Field of Nightmares

Ehsan Azad

Field of Nightmares

                Three years ago the Rangers entered spring training with a loaded roster and hopes of returning to the playoffs for the first time since 1999. They not only made the playoffs, they climbed to the height of the baseball world by winning back to back American League Pennants and being runner ups for the World Series twice. Now, they enter spring training with more question marks than talent as they try to prepare for the 2013 season after a nightmare off season.

                The Texas Rangers could be given the award for the best teasers in all of sports. They have back to back World Series appearances, their last one being a pitch away from winning it all, and starting last season as the best team in baseball, but loosing the division crown on the final day. It must be frustrating for a Rangers fan to witness this after years of irrelevance for their team. But the hope was in the winter offsetting. Media and fans alike were a buzz about how the Rangers were in so many conversations in free agency and could control how things would fall. There was at one point a chance that the Rangers would sign ace pitcher Zach Greinke and Josh Hamilton. Then trade for excellent Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Justin Upton.  The Rangers would have been the overwhelming favorite to return to the World Series if they just got one of those players.  In the end, the trade for Upton was nixed, Greinke signed with the Dodgers, and Josh Hamilton left the Rangers for the division rival LA Angels. The nightmare scenario had happened.

                Now, I give Jon Daniels, general manager of the Rangers, some credit for putting a band-aid on the roster.  Though they lost Hamilton, Michael Young, and Mike Napoli, he replaced them with veterans such as A.J. Perzynski and Lance Berkman to help shoulder the offense. Yu Darvish and Matt Harrison still lead a solid pitching unit that still has some power in it. But overall this team is much weaker than previous Ranger teams. They lost a lot on offense and might lose more as Nelson Cruz’s name was found on a report alleging that he bought performance enhancing drugs. He could face a 50 game suspension.  The real problem however may not be the team, but the higher competition in the division.

                The AL West is much stronger now than it was the last few years. The Angels now have an elite pitching staff, and Josh Hamilton will join a high powered offense with players like Albert Pujols and Mike Trout. The Oakland A’s still are the defending division champs with their amazing pitching, which helped propelled them to that unlikely run in the playoffs.  The Rangers simply didn't make enough moves to compete in the division let alone in the American League.

                I could be wrong and the Rangers will pick it up from where they ended and coast to a division title and maybe an AL title. But, this team doesn't excite me. Jon Daniels was caught without a good back up plan and the fans are going to have to deal with the Rangers returning back to irrelevance. 

Paying the Piper

Ehsan Azad

Paying the Piper

                With the division title on the line and a chance to return to the playoffs hung in the balance, Tony Romo made a simple check down throw to Demarco Murray, the rest was history. It was picked off, crushing the hopes of all Cowboys fans alike.  Now, the offseason is here and the team faces a decision on re signing the most polarizing player in sports history.

I admittedly went on this blog and cried out my disdain of Romo for the first time and that I felt like we won’t win a title with him at the helm of the Quarterback position.  I was probably a little too angry to be reasonable there. A few months removed will help you see the picture more analytically and not as a fan. Well the time has come for Romo to begin to re-negotiate his contract. The Jones family is in a sticky situation with their cap situation and Romo could hinder their offseason plans. Currently, the team is $20 million dollars over the salary cap. They will have to restructure a lot of contracts to help them get below the cap and try to lure some cheap free agents. That’s where Romo can help or ruin their plans. If they can re-sign Romo to an extension, his cap value will be cut in half and allow the team to breathe easier. If not, the team will have a 16 million dollar cap hit. The problem lies in whether it’s worth the risk to re-sign him long term or force him to play out the final year of his contract. It’s risky either way, but here is way it’s better to stick with Romo long term.

                First of all Tony is the best option for the team overall. Tell me where you’re going to get another player that has top ten talents in the league.  Some who point out that they can draft one should note that this year’s draft class isn’t like last year’s class. You aren’t going to find phenoms like RGIII, Luck, or Wilson. Free agent wise is a washed up argument because well as mentioned above, the Cowboys have no money.  Tony is the best option to have right now who can play at an elite level. He gives you the best option at winning in the playoffs and a chance to compete for a title.

