
College Basketball is starting, so I released my College Basketball Bananza preview. I stayed away from doing a top 25 ranking, and instead just made some general notes and observations, gave my prediction of the Final Four, a couple of sleeper teams I like, the eventually tournament champions and national player of the year.
Again, continuing to work on my gimmicky pieces, I did an All-THANKSgiving team in honor of the Thanksgiving holiday. This actually turned out pretty well I thought.
December is here and I tied a bow on the Baseball Winter Meetings. I don’t think there has been a better and more exciting Winter Meetings. We saw a top 10 player of all-time change his team, a dormant team all of a sudden spend cash like it’s printing it in the basement, and other little trades.
In a move that we have never seen in sports, NBA Commissioner David Stern vetoed a trade that would have sent superstar point guard Chris Paul to the Lakers, as part of a three-team trade. While many were outraged by his actions, I, again in the minority, applauded the commish on this move. I likened the trade and his actions to the Occupy movement.
The NBA season is finally starting after the lengthy lockout has ended. I didn’t think I would miss it, but now that it is back, I’m glad it’s here. I revealed my NBA preview, and so far, not bad at all. It too early, but heading in the right direction.
This brings us to now, my final post of the 2011 year. It’s been a fun year, with many memorable events for me to post about. For me, the sequence of events that occurred with the Sacramento Kings this year was probably the most memorable for me, and it’s fitting that I end this post, this year, with something that I thought I wouldn’t be writing about; and that is writing about a home game for the Sacramento Kings. The Kings played their first game of the NBA season on Monday, December 26th, in Power Balance Pavilion, and in Sacramento. It was a memorable night, as many felt it was never going to be. I can't begin to explain to random people how important of a night that was for us Kings fan. We ushered in a new era of Kings basketball. We still have a long road ahead of us in building a new Entertainment and Sports Complex here in Sacramento, but for one night, we relished in the sight of Kings basketball being played; and cheered for them after a great 100-91 victory over our hated rival, the Los Angeles Lakers. It was Déjà vu’ almost. But for this blog, I like to look at it as coming full circle.
Mr. Armchair Speaking!!
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