The Bloody Sock

he has mustard on his left ankle

One of the biggest "controversies" in sports has been the talk of Curt Schilling's bloody sock incident if it was staged. Now from what I've been watching and hearing, many people are outraged by this alleged publicity stunt. It has gotten so serious to that he might even be a 'maybe' when being considered for the Hall. That is just straight ludacris.

If he did fake it, I applaud him for this. I think people need to remember how awesome it was during that game when Schilling emerged in that game 6 of the ALCS against the Yanks. How much in awe you were at that moment. It's like a scene out of a movie.

*cue inspirational music*

*fog rolls as the camera pans from Big Schill's feet seeing the bloody sock all the way up to his face where he has that "determined to win" look.*

If Doug Mirabelli wasn't being a little snitch, this probably would've been made into a movie in about five years or so. It was an awesome moment for sports.....and I don't even really like baseball that much!! But the drama and the suspense fueled the already heated rivalry between the BoSox and Yankees and made that game 6.2x better. Now, we have all these 'hardcore' baseball fans complaining about it. Complaining about what?

Maybe I'm just a sucker for a good story line, but I wouldn't have minded if Schilling added a little bit of color to that blood. I'm not saying he did or he didn't, but I don't mind if he did either. Say he did pitch with that bloody ankle. That makes him an even greater hero to end nine decades of Red Sox depression. I know all those people in Boston and surrounding cities agree. And if he did do it, then I declare him guilty of making baseball more entertaining and dramatic.....and well, I'd like to thank him on behalf of one of the many people who thinks baseball could use a little pick-me-up.

There is a definite line between fraud and showmanship. We all know what fraud looks like. It comes in a clear substance form that you can either rub or inject into a certain player on the Giants and it comes from the EXCOOOZIE guy in eurotrip. But showmanship recognizes sports are about competition and entertainment.

Schilling understands this. As does MJ with his "flu", Rip Hamilton with his mask, Kirk Gibson and Kareem Abdul Jabbar with his "migrain headaches" EVERY series vs. the Celtics. So let's just enjoy that Curt possibly wanted to add more entertainment to this sport. OR, if you don't want to, then let's remember that this was TWO AND A HALF YEARS AGO!!! so who cares!?!!? haha

One final note: I don't even know why Mirabelli had to pull such a weasel move, but it doesn't surprise me. One time I was at a jersey store with a friend browsing around when an old man tells us that Boston Red Sox jerseys are great. When we turned around to respond to him, he says, "because my son Doug Mirabelli is a Red Sox player"...... Those Mirabelli's. What a bunch of losers.



Well the verdict is out, and apparently it was real. Either way, the bloody sock is awesome. Big props to Schilling.

random lookalike of the day!


ex-florida gator joakim noah and spanish from old school

NFL Draft: Value vs. Need

With the NFL Draft just a few days away, an age old question every draft is….should a team draft a player based on need or should they take the “best player available”.

Of course, it’s the job of a GM during the draft to consider both….but I think ultimately, value wins over need. The reason I ask this is, after looking at some NFL mock drafts, I see that a lot of writers base their picks far too much on team needs. Thus, I’ve seen crazy mock drafts where Peterson is drafted at 10, Quinn at 17, and Calvin Johnson at 6 (the latter being the most ridiculous pick ever.) Why do writers do this when many GMs or former GMs say at the end of the day, you want to take the best player available. Why do you want the best player available? There are a few reasons for it.

First off, the best way to get a true superstar is through the draft. It is difficult or expensive to obtain superstars through trades or free agency. No matter the sport, most successful teams are built through the draft. It is better to accumulate the best players available and build a solid foundation. Then, it is much easier to patch up needs through trades and free agency. If you need a RB, you're not going to get a L.T. or L.J. (at least not while they’re young) as a FA but you can go out and get a Thomas Jones, Tatum Bell, or Jamal Lewis and at least patch up the need.