                Tony Romo isn’t one of the top quarterbacks in the league.  He might never win a championship and lacks that killer instinct. But, for how the team is constructed now, he is the best man for the job. Re-signing him will help bring the team cap relief and you know you  are stable at the QB position for the foreseeable future. 

Fork in the Road

Ehsan Azad

Fork in the Road

                It was just 20-months-ago when the Dallas Mavericks were crowned the champions of the basketball world. They made a magical run that few predicted and it helped solidify Dirk Nowitzki as a true NBA star. Oh how things have changed since that magical summer.

                The Dallas Mavericks are in a unique fork in the road. Mark Cuban and Donnie Nelson made a move to dismantle the championship team to create cap space to make easier movies in the new CBA, and also pursue another big star to feature next to Nowitzki. This past summer, they put all their eggs in a basket and tried to nab the summer’s biggest prize, Deron Williams. Unfortunately for them, Williams choose the Nets, and it cost them veterans Jason Terry and Jason Kidd to free agency. They made quick adjustments and brought in a rag tag collection of veterans. Former lottery pick O.J. Mayo was brought in with Elton Brand, Darren Collison, and Chris Kaman. This team was supposed to compete for the playoffs, while the Mavs still maintained a cap room for the summer.  So far the results have been disastrous for the team as they continue to fall down the Western Conference standings.

                Currently, the Mavericks set at 21-28 and are currently five games out of the 8^th spot for the playoffs.  The trade deadline is fast approaching and the team has a question to answer. Can they compete for the playoffs? If the answer is yes, then the team would be buyers at trade time, bring in some good pieces and try to make a run at continuing the 12 year playoff streak. Or, if the answer is no, then be sellers at the deadline and look for more expiring contracts and draft picks.  The answer is simple. Sell the team away.

                The Mavericks are a sorry team. It is a bunch of pieces that were forced to play together for one year and that is not a way to build chemistry. Also, your superstar is hurt for the first real time in his career; this should be a time to shut him down for the season and start to evaluate who you have on this team. Trade away Marion and Carter, bring in some draft picks and find out who on the team can contribute. Build a young, fast, tall, athletic team around Dirk for his last few years and compete for the title. Because once Dirk is gone, the Mavericks will return to irrelevance and futility.

                

Read Option Gone

Ehsan Azad

Read Option Gone

                The NFL from time to time starts to fall in love with new ways to play the game. Sometimes these innovations to the game stay and become a fixture in professional football. Other times they are just unique fads that quickly lose steam and popularity. Currently, the read option/pistol offenses are taking over the league this year. Some think this will be the way offenses are structured for years to come, while I think this is just another fad that will quickly become just a footnote in the league’s history.

                The read option/pistol offenses aren’t new to the NFL. They have had popped up many times before but no coach had really utilized it well enough to make it effective in the NFL. College is where the offense really flourished and it was used at variety of programs. Then last year, when Cam Newton entered the league, the Carolina Panthers installed the read option offense and Newton became an instant star breaking Peyton Manning’s rookie record. Noting this, teams thought they could risk bringing in quarterbacks who had speed and agility and install the read option to make them more successful. Washington brought in Robert Griffin, Seattle brought in Russell Wilson, and San Francisco mid season started speedy backup Colin Kapernick. The results? All three made the playoffs, with Kapernick in the Super Bowl.  So it’s settled then, the read option is the best offense innovation since the vertical passing game.  Let’s not get carried away and let’s slow down on demanding your team switches to this popular offense.

                First, let’s examine what exactly happens in the read option. The offense allows the quarterback to quickly decide on whether to pass, handoff to a running back, or keep it himself.  The offense is known to be quick and confusing to the opposing defense. Defenses have to rely on their instincts on where the ball is going to go. This leads to big gains by the offense and quick scores.  Sounds like a great offense right? It was this year, as it led the three quarterbacks mentioned above to their first ever playoff runs. Now, people are obsessed with this offense.  They really think this could takeoff and that it will be a watershed moment in the NFL. I hate to be the one to burst their bubble, but the read option is a fad that won’t last long in the NFL.

