Cousin Roy dropped me a quick line just before bed this evening, and said he wanted to get a post in before the month was up, so I'm obliging. He said it wouldn't be a long one, that he didn't have a whole lot to say, and you'll see after the jump that he wasn't kidding.
We're thankful for his contributions, and we share in the sentiment he had on his mind. If you're ever in Joplin, you'll have to look him up. He's got every toy a man could ever want and acres for miles on which to play with them. That and his Misses makes one heck of a rhubarb pie. To the House of Georges Loyal Readership:
Almighty God has heard my prayers and delivered me still more reasons for my undying faith. These April rains have allowed for my land to flourish with such great vigor that I will likely have one of the better seasons in recent memory. And the Lord knows that I say that word seasons with my Christian tongue in cheek:
The Kansas City Royals have escaped their most awful victim: the month of April. As they begin anew in May, I take great joy in the fact that they are not only not nine games back and in last place in the Central, but they are in fact above .500 for the first month. And keep your voice to a dull roar, but they're also in first place. Now I know it's early, and today was an off day for the Sox and the Tigers, but damn it all if I'll let the opportunity pass me by to sing praises to the powers above.
I pledge to make more time in May, as the Almighty has fertilized this young crop of men with the slowly waking bats and the pitching strength to fortify their efforts at contending.
We go from no day games for a week, to six yesterday, to two today. I can't figure out the pattern, but I can give you a few details on today's match-ups, but you gotta be smart enough to know where to find 'em. And if you figure that out, explain to me how both Central divisions have three clubs knotted at 11-10 in the standings. Funkytown, USA. Speaking of which, if you want to play Funkytown on a keypad like Towelie did on South Park just type 55754 45085. Them's some good times. Oakland @ Texas, 1:05 Central: A battle of .500 A.L. West pitchers kicks off today's slate down in Arlington as lefty Dallas Braden takes on ugly Vicente Padilla. Padilla has guided the Rangers to three wins and a loss in his four starts, two of which have been courtesy of walk-off home runs by kid molester Michael Young. Dude must've spent some time in Pittsburgh. Braden, 2-2/2.52 is the money man for a terrible A's clue that sits in the West's cellar at 7-11. They'll need a good outing from him if they want to gain ground on division-leading Seattle, who, by the way, really needs to start losing. Not only are they (Editor's Note: along with every other team I previewed) making me look bad, I think that it's been decided that it will continue to rain as long as they're in first. DirecTV 721 and XM 176 are your dial marks.
Toronto @ Kansas City, 1:10: Assuming the rain subsides long enough to squeeze in some baseball, Kyle Davies is slated for the home team; Brian Burres will go for the Jays. I really don't see how this game happens this afternoon, but assuming it will, the Royals need quick work out of Davies to keep the Toronto bats in check as the clubs have taken turns (7-1, 8-2, 11-3) kicking the crap out of each other the past three days, and the pattern says it's the Jays' turn. The lefty Burres has his work cut out for him as well, as his previous outing against Chicago lasted only four and-a-third, plunking his E.R.A. at a nice, round 12.46. DirecTV and XM take their respective stations up one notch from the previous listing.
So if you're in Kansas City or in Texas, head on out to the ball park. Royals fans should remember to put on their rubbers as per the forecast. Rangers fans should do the same this evening when they get home and cuddle up with their favorite goat.
(photo courtesy of John Sleezer, The Kansas City Star) Read more
* Belle Martell made history today in 1940 when California state boxing officials licensed her as the first woman prize-fight referee.
* Today in 1971 the Milwaukee Bucks took home the NBA title after sweeping the Baltimore Bullets.
* Five years later, Muhammad Ali defeated Jimmy Young in a heavyweight-title defense. Ali took the victory in Landover, Maryland via unanimous decision.