The second reason that value wins is that you never know whats going to happen to your team in the next few years. Simply, your needs change. However, if you go out and get a guy that you have "ranked" at 15 on your draft board overall, but you draft him at 8 cuz he fills your need. Well, the problem is you still have to pay him #8 money. Now if you happen to be a draft genius you might be able to get away with this once in a while….but if you continue this mentality for years, you are going against the odds and will soon find yourself in salary cap trouble with a team of overpaid players. Thus, this mentality will still improve your team in the short term, but it is very difficult to build a Superbowl contender with overpaid players and limited cap space.

Overall, the most successful GMs know how to weigh value vs. need in their picks. (And tied along with that idea is that they aren't always specifically drafting for the very next year, but keep in mind the near future. Thus they might not have a need now, but forsee that need in 1-2 years and draft for value at that position. The Patriots and Eagles are particularly adept at this.) I've heard GMs say, that although they know they should take the best player available, the "temptation" of filling their need is sometimes too great.

Ideally, you would want to fill a need while getting good value at the same time, but at the end of the day, in theory, value should always win out.

Congratulations to the Golden State Warriors!!

dear golden state warriors organization,

the biggest news in sports yesterday behind buehrle's no-hitter is that the you guys made the playoffs for the first time in 13 years by defeating the portland trailblazers. congratulations to all the players, coaching staff and hot cheerleaders. in fact, the last time was when nelson was coaching the warriors.

this is the guy sitting right above me. what a weird sign.

with the your high-powered, up-tempo offense, i believe that the warriors can compete with any team. that game in march against the suns showed that golden state does have the key ingredients to make a team work with shot blocker andres biedrens, one of the most underrated young talents in the league - monta ellis, and lastly one of the most exciting backcourts in the L, so i'm excited to see y'all in the playoffs. i took a photo and wrote down what baron was saying at that time. hope you don't mind.

that's my hand in the lower right hand corner. just wanted to show you and world proof i was there.

but sad to say, but a lot has changed since 1994. the nba playoffs are a bit different. so before you guys start getting too excited, let me explain to whom it may concern how the playoffs have changed since 1994.

10. we have a new president

it's no longer bill clinton. just so you guys know.

9. remind everyone to rotate their fantasy baseball players regularly

since you guys haven't been in the playoffs in so long, every april and may you're used to having all this time to maintain your fantasy squad. but now you have the playoffs on your mind. just a friendly reminder. or you can not tell your teammates and beat them every week. hehe go felix hernandez!!

8. arnold schwarzeneggar is the governor of california

well he'll be at at least two games at the oracle arena. so don't get too star struck. i think it's his duty being up in norcal attending these type of events.

7. there is a 3 point line

oh that's been there since the 1960's? silly me. sorry about that. of course you knew that. j-rich shoots like nineteen of them per game. don't i look foolish? me telling j-rich there's a 3 point line is like telling hiro to save the world.

6. the first round is a 7-game series

yes, this is a new one. the playoffs, especially the first round are longer. so if you thought that you might be able sneak by and get lucky with three quick games, remember you have to do it for a fourth. but beware, because...

5. players try harder in the playoffs

everybody tries hard for a hamburger.

a good comparison for the regular season is that it's like you or me going down to mcdonald's to get a hamburger versus the playoffs which is like a homeless person seeing a free big mac on the ground. we're just not going to get that burger unless we're hobos. but this means biedrins might not be able to get away with as much since people are going to be muscling their way around in the paint. and that baron might get injured in the first game. just to mentally and physically prepare your players. you might want to remind the coaching staff of that. you also might way to tell them that..