 My main problem with this offense is that it is too simple. Sure, you can teach it very well to anyone and they will perfect it, but if it’s easy to learn then it must be easy to beat. Defensive Coordinators are spending the offseason studying how to beat it and will effectively shut down those offenses in the next few years.  One weakness is that the offense is ineffective when playing late in the game from behind. It is better to throw the ball a lot when playing from a deficit in late game situations and if the offense is built around the read option then those teams are going to see a lot of games end unfavorably.  Another big weakness is that the offense needs a certain type of quarterback.  The quarterback in a read option has to be fast and can quickly think on their feet. They need to have insanely high amounts of quick twitch fibers in their body to be able to masterfully outwit the defense. Only 5 % of Qbs in the NFL possess that talent and only handful of that 5 percent can throw the ball effectively. That is the big thing right there, throwing the ball. What makes Robert Griffin and Kapernick so dangerous is that they can throw the ball very well.  It maybe be an offense that I based on the run, but you still need a good accurate arm.  And my last reason on why to abandon this popular offense is that defensive players are only getting faster.  If you look back, players on defense historically have been slower than their offensive counterparts. Especially looking at defensive line men, these guys were slow but powerful beasts that relied on their strength. Today, they are not anything like those behemoths. They are incredibly fast and have a lot of quick movements that match up to the offense.  Eventually, you will see that defenses will have the speed to counter any kind of run that the offense tries to throw at them.

In the end, the good old pocket passer quarterback and the pass happy spread offense will still dominate the NFL.  Enjoy the read option while you can, it will soon join the wildcat and the wishbone as the dinosaurs of the football world.

Catfishing

Ehsan Azad

Catfishing

                Yesterday’s news cycle was pretty boring in the sports world. Yeah Lance Armstrong was admitting to something we all know by now he did, the Cowboys were in the process of hiring a new coaching staff, the Mavs won four games in a terrible season for them, and the Rangers keep getting AARP members to their lineup. Then the biggest hoax/scandal of 2013 was unraveled to the nation surrounding the most decorated college football player in history.

                Manti Teo, the all-American linebacker out of Notre Dame, was having a storybook season that was being eaten up by the national media. He was leading a storied program to a national championship all while dealing with tragedy of epic proportions. Losing his grandmother and then losing his girlfriend six hours later was tragic for anyone to endure. The media reported emotional interviews that Manti gave describing this beautiful girl that was his love of his life. They talked on the phone for hours while she dealt with chemotherapy and she asked him to continue to play if anything happened to her. It was all too good to be true. And it was.

                Reports by the website Deadspin.com confirm that his girlfriend Lennay Kekua did not die, and in fact was a complete fabrication. Now, Manti Teo has come out and said he was duped by a cruel hoax. I’m not buying this guy’s story. The facts just don’t add up. All the evidence points out that on multiple occasions he said he met the girl and then he retracted those statements saying he never met her. Then common sense comes and says how you couldn’t meet a girl that you describe as the love of your life just once. The story just seemed too good to be true. Another rumor is that in fact Manti Teo is gay and is using the fake girlfriend to hide his sexual orientation. That could be true, but I am not going to care if that is the case. The logical answer is that Manti Teo was a part of a conspiracy to create publicity in his Heisman candidacy.

                Regardless of what happens, the truth will come out. Manti Teo will become a NFL superstar and people will forget this will happen. Enjoy the media circus for another week and we will get back to Lance Armstrong and Jerry Jones.

Jerry, Dirk,and DOPE

Ehsan Azad

Jerry, Dirk, and Dope

                A lot has happened for the metroplex sports scene since we entered the year 2013. From coaching shakeups to a floundering Mavs team, the Dallas media is having a field day with every dramatic storyline. So I guess it’s my turn to give my two cents on all the latest drama involving DFW.

