Monthly Archives: March 2009

2009 NFL Mock Draft – SCU Version 1.0

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This year’s draft is one that I have been focusing on for a long, long time. Too long. The reason is that I think this draft could be one that shapes the future for a few teams more so than a lot of the drafts turn out to do. We are coming off of a season where, for the first time, a team went 0-16, and that means that the gap between the good teams and the bad teams is growing. At least from where I stand. Also, six of the ten teams in the first picks in the draft were there last year (not counting any trades), and with this being a draft heavy on good OTs, I assume this could be a good time to get in on the ground level. Now, I am no expert, and I barely know my stuff, but I have done some homework on this, and I think its time for me to list what I believe will happen now that the free agency picture is a little more clear.

1. Detroit Lions – OT Jason Smith, BAYLOR

I think that when everything is said and done, the Lions are going to realize that this isnt the year to pick a QB with the first pick. There are a number of good people coming down the pipeline next year, and this will give them a chance to anchor the line that gave up all those sacks last year. Plus, with another pick at #20, Josh Freeman or Mark Sanchez may be there to build the team around for a lot cheaper. Smith can start from day one, and should be a great player.

2. St Louis Rams – OT Eugene Monroe, UVA

The Rams need a guy that can take the place of Orlando Pace, and Eugene Monroe is that guy. He is a big dude, and may be the better of the two tackles that have emerged at the top of the list. As I said before, this is a tackle heavy draft, and Monroe is definitely one of the guys I would expect to have a very good career. These guys are starters from day one, as also said before, and the Rams will need that.

3. Kansas City Chiefs – LB Aaron Curry, WAKE FOREST

Man, Curry is a beast. The guy just has a ton of potential at linebacker for the Chiefs, especially on a defense that really needs the help. I originally thought Maybin would be here as the consensus pick, but the combine wasn’t as friendly to him as it could have been. Curry has as much upside as Patrick Willis, and should be quicker and and better at a key position.

4. Seattle Seahawks – QB Matthew Stafford, GEORGIA

We all know about Matt v2.0, he is still considered to be the consensus number 1 pick, but I see him dropping a bit now as things move forward. We can see that Hasslebeck is getting older and hasn’t necessarily produced the way the league demands as of late. Without Alexander in the backfield, the QB position becomes even more important than it already is. Too bad there isnt a good enough RB to take here, because the Seahawks could use one of them too. Now that Housh is the new seattle man, I think they want someone who will get him the ball.

5. Cleveland Browns – OLB, DE Aaron Maybin, PSU

Maybin was as high as number one on some boards, and I don’t think the Browns could pass up one of the best players in the draft, especially with their ailing defense. Maybin will be a star, and has put on some weight since the combine, so you can expect that many a big hits are in his future. He could be the next big name on defense, I would be shocked if he was a bust.

6. Cincinatti Bengals – WR Michael Crabtree, TX TECH

Crabtree is the best player in the draft in my opinion, and the foot injury isnt a bad enough thing to keep him out of the top 10. If he falls this far, he wont get past Cincy, who just lost their best receiver. The guy is a ridiculous talent, and may be on the same level of potential as Calvin Johnson was. I would think this guy could be a 100 catch 15TD player down the road, and boy does this team need him.

7. Oakland Raiders – WR Jeremy Maclin, MISSOURI

Wow, what a crapfest the Raiders have become. Thank you Al Davis. The Raiders have no one left in their receiving corps, and Maclin could be that big play guy they are looking for to help out Russell. God knows he needs it. They could also go OLine here, but im not sure if the Raiders draft people are that smart. Maclin is a rocket off the line with a 4.4 40, and you can expect that the upside on him will be enough for the Raiders to take him.

8. Jacksonville Jaguars – OT Michael Oher, OLE MISS

Jacksonville needs some playmakers to help Garrard, but they also need to protect him. Their line has been suspect over the years and Oher may be the guy to fix it. I would have put Smith here, but the guy is a washout, much to Oher’s benefit. If Maclin makes it down here, the Jags will take him, but I would expect them to definitely want to shore up problems up front as well.

9. Green Bay Packers – DE Brian Orakpo, UT

The Packers may be switching to a 3-4 next year, and Orakpo should fit into that scheme from what I have seen. He has the speed and the know how to be a great OLB or DE, and you can believe that the Packers need the help with their awful rush defense from last year.