* Should-be Hall of Famer Pete Rose earned himself a $10,000 fine and a 30-day suspension as manager of the Cincinnati Reds today in 1988. In a home-game against the Mets, Rose and first-base umpire Dave Pallone exchanged pleasantries after a delayed call at first base. Pallone accidentally poked Rose in the cheek and Rose retaliated by shoving him twice during the 6-5 loss to New York.
* It was 1996 when the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles played the longest nine-inning game in MLB history. The tilt took four hours, 21 minutes to complete.
And your Sports Illustrated quote of the day came from the mouth of...
...former Baltimore Star tight end Ken Dunek, of the USFL, who, when the league chose not to play in 1986, had this to say: "My career has been pretty checkered. This might be checkmate." Read more
If you have kids, or work with them, or for any other reason, are around schools on a regular basis, you can feel the summer's-almost here vibe building with each passing week. Hell, sometimes with each passing day. But we're a day away from being finished with April, which is fine by me considering that 80 feet of rain we've gotten this month, and May is a nice time of year. Really. It's when that which has not already bloomed flourishes, when schools let out for the summer, when baseball season really gets underway, and of course, it's the culmination of good ol' wedding season. What's not to love? Oh, and as a totally microscopic, unimportant add-on detail, outfits get skimpier. Not that I'm noticing or anything. Aisleyne Horgan
What. You thought there was going to be a build-up of sorts? Nope. Not here. Not today. Right to the mustard.
Yeah. We roll in reverse on occasion.
Beatrice Chirita
Word has it that Miss Chirita is in the film industry, which reminds me of one of my favorite spring-time activities: the drive-in movies. Funny, though. The theaters in my town don't appear to be showing any of her features.
I'll have to make a note to check out the On-Demand guide and shred that bill when it comes look around at the Blockbusters and in the NetFlix.
Brandy Brenner
Yep. Now that we've almost completely shaken off the cold of winter, it'll be goin' out-on-the-town time.
Brittany Fuchs
Sometimes, an activity comes to mind just by the mere mentioning of a name. Funny how language works.
Brittany Marie
But there're also plenty of occasions for staying in,
just kickin' it at home.
Carlie Christine
There's summer school too, for those that are either bad students, or determined ones.
I vote for determined.
Wait. Bad. I vote for bad.
Christie Cavalli
Wait. I vote for badly determined while poolside. Yeah. That's it.
Really, though. There are lots of activities in the outdoors we can partake in, like say, hiking.
That's for the exercise enthusiast. I'd rather work on my tan, and trust me when I say it needs a lot of work.
Diora Baird
I could probably go for some pointers, in fact,
preferably ones with lots of stimulus and visual aid.
But I'm a hands-on learner, too, so don't leave that out.
Diem Nguyen
The peak of spring's a great time, though.
It's time to shed the inhibitions and take on projects.
Jennifer Korbin
Even though it doesn't have anything to do with the outdoors, scrapbooking is a huge hobby of mine.
I've been meaning to get to one particular project wherein I enlist the help of Jennifer.
I don't need help cutting or pasting. I'd just like her input on my scrapbooks. Either that or I'd like to put her in my scrapbooks. Can never remember which.
Joanna Krupa
Maybe I'll use this picture of Joanna as a reminder to get right on that.
Loren Grace
I also need to remember to get the outer windows of the home clean and sparkling,
just in case I'm Graced by the presence of a stranger in exactly that outfit.
Lyndsay Marie
It'll also help me remember to ask Miss Marie to help me test out my bed's headboard for sturdiness.
Nancy Patton
Then of course there's the gardening I need to get to.
There's this one tricky part that's all along this line of bushes, right by that thick stump.
Ragina Patel
But the glories of spring help us remember the cold winters in the basement,
the many days we couldn't just throw on any old thing, but instead layers.
