I Don't Understand

The structure of today's sports teams is the usual owner, general manager, manager/coach, then the players. But for some reason the Dallas Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones doesn't think he needs a general manager and thinks it's best if he's judge, jury, and executioner. When the Cowboys were winning Jerry Jones looked like a genius. Making all the appropriate moves like hiring Jimmy Johnson away from the University of Miami and keeping the core of Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, and Michael Irving together long enough to see the bright of three NFL Championships in 1992, 1993, and 1995. The last Cowboy championship was in 1995 that was 17 years ago and for that they're still labeled "America's Team"? For that label the New York Yankees should be labeled "America's Team" since they've been multiple time championships and much more recently than the Cowboys.

Jerry Jones at this stage in his life can't possibly be in touch with the young kids that are coming into the league. Do I want Jerry Jones to get a Twitter account like Indianapolis Colts' owner Jim Irsay? no, but I don't see what Jerry Jones can possibly talk to Dez Bryant about outside of football. The GM's roll is to have an  unbiased view of the team and use that unbiased view to build a team that can win on the field and not just win the headlines the way Jerry Jones seems to think it goes.

They Won't Know What They Have til It's Gone

I've never understood how spoiled fans can abandon their favorite team. In today's sports landscape there is no victim of this like the Miami Heat. Throughout Heat games you can visibly see empty seats in the first 7-10 rows and I find that to be insulting. The Miami Heat are two time defending champs and the people of Miami don't know how lucky they are to have them in their city. Imagine if the New York Knicks were the two time defending champs the Garden would be packed every night. Remember when the Los Angeles Lakers were at their highest point with Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant? They played in front of a packed house every night. You couldn't fit more people in the Boston arena when the Celtics were running basketball.

I know fans have the right to do whatever they want with their money and their tickets, but you should show some respect towards the defending champs and showing up at or near halftime and leaving half way through the 3rd quarter or the beginning of the 4th isn't the way to do so. Fans of other teams show up and pack the house just because Miami showed up to play their team and their home crowd decides to show up whenever. How much can there possibly be to do in Miami that you can't make a 7:30pm tip off? Shoot when the Knicks win 5 in a row (which rarely happens) Knick fans show up in droves. And it's not like the Heat have been fantastic for a long time; before Dwayne Wade showed up in 2003 the Miami Heat were an afterthought in NBA circles. I guess some fans just don't deserve a winner.

The Biggest Surprises in the NBA so Far

There was a flurry of movements in the offseason and several teams got either better or much worse. The teams that got better like the Golden State Warriors are seeing the fruits of their labor by being predicted to either win the Western Conference or winning the whole thing in the next few years and the teams that have gotten worse trying to tank the season to get a better draft pick like the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers have a record of 10-14 for the Celtics and 7-16 for the Sixers. The surprise here is that with the Celtics' record they are actually not tanking, but they're actually 4th in the Eastern Conference and also leading the Atlantic Division. The Celtics wanted to tank the season to help their draft chances for this upcoming "super" draft, but the atrociousness which is the Eastern Conference hasn't allowed the Celtics to tank successfully. The Sixers on the other hand are on track to tank enough to get a top 10 pick.

The biggest surprise so far this season has to be the Portland Trailblazers. With their record of 18-4 so far this season and no. 1 ranking in the Western Conference no one can honestly say they expected this from a team that went 28-38 last season. Talk about one player making a difference the Trailblazers traded for Robin Lopez from the New Orleans Pelicans to play the Center position which has allowed Trailblazer superstar LaMarcus Aldridge to actually play his natural position which is Power Forward and has allowed Aldridge to face smaller, less physically imposing players which has allowed him to dominate his game while Lopez plays defense and rebound. Damian Lillard has stepped his game up averaging 20 points, 6 assists up from the 19 and 7 he averaged last year. It's still early in the season and anything can happen since it is still December, but as of right now the ineptness of the Eastern Conference and the surprising Trailblazers have definitely given me something to keep my on.

Good for Marcus Mariota

Yesterday, Oregon Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota announced that he's going to go back to school for his final year to get his degree and I applaud this. More kids should stay in school and earn their degree (even if it's a joke degree). More emphasis should be put on education and graduate degrees than on being a spring board to professional sports and to a world that they may not be ready for. I understand that most players skip up to the pros to help their families and earn substantially more than they are earning in college, but that's a different story. Education is put on the furthest burner and that's not good from a society standpoint.Kids look up to these "professionals" and these "professionals" would be much more influential had they gotten their degree. I applaud Mariota and I hope that other players follow his lead.

