Video of the Day: Dan Marino Snaps

Friday's Fives

The following are the top and bottom five sports related things of the week.

Top Five

1. Adrian Petersen- This guy is the best rookie to come into the NFL for a long time. On Sunday he broke the league's single game rushing yard total with 296 yards. So far this season he's averaged close to 20 carries a game for 6.6 yards a carry. Imagine how good he'll be when the rest of the Vikings Offense comes around.

2. Sidney Crosby- Sid the Kid is now on an incredible 15 games point streak. Last years NHL leading scorer will get even better this year when the rest of the Pens start to pick it up.

3. Boston Celtics- So much for all the haters saying they won't live up to the hype. The team is 3-0 to start the seasons, and the teams 'big three' have gelled better than Pat Reilly's hair. How long before Boston fans start to talk about another possible undefeated season?

4. Curt Schilling- This week he accepted a $8 million contract for the up-coming season with the Red Sox when he could have got close to double somewhere else. It's refreshing to see that some guys still put winning first.

5. UFC Match Makers- The UFC announced two big fights for up coming PPV's. BJ Penn will take on Joe Stephenson in January, while former WWF Champion Brock Lesnar will take on former UFC Heavyweight Champ Frank Mir in February. It should be fun to see Lesnar's transition from the wrestling ring to the Octogon.

Bottom Five

5. Roger Clemens- It was announced this week that Clemens will accept a job with the Houston Astros, but there's still no word on whether or not he'll actually retire from pitching. Why won't this guy just retire like normal people do instead of tarnishing a Hall of Fame career.

4. Toronto Maple Leafs- After another brutal week the Leafs have now allowed a league high 62 goals. Outside of Maple Leafs fans, I'm sure Canadian sports fans are sick of all the attention the Leafs get from Canadian Sports Media. For a below average team they're on the cover of the sports page way too much. How about putting some good teams on Hockey Night in Canada for a change?

3. The California State Athletic Commission- UFC Lightweight Champion Sean Sherk's steroid suspension appeal has been put on hold for a ridiculous third time. The CSAC needs to get their act together, because it's holding up one of the UFC's most exciting divisions.

2. Miami Heat- So far this season they're 0-4 and have only managed a measly 82.75 points per game. Shaq is having a rough time too, only getting around 13 points and 6 boards a game. Dwayne Wade couldn't come back any sooner.

1.Don Shula- Sure, Shula's Dolphins are the only team in the history of the NFL to have an undefeated season, but that doesn't give him the right to say the Patriots will deserve an asterisks if they go 16-0. Sounds like a major case of sour grapes to me.

Somewhere in the middle- Baseball's Tampa Bay Devil Rays have officially changed their name to the Tampa Bay 'Rays'. In other news, The Kansas City Royals have changed their name to the Kansas City Dave's and the San Diego Padres will now be the San Diego Herbert's.

Have a great weekend!
-Joe Osborne

Video of the Day: The Next Basketball Phenom

And you thought Lebron was good at a young age!

The Best Job in Sports

If there's one certainty in professional sports, it's that pro athletes have it pretty damm good. Getting paid obscene amounts of money to do something that you love to do and be envied by millions. Where do I sign up? Being paid to play sports would be incredible, but what's the best job in professional sports? Being a starting point guard in the NBA? Nope. How about hitting lead-off and playing center field for the New York Yankees? Not even close. Maybe it would be playing on the top line of the Pittsburgh Penguins? Ice Cold. The best job in all of professional sports is being a third string quarterback in the NFL, and here's why.

-The first reason is obviously money. How much money could a guy who never plays get paid though? A lot. The majority of third string QB's are probably making somewhere around the league minimum. This is how the league minimum salary breaks down:
-Rookies and first-year players $275,000
-Second-year players $350,000
-Third-year $425,000
-Fourth-year $500,000
-Fifth- through seventh-year $585,000
-Eighth- through tenth-year $710,000
-Eleventh-year and longer $810,000
The average salary in the United States is $26, 036. Standing on the sidelines looks pretty good compared to any nine to five.

-Speaking of standing on the sidelines, that's another perk to being a third string QB. Fans dish out millions of dollars each year to attend games and watch them on TV. All the while, third string QB's get to chill out on the sidelines and get an unbelievable view and perspective of the game.