The bright warmth of spring makes us reflect upon those chilly moments,
but not for long,
Sarah Collins
because we too soon are again outdoors with the fresh air,
It's been a week since we've had any afternoon baseball and bam -- just like that, the league's schedule-makers toss a half dozen affairs our way for this last hump day of April, and we'll talk about the slate in just a moment. I'd be remiss if I didn't take a quick moment to talk about fantasy baseball and my home team as well. As far as fantasy, I started off the season with consecutive wins, which was nice. It really was. I wasn't throwing any parties by any means, but I'm typically out of the post-season running halfway through week two. Well last week, I lost a nail-biter to an ass-clown that no longer frequents the House of Georges, and that loss occurred courtesy of .09 percentage points in the Opponents Batting Average category. Either that or E.R.A. Some stupid pitching stat. I wasn't pleased with the loss, but I'd hoped to rebound as I faced league-leading Old No. 7 at the onset of the week, and let me tell you: I'm getting crushed. He has every opportunity to blank me 14-0, and I'll just go ahead and say I hope he does. He has 115 percent geeked out about this season since Christmas, and this might be the year he takes it all home. Having said that, I'll say this in regards to fantasy baseball: "Screw you guys. I'm going home."
Regarding my real baseball team, Zack Greinke takes the mound tonight against lefty Blue Jay pitcher Brian Tallet. It's a 7:10 first pitch. It's supposed to be cold and rainy, and it's the rubber match of the series. The Royals surprised some folks and clubbed Toronto 7-1 the night before last in a game that featured Jose Guillen cracking two jacks in just his second game back. I drafted Guillen by the way, and then opened the season with five guys on the DL. Something had to give. I'll bet you can guess who picked him up and enjoyed those long balls. The Blue Jays returned the favor last night, taking it to the Royals 8-1. This is a special rubber match, though, in that Greinke, who has already joined Don Drysdale and Orel Hershiser by logging six consecutive starts without surrendering an earned run, has the chance to eclipse the two, and continue to add to a fantastic start. There is of course the jinx factor, what with the national notoriety, and much local buzz as well.
I for one, am hoping that the black cloud of curses passes over the K tonight, though, and I think that fate is in my/our hands if only in the fact that you know who drafted Greinke and will use him to hopefully blank my fantasy club in all categories pitching. I can't imagine -- when you compound the pressure with a kid who left the game due to a social-anxiety disorder -- how a 25 year-old kid will go out there tonight and toss a game like he's been tossing them, but it'll be interesting, I'm sure. Go get 'em, Stank'.
And now, after the jump, we return you to your regularly scheduled listing of day baseball. Los Angeles @ Baltimore, 11:35 Central: Our earliest match is our only American League feature today, and it finds the Orioles of Camden Yards nestled in in Los Pornaheim. That's right. Anaheim, in case you didn't know, is the pornography-manufacturing capital of the world. Not Hollywood. Not Thailand, and no, not your neighbor's cousin's guest room. The units occupying the mound today are none other than righties Shane Loux for the home team and Koji Uehara for the visitors. Loux's looking for his first win, and hopes to keep his E.R.A. under seven as his still-struggling Angels could use the help. Uehara seeks win number three, and you gotta feel for the Birds as they're near the top five in runs scored, but in a cutthroat A.L. East where Boston and New York continue to dagger one another for middle ground, a Toronto (who leads the bigs with 133 plated) club that continues to tear, and a defending American League-champion Tampa that, uh, hasn't quite realized that the season's almost a month old. Either way, DirecTV carries the action on 721, 722, while XM has it on 176.
Pittsburgh @ Milwaukee, 12:05: A few minutes later, Ian Snell will take the hill in the city of Miller, while Yovani Gallardo represents the .500 Brew Crew. Snell enters at 1-2 with a 4.50 E.R.A., but really has his work cut out for him in three ways: One, Gallardo is 2-1 with a 3.71 and coming off of his first complete game; two, the Brewers have won seven of their last 10; and three, according to MLB.com, Snell is 109 at Miller Park, which means there's some sort of time-age continuum that affects only him inside the stadium. Other reports suggest that he is 28 everywhere else he goes. Apparently, DirecTV doesn't like to broadcast senior-citizen athletes, so you'll have to catch the thrills on XM 183.
