Month: April 2012

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I am excited to see Brandon Inge play third base for the A’s

So the carousel at third base welcomes another player as Brandon Inge is set to play third for the A’s tonight. I for one am excited to see an established third baseman at the position. After Chavez’s departure, the A’s just have had no answers at the position.

Inge provides veteran leadership and an occasional pop in the bat. He’s not going to be the player he was years ago but he’s clearly an upgrade over what the A’s have been using all season long.

In part, I kind of wish that Chavez would be back with the A’s. If not anything, just for a ceremonial retirement. I was ready to see him go two years ago but now it looks like he’s doing well in New York and the A’s haven’t been able to find his replacement.

But here’s to Inge and a hope for something better for the A’s. The offense needs a jolt and maybe Inge can help out somewhere in that search for a spark.

Brandon Inge got tattoos of his sons' names (Tyler, Chase) while on a road trip against the A's.

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Rich Eisen goes bananas over Jaguars’ selection of punter Bryan Anger

As some of you know, the Jacksonville Jaguars are my secondary favorite team so I do pay attention to their games and cheer them on along with the 49ers. But since I was covering the 49ers this weekend, I did not get a chance to see the above linked miraculous clip of Rich Eisen losing his mind.

I don’t know if reaching for a punter that high was a good idea but having seen Andy Lee, I cannot devalue a punter. For a Jaguars offense that was ranked last in 2011, field position is so key to their offense. And with the 6th best defense, it makes sense to get a punter. After Matt Turk struggled last year, the Jaguars knew that they had to find some kind of long-term replacement for Adam Podlesh.

Getting the best punter available that high shows that the team is serious about getting a potential Pro Bowler (or whatever you call them now) for the future. This isn’t a bad move really. Punters have great value to any team that’s struggling.

Cheers to you Rich Eisen for loving the punters!

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The ACL injury to Derrick Rose is unfortunate

Derrick Rose out for the playoffs, some of next year with the ACL. A shame.

This reminds me of when Joshua Morgan suffered a broken leg late in a game that was decided. But this is a little bit different. It’s the playoffs and Rose has been battling injuries all year. And the fact that it’s a shortened season, keeping players rested is a must.

It’s a shame that Rose got hurt and part of this is the product of a shortened season where players are forced to play back to backs all year long. I do wish that the lockout remained and that the league can go to a full season instead of this.

There have been so many injuries this year and I know a part of it is due to the compacted schedule. Rose shouldn’t have been in the game to begin with. But still, this might have been avoided all together.

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What’s it like covering the draft from 49ers headquarters? A look back at Thursday’s action

Home of the 49ers in two years.

With the construction of the new stadium, the 49ers team headquarters is also going through a change. One of the changes that affect the media is the relocation of the media trailer. Having to find a way through the facility around construction, the media trailer was moved to about 20 yards from the original spot. But as you can see from the view, it’s pretty nice as we can look out at the new home of the 49ers.

Covering the draft has always been a very interesting time. It’s when site traffic and attention is at an all time high during the NFL calendar year. Mostly all the local media outlets are stationed at team headquarters ready to talk with the new pick, head coach and general manager.

This year was no different from other years. The media gathers in the trailer and just watches the NFL Network like everybody else. But our focus also goes on our computer screens and once the pick is in, we’re scrambling to get the information out and find as much scouting on the newest player.

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Looking back at the first NFL Draft I actually followed

The NFL Draft is here today and for people like me, I have mixed emotions about it. There’s an excitement about new prospects joining the team. But at the same time, as a writer, it’s a very stressful time to get all the information about all the new players out there for everybody.

But still, the draft is exciting. When I first started covering the 49ers, I did it for the now defunct MVN.com. I was just a junior at San Jose State but it was a real nice opportunity for me to just watch the draft at home (the first time I’ve ever done that) and see what the 49ers would do.

What really sucked for me at the time was that I had a part time job on weekends so I knew that I would miss the first day of the draft. (Back then, the draft started on a Saturday). But it still was the first draft I really paid attention to and that 2007 class means a whole lot to me because I watched like a madman the following day.

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I know I can make a half-court shot for $1 million

The Warriors have been doing this half-court shot deal this season and as you can see from the video, there have been some lucky winners. In fact, I was in attendance for the first winner (Omar) and the crowd went nuts.

I wish I was a season ticket holder just for the opportunity. Not to toot my own horn, but I am very good at half-court shots. Since I was a kid, I was always a deep shooter on the basketball floor. My first three-pointer I ever made was as a first grader. Half-court shots became my norm in sixth grade. Now whenever I play ball, I practice my deep half-court shots all the time and make them. Even at Great America I make those tricky shots to win prizes.

I would love to get a chance to try a half-court shot. I know I can make it too. And for $1 million, I can help out Dr. Evil’s schemes!

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One Man’s Defense of Our Top 10 Heisman List

NFL Films defends putting Tim Tebow in their Top 10 Heisman winners in the NFL list. This is very interesting as I can understand why Tebow made the list, but at the same time, I understand why fans were unhappy with him making it.

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I don’t think it was a good idea for Deion Sanders to tweet about his baby mama drama

Deion Sanders tweets a photo of him filing a police report. Who took the picture for him?

I enjoy the great things that Twitter has to offer. Especially in my profession of information, Twitter is a great tool for me to keep up to date on all the important news. Even when athletes are on Twitter, they provide great insight into their lives.

But for Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, using his Twitter account to tell everyone about his divorce isn’t a great idea.

Yesterday, Sanders went onto to Twitter to tweet about domestic violence at home and even tweeted a photo (see above) of him filing police reports. The tweets have since been deleted but we still have the text from it.

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Metta World Peace turned back into Ron Artest last night

I was out of the house most of the day on Sunday and I didn’t get a chance to catch this until late at night while watching SportsCenter. I had heard that Metta World Peace had elbowed somebody but I wasn’t sure exactly about the details. Now after watching the video, I’m disgusted.

For this instance, World Peace claimed that he was celebrating and he accidentally elbowed James Harden in the head. Yet if it was unintentional, I wonder why he didn’t look back after he made contact.

I can believe he was celebrating but a part of Ron Artest came back. He was selfish with his celebration and violent with the elbow. And he had no concern immediately hitting Harden until he was about to get attacked by Serge Ibaka before the officials broke it up.

This is the kind of stuff that Ron Artest would do. He said the right things afterward but I still feel that even though he changed his name, he’s still the unstable, volatile player. Last night, we saw Ron Artest.