4. the talent level is higher now

look at that picture of nash. he's swimming in a sea of basketballs. hahaha

in 1994, the all-nba first team was john stockton, latrell sprewell, scottie pippen, karl malone, and hakeem olajuwon. times are a bit different. last year's all-nba first team was steve nash, kobe bryant, lebron james, dirk nowitzki and shaq. i'd say this team is a bit better. wouldn't you? as well as the league as a whole. you could make an argument that that team is really good, which they are. but if that 1994 all nba first team was transported into 2007 in a 7 game series, they wouldn't stand a chance because...

3. small ball doesn't work in the playoffs

oops. forgot to add speech bubbles. you get the picture though.

when you guys were last in the playoffs you remember teams like the bulls winning with out a legit big man. for goodness sakes they won the 'ship with bill cartwright and will perdue. stuff like that won't work in 2007. every championship team since the 1960's besides that bulls 'ship team has had a solid big man in the middle. and the bulls winning it is due to the fact that they A) had michael jordan and B) the nba kinda sucked back then. so you can get by with not having a big man in the regular season and i know nelly likes to run small with al harrington in the middle, but that won't work anymore....at least not in the playoffs. and especially now that...

2. the western conference is good

the east was where everything's at. key word - WAS. there was a long drought of good western teams, but the west has been good since the late 1990's. so if you get past the first round which is unlikely, then you will have to play the winner of the utah jazz/houston rockets series(which i think will be the rockets, and you guys don't have a chance against t-mac 'n' yao). but you shouldn't even be thinking about this unless you beat your first round opponents which are...

1. the dallas mavericks

the dallas mavericks your first round opponent are a bit different than you remember. well nelly can tell you. they aren't last in the league anymore. none of these players are on the team anymore. in fact i don't think any of those players are in the nba anymore. ACTUALLY, they have the best record in the regular season. ACTUALLY, they also have the front runner for mvp . ACTUALLY, they also picked up the dominant kevin willis.

so golden state warriors,

WELCOME TO THE PLAYOFFS!!!!



sincerely,
mat

random lookalike of the day!


lakers pg jordan farmar and mistah tumnus

Beware Vince Young!

So it’s been unofficially announced that Vince Young will be the cover man for Madden 2008. I’ve tried my best to be skeptical of the “Madden Curse”…..that is until last year, in outright defiance of the “curse”, I selected Shaun Alexander first overall. That’s right, over LT and over LJ. Although LT and LJ were more attractive picks, I decided to go the “safe” route and bank on a consistent 100 yds and at least a TD every week. I’m not making that mistake again….at least not until someone breaks the curse!

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Madden Curse…here’s the breakdown:

Madden 1999: Garrison Hearst. Hearst has a career year with 1,570 yards and 7 TDs. However in their first playoff game on the first play, Hearst suffers a bad ankle break and would not play till 2001.

Madden 2000: Barry Sanders. A week before training camp, Barry abruptly and prematurely retires.

Madden 2001: Eddie George. George sets career highs in yards (1,509) and TDs (16). Hooray the curse is broken!?!?

Madden 2002: Dante Culpepper. Dante goes from throwing 33 TDs the previous year to 14 TDs and 13 INTs, then misses the final 5 games with a knee injury.

Madden 2003: Marshall Faulk. Sustains an ankle injury and TDs fall from 21 to 10.

Madden 2004: Michael Vick. Suffers a broken leg in preseason and misses 11 games.

Madden 2005: Ray Lewis. Misses a only 1 game due to a wrist injury but it is the first and only year Lewis fails to make an interception, after a career high 6 the year before.

Madden 2006: Donovan McNabb. McNabb misses the final seven games due to a sports hernia.

Madden 2007: Shaun Alexander. Fresh off a record setting season, Alexander suffers a foot injury and misses 6 games. After 1,880 rushing yards and 28 total TDs, he rushes for 896 yards and scores only 7 times.

Will Vince Young be the next victim of the curse? I guess we’ll have to wait till this fall to find out. But I can tell you I’m not drafting Vince Young. Ok, I’ll admit, I’m probably still not a 100% believer in the curse….but there’s just no reason for me to tempt fate again.

