Musings on the Vick press conference

As stated previously, we haven’t been big posters of Michael Vick-related news around these parts.

Basically, we just think it’s out of control now. And it only continues to spiral downward.

But, today’s press conference (and preceding Outside-the-Lines-type program) did have mom’s basement aglow.

A few thoughts —

***Skip Bayless is the most moronic, outrageous ESPN personality. His comments today included this gem:

“Michael Vick has killed hundreds and hundreds of dogs.”

Skip probably has evidence to support this, but he is exempt from all federal investigations — it’s one of the perks of being a founding father of Cold Pizza.

***Vick was doing alright in giving his statement (not prepared, at least somewhat from the heart), until he said he “this situation has helped me find Jesus” and “I’ve turned my life over to God.”

Is this a requirement for every athlete/rapper/personality who finds the law first?

If Vick would have looked at his WWJD bracelet a few years earlier, it probably would have said “not sponsor a dog fighting empire” on the flip side.

***Lastly, Vick is getting shafted. His image, combined with his notoriety, have brought a probably somewhat unfair sentence. This statement is based on the fact that Leonard Little has actually killed a person and still plays in the NFL. To show that he was indeed contrite, Little got another DUI six years after committing murder.

Boy, this was awfully serious for us. Thanks Mike.

Guestlove: If you’re gonna pick, pick right

This friends, is a guest post. Hopefully you’ll be seeing a bit more of these as we continue to get insanely popular.

Today’s poster is snissen, who brings the heat on how to dominate your fantasy league. Hint # 1: Avoid every “Fantasy Draft Special” you see on ESPN.

I’ve been handing out more hate than love recently, so let me bring some love to the Fynal Cut.

I’m a lovesick man. I don’t know who to choose, torn equally between the traditions and upsets of the collegiate game and the parity and speed of the pro game. (For the record, the love of Ms. snissen is better than both.)

Yes, folks, it’s football time, and that means it’s also time to feed our egotistical needs to prove our football savvy, also known as Fantasy Football. But let me assure you of this: You are getting bad advice from everywhere. If you haven’t yet drafted or are looking to reorder a team with wire pickups after a poor draft, I’m here to help.

I’m going to assume standard scoring and standard drafting. I’m also going to assume most in your league will not follow this plan, which will add to its effectiveness.

All advice is predicated by this: You take the best player for your team available in the given round. If you get to the sixth round already loaded with three running backs and Thomas Jones is still available, but all the good wide receivers and QBs are gone, you take Jones. Don’t reach deep at those other positions — wait and pick up Ben R. or Jake Delhomme in the ninth or 10th rounds.

Rounds 1-2: Two running backs in the first two rounds. (Mr. Larry Johnson) This is the golden rule of drafting. The only argument I could see for breaking this is if you draft second overall and Peyton Manning is available to you in the second round (which won’t happen). Otherwise you pick up your LTs, or Jacksons, Gore, Addais, Mr. Larry Johnson, Westbrooks, etc. in the first round. Second you go up and get your McGahees, Jones-Drews, etc. Even if you draft toward the back, pick up a C. Benson, Brandon Jacobs, Edge, etc. Do not take a quarterback. Do not take a wide receiver.

The Fynal Out: This week will change the season

As you probably know, we picked the Diamondbacks to win the N.L. West, so the thinking was this weekend’s series with the Cubs was going to be a good indication of how that whole prediction would play out.

So far, so good.

After dropping the first game of the series 6-2, Arizona bounced back to squeak out a 3-1 win on Friday and capped off the series with another close one Saturday (5-4).

The two wins kept the Diamondbacks 3 games up in the division, while the Cubs cling to a 1.5 game lead in the disaster that is the N.L. Central.

Both teams start showdowns that can make or break their divisions today as the Cubs welcome the Brew Crew and the Diamondbacks head to San Diego. Other showdowns between first and second place teams this week include: Angels @ Mariners, Red Sox @ Yankees and Mets @ Phillies.

Cubs 4, Diamondbacks 5: Chris Young (above) went yard in his first at-bat, then added a three-run shot in the second to put Arizona up for good. The Diamondback bullpen held the Cubs scoreless over the last five innings.

Yankees 4, Tigers 5: Basically, Curtis Granderson is the balls. The leadoff man who continues to amaze hit an inside-the-park home run to lift Detroit, who lost pitcher Jair Jurrjens in the second inning with shoulder tightness. The last three Tiger relievers held the Yankees scoreless.

Red Sox 11, White Sox 1: Remember when we called for Ozzie Guillen’s head? Yea…that’s looking a bit overdue now. The Sox (pale) are now in dead last in the Central. They’re 1.5 games behind THE ROYALS. There were Red Sox fans all over Chi this weekend, and they got their money’s worth as Boston outscored Chicago 46-7 in the four-game set. Seriously. Fire Ozzie.

Braves 1, Cardinals 4: While the Brewers and Cubs are tanking, St. Louis continues to hang on (just 2 games back). Adam Wainwright was brilliant for the Cards, giving up just six hits, the lone Braves run coming on a Brian McCann RBI single. St. Louis has won two in a row and heads to reeling Houston while the Cubs and Brewers duke it out.

More scores…