Florida @ New York, 12:05 As that tilt's getting underway, so are the Marlins and the Mets in New York. This one features righty Josh Johnson for the Marlins and lefty Johan Santana for the home team. If ever there was a pitcher's duel, this is it as Johnson comes in at 2-0 with a 2.20, having just tossed seven scoreless (with two walks, three hits, and eight Ks) frames against the defending champs. Santana's looking pretty sharp himself, boasting a 3-1 record with a a 0.70 E.R.A. The southpaw hasn't lost a home start in 11 outings, and is averaging nearly 13 Ks per nine innings in those contests. Tune in for a hurler's clinic on DirecTV 724, or listen to what they're saying on XM 184.
Seattle @ Chicago, 1:05: Did I say there was only one A.L. game this afternoon? Well, that goes to show you what I know. Last time I checked, the Mariners and White Sox still played in the American League, and they'll continue that trend today as Erik Bedard and Gavin Floyd exchange pleasantries in the Windy City. Bedard enters at 2-1 with a 2.08, and his Mariners continue to surprise the West with a two and-a-half game lead over the Rangers, though they've scored more than 30 runs fewer. For the Sox, Floyd's 2-2 mark, 5.79 E.R.A. has to improve if the Ozzie Guillens want to leapfrog the win-one-lose-one Royals in the Central. DirecTV has options: 307, 725, or 726. XM keeps it simple: 177.
San Diego @ Colorado, 2:10: It's some good ol'-fashioned N.L. West fightin' out in the Mile High City this afternoon. Kevin "Chic" Correia and his right arm battles Aaron "Can't" Cook and his. Both are 0-1, neither has a great earned-run average, and each of their clubs is looking up at the Dodgers, especially the Rockies, who're looking up at everyone. The action's on DirecTV 727, XM 185.
Chicago @ Arizona, 2:40: Our final bout of the pre-evening slate features the Cubs and the Diamondbacks. Ryan Dempster and Doug Davis each have a win a piece, and they'll battle for victory number two today out in the desert. Each of these teams needs a pick-me-up of some sort as they've both gone .500 over their last 10, and each need to gain some divisional ground, especially Arizona, who has only a half-game cushion over the last-place Rockies.
Whew. I never thought I'd feel like drinking before eight A.M. (Editor's Note: Well, not since high school, anyway.), but that was entirely too much work. Get your game on, and enjoy a frosty beverage while you're at it. Read more
We've got a busy Wednesday lined up, so we'll keep the learnin' brief today. Find some tidbits after the jump. * We go back to the year 1931 when Cleveland Indian Wes Farrell tossed a 7-0 no-hitter over the St. Louis Browns. Ferrell added bragging rights in that his brother Rick was a Brown, and the pitcher also managed to plate four RsBI with a double and a long ball.
* Today in 1961, ABC's "Wide World of Sports" debuted on television.
* It was on this monumental day in 1981 that Durango resident, Steamworks frequenter, and then Philadelphia Philly Steve Carlton became the first Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher to record his 3000th strikeout.
* Five years later, Roger Clemens set an MLB pitching record when he, on this day, fanned 20 Seattle Mariners.
* Same day, same year, Tony Tubbs delivered a technical knockout to Greg Page in round 15 for the WBA heavyweight boxing title in Buffalo. Tubbs' reign as champ would last only nine months, however, as he lost his first belt defense to former champ Tim Witherspoon in Atlanta in 1986. He would lose to Mike Tyson in '88 in the second round in Tokyo, and Riddick Bowe by decision in 1991. His professional record is 47-10 with 25 knockouts.
And since we mentioned Clemens, your Sports Illustrated quote of the day may as well come from him.
When asked in 1994 to name baseball's three most dangerous hitters, the Rocket said, "Robin Yount in the first, Robin Yount in the fourth, and Robin Yount in the seventh." Read more
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, for the first time since 1993, a member of the Kansas City Royals has graced the cover of Cecil's most favoritest magazine, Sports Illustrated. First heard the news last night from JoePos' blog. It was confirmed this morning, and now, you can read the article.