10. San Fransisco 49ers – DE BJ Raji, BC

Holy crap, this pick could be the most up in the air for the entire draft. The Niners have a huge amount of holes and a QB that hasn’t had a healthy season since he was drafted. I could say Sanchez would go here, but they may just say fuck it and go for the offensive line. They could use a DE as well, so Raji would make sense along with Everette Brown. Raji is a good player that can go inside at DT as well, so versatility could be his best asset.

That’s my picks for right now, I may do this again as the pro days shape up. Feel free to offer your ideas, but realize that I am not an expert on this stuff in any way. I really hope that things work out for these top picks because if they go as planned, the Vikings could end up with someone much better than I expected. Either way, April is a long time away, and things change daily with this. All I can say is that I am pumped.

Blog Bat Around: My Goofy Superfan Moment With My Favorite Player

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During the summer of my senior year in college, I got some great info while listening to the radio in my car going to work. The announcer for KFAN, the sports talk station, announced that they would be sponsoring a signing of Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau on the Saturday before I went back to Washington. It was going to be at a Best Buy, one that was a reasonable distance from my house, but I was determined to get there.

I arrived at work with a huge grin on my face, hoping that the schedule would be forgiving enough that I could make the signing. I knew I would need an hour to get to the Best Buy, a few hours to beat the throngs of fans that would be showing up, and twenty minutes to go home and change. Luckily, I was not working until the evening shift, which gave me two hours after the signing to get there without a problem. Clutch, right?

According to my plans, I needed to get two baseballs for them to sign, and maybe a few cards that I didn’t mind ruining if they got screwed up. After work, I went to target and went straight to the sporting goods section, only to find that the official balls cost 15 bucks a piece. I dug in my pocket and pulled out the tips from the night before, praying that I would have enough for the balls and some tax. As I counted the ones, I came to a total of 36 bucks, plus money for gas. It couldn’t be any more key, at least not to me!

The day arrived and I could not even stay focused enough to pack my stuff that I needed for the long drive we would be taking the next weekend. I actually showed up about four hours before I needed to be there, just to make sure I had a good spot in line for the signing. I was number 5 in the line, and little did I know how important that would be later. After buying a lawn chair at target to chill in, I started talking with the other people in line. It was awesome to see the stuff they had brought. One guy had a complete set of the Twins Medallions, mounted, framed, and signed by every player and manager except for Mauer and Morneau. Another guy had some framed lithographs that looked absolutely amazing, and I wished that I had something similar. A lot of people came with the mini batting helmets, which I thought were awesome. Me? I just had my balls and a few cards. I knew it would be one auto per person, and I collect the signed baseballs. That’s what I came for. I figured Id have another chance at Twinsfest for the fun stuff.

As the hours past, we talked about collecting and the evil shops from around the Minneapolis area, just having a whole afternoon of talking about the Twins and their future. Around 4, they let us into the store through a back entrance (we were waiting outside), and I finally saw the magnitude of how many people showed up. The parking lot was jammed, filled with about 700-800 people all circling this Best Buy. It was a sea of people, and more showed up every minute.

I was still number five in line, and they brought us in to stand next to the podium and stage they had set up. After about ten minutes, we heard cheers coming from the back, which we knew were Joe and Justin coming into the store. They had a security escort through the back of the store, but you could tell they were just there to have fun. Justin asked me how long I had been waiting, and I said that I had been there since before noon. He thanked me for the support, shook my hand, and went to go sit down at his spot. I had brought along a blue ball point, but I saw that they had hundreds of pens on the table. I didn’t take any chances, so I had mine at the ready.

Joe was first and I put the ball, as instructed on the table for him to sign. He was signing on the sweet spot for the guy before me, so I was going to nicely ask for the same. I wasn’t going to sell the ball, but for display purposes, I needed a sweet spot sig for my collection. Before I had the chance to say anything, he picked up the ball and signed the loop, much to my surprise. My mouth kind of dropped open with a partial word, and he realized that I wanted something different. He said, “Oh, dude, im really sorry, I thought Justin AND I were going to sign this one.” I (very nicely, considering my shock) said, “No, its cool, my fault, can you please sign it again on the sweet spot?” He laughed and sort of gave me the ‘you sure about this?’ look before doing it. He signed again, and we both laughed pretty hard. He hit Justin on the shoulder and showed him the ball, and the Justin laughed.