                Jerry Jones wasn’t blowing smoke when he mentioned he would make this uncomfortable at Valley Ranch. He fired running back coach Skip Peete and then fired Defensive coordinator Rob Ryan. Then he pulled a fast one on us and hired Defensive guru Monte Kiffin to be Ryan’s replacement. Now the Cowboys are switching to a 4-3 and installing the Tampa 2 defense that helped make Kiffin a legendary defensive mind. I love the move to go to a 4-3 and having Kiffin just makes it sweeter. But do they have the right personnel to make the defense work is still a big question for me. We will have to wait and see but a lot of questions are still up in the air with this defense.  It doesn't help that the Eagles just hired Chip Kelley, who‘s offenses at Oregon averaged 601 yards and 50 points versus Kiffin’s Trojans.

                In the Basketball world, things look even worse with the Mavericks as one of the worst teams in the league. Constant fourth quarter meltdowns and inefficient chemistry has led to this terrible record of 16 and 23. Dirk Nowitzki is back, but he isn't helping this team full of expiring contracts.  Now rumors are saying that Mavs might want to trade Dirk for some young players and a lot of draft picks. This would be the worse idea the Mavs could ever think about doing. Right now only the top teams would want a player like Dirk to help them get the edge in the playoffs. They will give you players that won’t help the Mavs and draft picks that most likely would be in the later rounds. The best move is to keep your franchise player and keep financial flexibility for the summer. It’s the team’s best option for a better future.  As long as you have Dirk, this team has a chance to compete for a title. The second he is gone, it’s back to contending for the lottery picks.

                Finally, a lot of controversy is being made about Lance Armstrong admitting in an interview with Oprah that he did in fact take PED’s while winning those titles in his career. Some people say that he is a disgrace and everyone should stop supporting his efforts to raise money to beat cancer. They think since it was built on a lie, that they should demand their money or stop wearing his bracelets. First, what he did was cheating and that he should be punished by the US doping agency and be banned from the sport. But, what he did for cancer should not be forgotten. Lie or not, he did help raise money for a cure to cancer. Let’s not stop supporting his charity and his efforts to help out humanity. He is still a hero for those suffering from cancer. What he did as an athlete really has nothing of relevance to our everyday lives then what he did as a humanitarian.

                This has been a crazy year so far, and it will only get crazier. With the Super Bowl, free agency, NBA trade deadlines, coaching changed and even the draft, there is plenty of more drama heading for DFW.  Drama does help when your teams are pretty mediocre. 

Manning Down

Ehsan Azad

Manning Down

                He will go down as probably the greatest QB to ever play the game. He is a sure fire Hall of Famer that will no doubt be the shining example to all those wanting to learn how to play the position of Quarterback.  But with his disappointing loss versus the Baltimore Ravens last night, Peyton Manning’s postseason legacy has dangerously fading away.

                It wasn't his best game versus a tough Ravens defense.  You could clearly see that the low temperatures were affecting his throws and his accuracy. An early pick six didn't help things out, but his team kept bailing him out all day. Though the offense struggled, Manning kept them in the game with some excellent drives and efficient passing. By the end of the fourth, it looked like the Manning and the Broncos would be heading back to the AFC championship game. But, a spectacular last second touchdown by the Ravens force overtime. Then it all fell apart for the Mile High City. A second pick by Manning doomed the team as it opened up for a Ravens field goal to win it. What a kick to the stomach.

                His face showed us the disappointment. The miracle comeback season was all for nothing now. Again Manning will see the playoffs from home.  He will have to see his rival Tom Brady solidify his career as one of the best playoff quarterbacks in NFL history. He already has seen his little brother overtake him in Super Bowl wins, which has to hurt a bit. Manning is a dreadful 9-11 in the playoffs and he is worse when he plays on the road. He is also a staggering 0-4 in games played in the cold. This severely hurts him in the discussion over the best quarterbacks in history. The great ones win in the playoffs and on a consistent basis.

                He still is in my opinion is the best all time, not based on wins, but on the how he plays the position. No other person can man the position like he has for so long. It is remarkable watching him play, but his playoff record is hurting the great legacy he has built. Before long it will be too late and little brother Eli will move up to the front of the table. What a sad day that will be.