Author Archive

Does MLB Parity Exist?

Posted: 24th March 2010 by Dan Smith in MLB
At first glance, it looks like baseball and competitive balance run on parallel lines. There are the Yankees with their 27 World Championships and the Pittsburgh Pirates who have not had a winning season since 1992. Those two franchises met in the epic 1960 World Series when Bill Mazeroski won it with a Game Seven ninth-inning home run. 1960 was during a run where the Yankees played in 14 out of 16 ...

2010 NFL Draft: The Crossroads for the St. Louis Rams

Posted: 8th March 2010 by Dan Smith in NFL
The Rams franchise has been on the move for its whole existence. Born as the Cleveland Rams of the AFL in 1936, it moved to the NFL in 1937. In 1946, the Rams left Cleveland for Los Angeles and the 92,000 seats of the LA Memorial Coliseum. At that time the Rams also integrated their roster with Kenny Washington and Woody Strode. The Rams not only moved cities, they also moved ...

NBA Trade News: Cleveland Is Good To Go without Stoudemire

Posted: 15th February 2010 by Dan Smith in NBA
The Cleveland Cavaliers had a chance to trade for Shaquille O'Neal at the 2009 NBA trade deadline and decided to stand pat. Fast forward to the Eastern Conference Finals, and the Cavs had a huge matchup problem with Orlando's Dwight Howard. The Cavs finally made the deal for Shaq this past off-season. The other problem they had with Orlando was their size and athletic prowess on the perimeter. The Cavs brought ...

The NFL Fourth Quarter Report: The Colts Should Have Went for It

Posted: 29th December 2009 by Dan Smith in NFL
Topics of this Article A. NFL Playoff Preview B. Poking Fun at my NFL Preview C. The Colts D. Gratuitous Self-Promotion of my 70th Article To wit... This is my 70th article and a lot of stuff is going on so I tried a new kind of opening.. Paragraphs, we don't need no stinking paragraphs. á The Five Worst Teams in the NFL 1. Detroit 2. Kansas City 3. Cincin-cinncin-cinsin-the Bengals 4. Cleveland (this is my team, but these dawgs ...
The Cleveland Cavs were in LA for Christmas. Their game against the Lakers headlined the five NBA games on Christmas Day. Some people say that the NBA season doesn't even start until Christmas Day but that is a myth and I can prove it: the New Jersey Nets. Their season started awhile ago and ended right after it started. The only thing the Nets opened on Christmas Day was a merciful day off. The ...
On December 28, 1996, the Dallas Cowboys beat the Minnesota Vikings in the Wild Card Round of the NFL Playoffs. On December 19, 2009, the Dallas cowboys finally won another big game. It was a regular season game in New Orleans against the Saints.áRoy Williams told us all that this was going to be a two round fight and as a nation we all laughed. We all felt like the Cowboys ...

NBA First Quarter Report: The Lakers and the Best of the Rest

Posted: 16th December 2009 by Dan Smith in NBA
The Los Angeles Lakers are right on track. They kept Lamar Odom and upgraded from Trevor Ariza to Ron Artest in the offseason. Meanwhile,á Kobe Bryant is still the leader of this team on the court and Phil Jackson isápushing all of the right buttons as the coach. Andrew Bynum has not been hurt yet, but Kobe does have a broken finger. And while the Lakers have not played a lot ...

The NFL Third-Quarer Report: The A Teams

Posted: 10th December 2009 by Dan Smith in NFL
The Colts and Saints have created quite a curve to the NFL's team grading system. With three quarters of 4-0 football each, can there be any other A teams? Drew Brees, as the elite QB without a ring,áhas the most to gain as he leads the Saints toward their greatest season ever. They ain't the 'Aints no more. Their defense has fallen off from their frantic pace but injuries to both of your ...

The NFL Second Quarter Report: The NFL Class System

Posted: 13th November 2009 by Dan Smith in NFL
The NFL this season, like the country that supports it, is broken up into classes. Representative upper and lower classes are ripping apart the middle class. That means that it is just as hard to find an average NFL team as it is to find a middle class family with 2.3 kids. The Upper Class New Orleans has a dynamic offense with Sean Payton and Drew Brees on the same page ...

A Letter to Danny Ferry: The 2009-2010 NBA Preview

Posted: 24th October 2009 by Dan Smith in NBA
To Danny Ferry: We are on the eve of another NBA season and I wanted to throw some kudos your way. Picking up Shaquille O'Neal instantly turned our weakness against Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic into a far more even matchup. I like the athletic size you picked up in Jamario Moon and Anthony Parker. The Cavs improved the most in the East this off-season. The Magic killed them with tall ...