Is Mariota leaving millions on the table? Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. Mariota can come back and have just as good a season as he had this year or maybe even a better year and win him the Heisman trophy and be the number one overall pick next year compared to the no.3 overall pick like he is this year according to mock draft boards.

Yup, and Take the Draft Pick With Ya

Watching the Pittsburgh Steelers v the Baltimore Ravens game I saw something I've never seen before. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was reaching the edge of the field and interfered with a kick return by Ravens returner Jacoby Jones. Forcing Jones to adjust his route to the end zone and then turning and smirking like he got away with something. And now the punishment has been announced to be a 6-figure fine to Mike Tomlin and a potential loss of a draft pick to the Steelers. I'm in favor of the NFL taking the pick and fining Tomlin the full 6-figures. Why? because if the NFL is serious about player safety then had Jones gotten injured trying to adjust to Tomlin being so close to being on the field then that would be a true shame.

So why should the Steelers lose the draft pick? Because Tomlin makes more than enough to cover the 6-figure fine and what is going to stop another coach from doing the same thing? I can see either Harbaugh coach getting that close to the field trying to make a returner adjust their route. Should it be a first round pick? absolutely not, but at least a 6th or 7th rounder should be taken by the NFL because what if the order came up from above to have Tomlin interfere? Take the pick and let these other coaches and teams know that there are consequences to decisions that are being made in the heat of battle.

Not the Savior..

The New York Knicks are 3-12 and dead last in their division looking up at the Toronto Raptors and I've heard on more than one occasion that the Knicks should look to trade away Carmelo Anthony the greatest offensive talent the Knicks have had since Bernard King. Carmelo is averaging 26.5 points per game, 2.5 assists per game, and 9.9 rebounds per game as solid as those numbers are Carmelo's player efficiency rating is 22.16 which middle of the pack for the type of player Carmelo is. The problem with the 3-12 Knicks is that they have looked either lost or completely incompetent on the defensive side of the ball (Carmelo included).

Blaming Carmelo is not the way to go. Blaming the decision-makers of the team is the way to go. The lone real defensive players on the Knicks is Center Tyson Chandler and Guard Iman Shumpert and with Chandler being hurt at the moment that makes the glaring weaknesses on defense even worse. Even though Iman Shumpert and Amare Stoudemire have expressed issues with "ball movement" (which really means that Carmelo Anthony and JR Smith don't pass the ball enough and chuck up and too many shots) on offense they haven't been enough of a force when they do have the ball to demand the ball anyways. This issue goes back to the decision makers once again when the new Collective Bargaining Agreement was signed each team was able to amnesty (an option to get rid of a player by paying the player the rest of his contract without having his contract counting against the salary cap) one player and the Knicks decided to amnesty Chauncy Billups instead the albatross contract of Amare Stoudemire who hasn't even thought of living up to his contract. A trio of Chauncy, Carmelo, and Chandler would've had given the Knicks the right veteran leadership that they need to control the often out of control Iman Shumpert and JR Smith. So don't blame or trade number 7...blame Knicks owner James Dolan.

What the Chicago Bulls should do Now...

Once again Derrick Rose is out for the rest of the season leaving the Bulls without its most dynamic player, leading scorer, and overall leader. So what should the Bulls do now? In my opinion it's time to tank. Trade Luol Deng's expiring contract for picks for the upcoming super draft and FINALLY amnestying Carlos Boozer (or as I like to call him Boozer the loser). Starting over is the best option because the team that's on the court just can't compete with the New York Knicks, forget about the Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat. These Bulls can't beat the Knicks as they are constituted so it's time to strip it down and just start over.

The Bulls are very good at drafting talent so getting the picks from trading Deng and utilizing the draft picks the Bulls already have they can build a better team. So when Rose comes back next season the Bulls would be better set to compete against the juggernauts of the East. Even with how weak the East is I still say that tanking is the best solution because in today's NBA it's better to be either very good or very bad. Being very good would have your team always in a position to compete and have fans coming to the stadium, being bad helps the team build through the draft and if the picks pan out as they are supposed to bad teams can turn around in a hurry. So if I'm the general manager I'm making phone calls and trying to set up a juggernaut draft room for my super star next season.