Not sure how I feel about the exposure, or the possible pressure it may but on the youngster that dons Michael Jordan's jersey number, but gee whiz, this Posnanski dude can write. Read more
It's Tuesday, which means we could deliver seven posts before the day's up, or this might be it. Never know. In case it's the latter, get on past the jump and study. There might be a pop quiz. * Two fantastic baseball stats to kick things off: In 1906, two player-managers steal home plate on the same day. It was Cub Frank Chance in the ninth to give Chicago the 1-0 win over the Cincinnati Redlegs, and Pirate Fred Clark in a 10-1 over the St. Louis Cardinals. Fifty-nine years later, Mets announcer Lindsey Nelson called a contest between New York and Houston at the Astrodome. Instead of doing so from the booth, however, his vantage point was in a gondola that hung 208 feet over second base.
* The year was 1966 when the Boston Celtics knocked off the Los Angeles Lakers four games to three for the National Basketball Association championship.
* It was today in 1967 when boxing champ Muhammad Ali refused to be inducted into the army and was stripped of his title.
* National Hockey League cheap-shot artist Dale Hunter, then of the New York Islanders, seasoned his weak-sauce body of work today in 1993 when he coughed up the puck to Washington Capital Pierre Turgeon who buried the turnover at the back of the net. You can see footage (early in the clip, hockey haters) here. Though Hunter would receive a 21-game suspension, New York would advance, eventually losing to ultimate Cup champion Montreal.
* Today in 1985, Billy Martin was named manager of the New York Yankees. It was the fourth time Martin was hired for the job. Martin would be hired for the job for a fifth time in 1988, and a sixth the following season, but his untimely death would prevent him from getting further than assembling a coaching staff.
And your Sports Illustrated quote of the day came from the mouth of...
...retired NFL coach Bum Philips, whose name was uber-appropriate in that he summed up, in 1995, how he was spending his retirement like this: "I ain't doing a damn thing, and I don't start until noon." Read more
Every once in a while, we come up with a great new feature idea, then promptly ditch it like a prom date with crabs. This will likely be one of those, and we will likely be Debbie Downers in weeks that the Royals drop both series in which they play. This has most certainly been one of those weeks. Numbers on it, after the jump. While the Royals showed some base-path improvement in week two, they lost some important ground in the Central this week, squandering matches to both Cleveland and Detroit. It is, as they say, a hard knock life, as the hits vs. left-on base would suggest.
Week Three
4/21 @ CLE: 7-8 (L); 13 hits, six left on 4/22 @ CLE: 2-0 (W); nine hits, six left on 4/23 @ CLE: 2-5 (L); five hits, eight left on 4/24 vs. DET: 1-6 (W); eight hits, two left on 4/25 vs. DET: 1-9 (L); six hits, seven left on 4/26 vs. DET: 3-2 (L); four hits, nine left on
The week's totals: 45 base hits, 20 runs scored, 37 stranded. Compared to last week, the Royals had six fewer hits, they left just as many runners on, and brought a dozen fewer home. The big difference of course being the inability to get those runners home, translating to three losses and two wins, versus the opposite last week.