But...... just in case the curse is indeed very real. I'd like to take this time and place a curse of my own...

nothin' but net...

lemme ask you a question. what's your favorite sports commercial?

was it the ones for the og air jordan's with mars blackmon? or maybe it was the 'bo knows' commercials. or how bout the tiger woods dribbling of the golf ball one. or possibly even more recently, the dribbling nike basketball ones. although these were all great commercials, my favorite was much better than all of those...

man they just don't make commercials like they used to.

and then i found out that mcdonald's is remaking it!! read the article here. yes, that's right. they're putting wade and lebron in the spot bird and jordan are. i for one, am excited for it. both the superstars have had decent success in their acting career, so why not give em a shot into commercial superstardom?

• lebron with the nike commercials of 'the lebrons' doing a poor man's version of nutty professor(yet it's still surprisingly entertaining).
• wade with his awesome acting for t-mobile with sir charles and the oh-so-heart-warming tv spot for who knows what when he gives a hundred basketballs and a hoop to an intercity youth team and rides away on a bike.

so now what's the problem you ask? it's just his one little quote in there...

" The idea is to contemporize 'Nothin' but Net' to 2007 and make it relevant for the two best players in the NBA today"

if they said, "the two most exciting players", or "the future of the nba", or even "the new magic/bird of the nba" i might not have any problem. but it becomes kinda funny to me that they say this comment when neither player is considered for mvp, and whether you hate him or love him, you gotta admit that kobe bryant is the best player in the game right now.

on a side note, did anybody watch that game on sunday night? one of the best i've seen this season. and watching kobe shoot his ridiculous fadeaways is a work of art. almost as pretty as ben wallace rebounding.

ANYWAYS, in this commercial, it won't be totally cool to see new dynamic duo of the nba draining shots from outside the gym, making hookshots from the cheap seats and who knows what else mcdonald's comes up for them, when in reality, these guys have an AT BEST decent jumper. we all know that larry bird had one of the most automatic shots EVER....and at that time his airness emerged as one of the most dominant players EVER. so while the point of the original commercial was cute and made some sense since both players were just ridiculous, this won't really make sense and/or "relevant" as they said to people who know how these guys really play the game(except from a marketing and advertising standpoint). well with the players they're using.

so why not just use the two players who have been argued about for the past two years of who is the greatest in the game right now? i guess mcdonald's doesn't like canadians and accused rapists. haha

break raja bell's ankles, drive by boris diaw, rise over the mvp, nothin but net

lookalike of the day!


steve nash and sigourney weaver from aliens 3

A New Start...

Congratulations! You must feel as happy as Michael was when he won his first championship ring that you found this site. Well if you don't, then you should, because here is just a couple things to look forward to on this brand spankin' new site...

• Thoughts on current stories in sports
• Hilarious pictures of your favorite athletes found who knows where
  
• Pictures drawn in Microsoft Paint of your favorite athletes
• No Hockey(something Sportscenter still hasn't taken out of their lineup)
• No Xanga Lock
• Really hot girls
• Sports lookalikes
• Se Habla Espanol

Now if these things don't excite you already, then maybe this will...

well i knew another picture of michael wouldn't.

And if that didn't, then you can leave right now. So you might be thinking, what is Water Cooler Sports? And why now? Well, let me break it down for you.

wa·ter cool·er sports (wôtr klr spôrts)

1. a sports blog dedicated to provide entertainment to the mundane life of people work in a cubicle or find their job completely boring

2.

a. a website that is informative

b. a website that is awesome

The reason for this here blog being started right now was because (1)the NBA playoffs are right around the corner, (2)MLB season just started, (3)the NFL draft is real soon, and (4)hockey is ending(whoops, i said no hockey, huh? haha).

So, sit back, enjoy tell your friends the good news that the cure for work time boredom has arrived!

random lookalike of the day!

charlotte bobcats PF walter herrmann and fabio