-It's not all fun and games for third stringers. Professional athlete's are expected to be in tip top shape, so these guys are pretty much being paid to exercise daily, and have a fit body. Imagine getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to go exercise with world class trainers using state of the art equipment and facilities. It's really not fair.

-Some of you are probably thinking you'd love to be Lebron James or Alex Rodriguez for a day. Why? You could never go out in public, you'd barely have anytime to yourself, and you'd constantly have the pressure of an entire franchise and city on your shoulders. How are these guys supposed to relax and live a normal life? They probably can't. Being a third string QB you'd be able to live a pretty normal life. You could go out and people wouldn't recognize you, you'd have a ton of time to yourself, and the last time I checked the NFL pays pretty good. So basically you'd be a rich guy who's in great shape with a lot of free time on your hands. Plus imagine being able to brag to your friends that you're an NFL QB.

Next time your at work complaining about your job , instead of thinking 'I was I could win the lottery and quit my job' you should be thinking to yourself 'I wish I was Matt Gutierrez'. Who's Matt Gutierrez you ask? He's a guy that gets paid $275,000 a year to stand on the sidelines and watch the New England Patriots play football. Now that's the best job in sports.
-Joe Osborne

Video of the Day: Roy Jones Jr. The Conclusion

Part Five

Serious or Delirious: Major League Baseball

No other sport in the world provides as much drama (good and bad) as Major League Baseball does. Last week I reviewed the positive and negative of the NHL, and this week i'll determine whether or not Major League Baseball is Serious or Delirious.

Serious

• MLB's on-field product is great. Unlike other sports, they haven't needed to make drastic rule changes to improve the quality of the game. Sure, watching a nine inning game is boring for some, but the game has remained fun and exciting for those who watch it for what it is.
• Year after year MLB produces amazing crops of new talent. Sports like hockey and football usually only have a few standout rookie and sophomore players, while in baseball younger players seem to reach elite levels faster. This can be attributed the baseball's minor league system which is the best in all professional sports.
• Since baseball introduced the wild card it seems like as long as you can get into the playoffs, you have a great chance of going all the way. It doesn't matter if your payroll is $200 million or $50 million. It seems like every year there's just as many small market clubs in the mix as there are big spenders.
• Baseball fans are arguably the most passionate in all of sports. What other sports do you hear about fans getting attacked due to their loyalties to their favorite team-http://blog.masslive.com/redsoxmonster/2007/10/file_this_under_ridiculous_sox.html

Delirious

• Baseball has way too many games in it's regular season. How are fans supposed to stay interested for an entire 162 game season and then the playoffs. Playing baseball late into October is way to long.
• Unlike in other sports, baseball doesn't have one player who stands out as 'The Guy'. The NBA has Lebron and the NFL has Manning, but baseball doesn't have a player who is recognized as the best in the world. Some would say it could be A-Rod or it should have been Bonds but their both generally disliked by the public which makes them hard to promote to fans.
• Why is baseball still having problems with steroids? Baseball has been battling steroid allegations for years now, and what have they done about it? Absolutely nothing. It seems like there's a story each week about someone getting busted. I'm sure just as many NFL players have used steroids, but we never hear about it. Baseball has to officially put an end to this and stop dragging on all these investigations.
• Baseball needs a salary cap. It's almost impossible for low market teams to even bid for marquee talent. While some teams are stacked from one to nine, other teams look like a triple A team. A salary cap made the NFL the worlds best and most popular sports league, while the NHL is improving because they added one.

-Final Verdict: MLB is completely delirious. Sure, the on field product is good, but there's way too much negativity and bad press going on off the field. They didn't properly manage the steroid problem a few years back and now they're screwed forever. Also having such massive gaps between team payrolls ruins things for the fans. The Marlins spending $25 million a season is just as bad as the Yankees and the Red Sox spending over $200 million. The best thing baseball can do is find a better way to manage team and player salaries and find some type of resolution to the whole steroid mess.
-Joe Osborne

Video of the Day: Roy Jones Jr. Continued

Part Three


Part Four


Check back tomorrow for the conclusion of: Roy Jones Jr.-Beyond the Glory