The season's totals now sit at 141 hits, 70 runs, and 121 left on. Heading into tonight, Kansas City sits at .500 with a 9-9 record. If good/playoff teams are supposed to average 800 runs a season, then the Royals will not qualify as either. At this pace, according to my special-education calculations, this would put them on pace to score 630. It would also put them on pace to log nearly 1300 base hits, which, with no evidence to support such a claim, would suggest that the Royals need to bring roughly 60 percent of the runners they got on base full circle. I'm not a sabremetrician, but that doesn't seem like too much to ask. If you can't manage the base paths well enough to bring a little over half of your hits in for runs, you certainly don't belong in October baseball. It's of course still April, and there have been some decent pitching performances. There's also the notion that the Royals' bats are still slowly awakening, but for my money, little of that matters if you can't transform those sticks into funs. Read more
Good morning, boys and girls. It's lovely to be greeting this Monday with you, and thanks to those of you who popped in for a chat over the weekend. Those were some good darn times. Before we get today's lesson underway, I'd just like to share a few team draft grades from Randy Covitz of The Kansas City Star. For starters, there was one A handed out, and it went to the dumb-ass New York Jets, who, after mortgaging the home, had three picks, the first of whom was none other than Mark "Dirty" Sanchez. Then they took a running back out of Iowa and an Nebraska guard. And to that, I say, get a clue. Just because people are high on quarterbacks, and they'll get high on the above-mediocre quarterbacks that are around when there are no great ones, doesn't mean a team hits a home run when they draft one of those guys.
There are two A-. One went to Green Bay, who took B.J. Raji and Claw Matthews with their two firsts, then went D three more times, as well as adding a lineman and a tailback. Not bad. We'll see how the players pan out, of course, but not bad. The other went to Pantsless Mike Singletary and his 49ers. Why? Crabtree, I'm guessing. They also took Ball State qb Nate Davis, and an Alabama back, among others. Whatever. There's someone in the sports department that probably went balls deep to see to it that that grade got handed out.
The Denver Broncos were handed a D+, saying "With all the help Denver needed on defense, Moreno was not the best option with the pick for Jay Cutler. Ayers salvaged the first round, and trading a 2010 pick to take Smith may pay off. Could Brandstater be the next sixth-round version of Tom Brady for Josh McDaniels?" Not very critical wording for a D+, but that chatter sounds a lot like our LiveDraft chatter yesterday.
The Chiefs were only given a full letter grade better, citing "The new regime is trying to undo all of the mistakes the franchise has made in the defensive line during the last seven seasons. Jackson and Magee fit the mold of big, strong New England-type defensive linemen. Don't forget QB Matt Cassel and LB Mike Vrabel represent the second-round pick." Wow. I don't think you could possibly be less bold if you tried. Anyway, on to history... * Today in 1956, heavyweight champ Rocky Marciano retired with an undefeated record of 49 wins (43 by knockout) and, of course, no losses.
* Five years later, the National Football League officially recognized the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
* A decade after that, a guy by the name of Hank Aaron hit home run number 600.
* Two years later, Steve Busby tossed the first no-hitter for the Kansas City Royals. The win came against the Tigers in Detroit.
* And a decade later, Nolan Ryan slides into first place on the all-time strikeout list, with number 3509.
Your Sports Illustrated quote of the day?
It came from Jim Dickey, former Kansas State football coach, who, in 1978, said "Kansas State hasn't won a Big Eight championship in 40 years. I told them if I don't win a championship in that same length of time, I'll resign." For the record, he went 25-62-2 over seven years in the position. Read more
Alright. Let's not fool around. There's no sleep deprivation symptoms going on right now. After being holed up in front of the computer for most of 12 hours for this draft, my eyes and my brain are fried, but I wanted to share this... There are three videos up on the Chiefs Web site right now, and if you're a Chiefs fan, you should watch them. I'll explain why once you have. One is a Draft Q & A with Scott Pioli, one is with Pioli and Todd Haley as they discuss round one, and the other is just Haley talking about rounds three and four.
Ah, ah, ah. Don't be cheatin'. Get back there and watch 'em.
Okay. Here's the deal. Actually, let's bullet point this:
* Everybody was freaking the funk out about the Chiefs pick, i.e. "Why didn't they make trades," "What was with the Dorsey trade rumors," "I can't believe it's not butter," etc.
* Everybody just needed to calm the flock down.
* If, having watched those videos, you don't think that these dueling brains are 400,000 times the improvement over what's been in place for the past 10 years, then you, my friend, are insane.
* For all of the bashers, I gotta give Carl Peterson respect for the job he did, or attempted to do, in his time in Kansas City.