I handed Justin a fresh ball, and he said, “should I do this one three times?” but I just laughed and said that he should sign the sweet spot. He chuckled and happily obliged. He thanked me again for waiting in line, and I started to leave. Joe shouted that he was sorry again, and I gave him a signal that it was cool with me. I mean, how often do you have a story like that? I still have both the balls, and I still tell the story to the people who come over and see my display. They always laugh about it with me, because they know it was all a part of the chase.

Funny enough, I went to Twinsfest that year with my then girlfriend (now wife), who was madly in love with Justin. Mauer and him were signing together again, and I couldn’t resist the temptation to get more stuff signed. She had a few balls with her, and I advised her that she needs to TELL Joe to sign on the sweet spot, because otherwise it will end up like my other one. As we approached she got kind of scared, but eventually lightened up. Justin signed her ball and picture, but she couldn’t bring herself to confess her love, thank god. She did just as I had told her with Joe, and he happily did what she said. Joe took one look at me and said, “Man, I promise I wont screw yours up this time!” Justin laughed, I laughed, and I told him I didn’t bring a ball this time, because I didn’t trust him. He laughed again, and signed my mini batting helmet perfectly.

You know, its these types of stories that makes me feel good about being a fan. You know that players who have a good time have the best fans, and you can count me among that bunch. Mauer and Morneau are my favorites, even though my wife said she would divorce me to marry Justin.

Ryan 1/1 Logo Pulled On Blowout Forums

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I am sorry for the long string of Exquisite posts, but damn, this was a nice fucking pull by a guy who posts on the blowout forums. Of the big rookies, this one was the biggest, and I am glad that it went to a regular guy who buys his boxes from a shop, rather than a big corporation or hobby big wig.

Also, it looks much better than the Patch Auto because of the pic change and the design for the logos. For getting rid of the Rare Materials 1/1s and making them /10 and /35, UD did an awesome job with these 1/1 logos.

Lions and Bears are here, but no Tiger? OH MY!

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So, looking at my calendar, we are coming up on 2 weeks since Exquisite has been released, and we have yet to see a Tiger Woods auto pulled. This is pretty crazy considering how much of the product has been probably been opened so far, and how many of the cards are supposed to be in the set.

Per Upper Deck’s site, Tiger is supposed to have 14 cards in this set – 10 normal “patch” autos, 3 gold, and 1 platinum. With 14 cards, you would expect at least one to have made it onto youtube or onto eBay. Hell, even a story would have surfaced somewhere from someone right?

Just for kicks, lets take a look at the Rare Materials cards /10, a card with 4 less in the print run than all of the Tigers. Per my snooping on ebay and the forums, all of the players in the set have had at least 1 card pulled that has been posted for sale or as part of a break. Im not saying this proves anything, its just a comparison.

Lets say for instance, that Gregg’s original count of 5 Tigers was correct and that the web is mistaken. If each of the 5 tigers was put into a different case, you would expect that 5/2500 cases would have a Tiger in it. You would expect that 1/500 cases would be your odds. Then, if you consider that 500-700 cases are probably opened in the first few weeks and as far as we know, no Tiger has been pulled, it would leave 5/2000 which lowers the odds even more to 1/350-400 cases. Add into it that almost every other card out of 10, and most the cards out of 5 have had at least one pulled, people are beginning to rumble as to where these cards are. We are already at the odds for one to be pulled, and moving further past every day.

As of right now, I am giving UD the benefit of the doubt, only because we saw one of the cards pictured during the course of the previews for the product. If it comes out that the cards are stashed away somewhere, and were mistakenly not included in the pack out, you can imagine what the backlash will be from the collector base. I hope that things are good, and that eventually someone will pull one of them so that we can see what they are going to sell for. At this point, with the bubbling needs of the Exquisite lovers out there, I would put the value at 4 or 5K minimum for the first, and a bit lower for the rest.

NOTE: Per Gregg, there are 5 Tigers in the cases, and he personally witnessed them being packed out into the product. That makes me feel a lot better, lets hope one surfaces soon, I am eager to see them.