* Having said that, Scott Pioli is going to make him look like a mental dwarf.
* I imagine fewer busts, fewer emotional ties when it comes to keeping guys around, and frankly, that includes draft choices, which was, in my nimble-minded opinion, Peterson's biggest crutch. That is, he was frequently guilty of the mentality that said, "Hey -- we went out and drafted this guy on the first day (or what have you), and we, of course, are smart, so that means it's worthwhile to keep this guy around. We'll wait and see what happens, even if that means five Ryan Sims years.
* The other thing that Pioli demonstrated to me, in those clips, is tolerance. That is, he understands the nature of the beast that is the media. If a reporter asks him why he took Joe Schmoe, he doesn't get all fiery-eyed and act the fool. He answers the questions because he knows they're coming, and he doesn't care.
* The most important thing, though, is that he seems to be the Clark Hunt model (hence the hire) of a shrewd evaluator of football talent. That's not to say that Peterson wasn't. Peterson, as we all know, was a great businessman. Pioli, however, will build something better between the hash marks.
* The line of those three clips goes to Haley, though. He appears in two of the three PCs, and in two of them, the question of "Did you plan to draft this much defense, or did it just fall to you that way" was asked a solid three times. On the last occasion, Haley offered his best attempt at patience/PC when he said, "Obviously, if you been around here a little bit, you had some trouble stoppin' people." That's about the nicest way you can possibly say that Herman and his crew should wear crash helmets for their own safety.
* So, I gotta be honest: I was hoping for some front seven, some O-line, and a receiver. They gave us two front seven, an O-line (even if it is home-grown), some secondary, a receiver, a tailback/special-teamer, and hell, a tight end they probably won't even break camp with. And of course a kicker with that last pick in the draft. Remember when we took Medlock in the fifth? Oh, boy. Those were delicious times.
And of course, they've already signed like five undrafted free agents. As Pioli repeatedly said, "The work's not done. There's a lot of ground to cover." He also said they feel good about the ground they covered this weekend. And I do, too. It's a bit hard -- but, come on, we all do it -- to have specific expectations for a draft. It's like going to see your favorite band play a concert and hoping they play X,Y, and Z (Editor's Note: Unless it's Rush, and you want them to play "YYZ." That's entirely different scenario altogether.). If they don't play it, you're bummed. You're the guy in the lot saying, "I dunno. It was alright, I guess," while 10,000 others are walking around with best-show-ever looks on their faces that you just don't understand.
Funny thing is, I had (Note: I said it was tough.) expectations, even though I knew better. Funniest part is that they were met. I'm not grimacing over any of our picks, and at the same time, I'm not drinkin' any Kool-Aid or ready to stamp the approval on the draft as a whole. I just feel good about it moving forward, and am ready to see how things develop this summer. In closing, I'll leave you with one final bullet point:
* You know all of those rumors about Todd Haley being tough, those allegations about him being an a-hole and a jerk, all those clips of him getting in the faces of his players. Well, I'm convinced of one thing: They are fucking real.
Not just that, but like, hard core, legions removed from football real. Having watched Haley footage, sleep-deprived and frizzle-fried, I'm officially kind of afraid of him. Like, he might be the guy that jams his car in park and gets out to stab you in the neck with a broken-off No. 2 pencil if you piss him off in traffic. Insult him at the stadium? You just signed off on three quarts of simmering cups of hot cocoa down your jersey. Gonna be inappropriate towards his family? I hope you like being rolled up in a paisley throw rug and finding yourself nestled at the bottom of the Missouri. I'm going to lay my head down on the pillow feeling confident that that guy has a dark, buried mafia background somewhere, and I'll sleep soundly knowing that I don't know him.
Cousin Roy dropped me a quick line just before bed this evening, and said he wanted to get a post in before the month was up, so I'm obliging. He said it wouldn't be a long one, that he didn't have a whole lot to say, and you'll see after the jump that he wasn't kidding. 
