This is a violence filled weekend for me as I will watch Iowa dominate Cael Sanderson's Penn State wrestling team tonight on Iowa Public Television, and then watch some Strikeforce tomorrow night on Showtime. For my picks in the wrestling meet, I will take Iowa in every match except for at 157, because Iowa sucks there.
For Strikeforce, I'll go a little more in depth. I figure with Herschel Walker, Bobby Lashley, and real MMA talent as well, it should be an entertaining card. I'll also include the current lines from Bodog. Also, since I'm sure a lot of people have no clue what MMA lines mean, the negative line is the favorite.
Jay Hieron -450 vs. Joe Riggs +300
Although this fight will not make the Showtime broadcast, it will be streamed live off of easports.com. Joe Riggs is a guy who once had a title shot in the UFC, but he really hasn't beaten a top level opponent since he beat Nick Diaz four years ago. Meanwhile, Jay Hieron has won his last six fights and hasn't lost for 2 1/2 years. He's a very good all around fighter, and although a lot of people like to talk up Joe Riggs's punching power, he doesn't have knockout power, and I think Hieron has the advantage in every area of this fight. He's not great in any one area, so I think Hieron will win a unanimous decision in this fight.
Bobby Lashley -1200 vs. Wes Sims +650
Bobby Lashley is a huge favorite in this fight against journeyman, Wes Sims. Lashley has been protected so far in his MMA career and that will not change in this fight as Sims is about as ideal of an opponent as you can find for Lashley. He used to fight in the UFC, he was on the last season of The Ultimate Fighter, he won't be able to stop Lashley from taking him down, and he doesn't have great submissions either. I know Lashley used to be in the WWE and I know he was a great college wrestler, but he is not on the same level as Brock Lesnar and I think he will be exposed in the future, but in this one, I predict Lashley by first round TKO.
Herschel Walker -325 vs. Greg Nagy +250
Walker has been all over the media hyping his first MMA fight, and we will be able to see what a 47 year old ex-football player can bring to the fight game. All reports say that he's a beast of an athlete, but it's very different training than it is fighting and some people rise to the occasion while others don't. They put him against Nagy who has a career record of 1-1, so there is a very good chance this is the least technical of all the fights on the card. Nagy doesn't seem to be a super athlete of any sort as he played high school football and just got into MMA a year and a half ago. I have never seen Nagy fight, but Strikeforce invested in Herschel Walker so this should be a very winnable fight for him. I see it being an ugly fight that goes the distance with Walker winning a unanimous decision.
Melvin Manhoef -190 vs. Robbie Lawler +155
This has the best chance of being the best fight of the night. Two guys who love to strike, but unfortunately for Bettendorf native Lawler, Manhoef seems to be on another level when striking. Manhoef has 24 wins and 23 of them are from TKOs or KOs. In the video below, Manhoef fought Mark Hunt, who is one of the best kickboxers in the world and outweighed him by about 100 pounds:
Lawler said he has no intentions of taking the fight to the ground, but if he wants to win this fight, it's his best opportunity as Manhoef has about as much submission defense as me. Still Lawler is a brawler, and I can definitely see him following through on his promise to keep it standing. Because of that, I'm picking Manhoef by 2nd round KO.
Cristiane Santos -800 vs. Marloes Coenen +500
Oooh, it's a lady...fight. This is the first of two title fights, and I think the challenger summed it up best when she said, "My stand-up is OK, my wrestling is OK and my ground game is OK." With those inspiring words, I'll take the champion by TKO in the first.
Nate Diaz -260 vs. Marius Zaromskis +200
This is for the vacant Strikeforce Welterweight title, and as far as watching for strategy, this is the most interesting fight of the night. Zaromskis is nicknamed "The Whitemare" which sounds like a really hate-filled Eastern European name, and he has finished his last three opponents with a head kick. Meanwhile, Diaz is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, but he has been outboxing his recent opponents so he is not afraid to stand with people. Diaz is extremely well rounded, but his wrestling is suspect, so it is questionable whether he will have the ability to take Zaromskis down. Zaromskis has knockout power, but I'm not sure if he can be considered a top level striker yet. It's an interesting fight, but I think Diaz drags it to the ground in the third round and submits him.
That's who I've got on the fights, and looking back, I am definitely showing cowardice in my picks, as I have nothing but favorites winning, but this isn't a great card for the underdogs. I feel Lawler has the best chance of winning as an underdog, and for the sleeper, Marloes Coenen might be able to submit Santos if she is able to take her down. Enjoy the fights.
-Joe
Friday, January 29, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Improving the Bears
For all but Saints and Colts fans, football season is over. This is a great time to look back on the positives and negatives of your favorite team. Looking back on the Bears season, the positives were that they beat Brett Favre and the Vikings and…um, shit, not much else.
The negatives were:
Trading For Jay Cutler and Giving Away a Bunch of High Picks
Brian Urlacher’s Injury
Giving Jay Cutler a Big Guaranteed Contract Through 2013
Our Offensive Line Being Swiss Cheese
Jay Cutler’s Interceptions
Matt Forte Taking a Major Step Backwards
Jay Cutler’s Stupid Look On His Face
Tommie Harris Having an IQ Lower Than 70
Jay Cutler Missing Wide Open Receivers
The Gaines Adams Trade
Not Getting the Real Jay Cutler
Lovie Smith Showing He Knows Nothing About Defense
Jay Cutler’s Leadership
Also, the off-season has gotten off to a stellar start with nobody wanting to be a coordinator for the Bears. On offense, they are going after a bunch of people with no proven track record, and none of them will even consider the position. Meanwhile, the one person with a proven track record of always having great offenses, Mike Martz, is practically begging for the job, and the Bears refuse to give him an interview.
But back to Jay Cutler. He sucks. The guy has never won. He didn’t win in college; he didn’t win for the Broncos. He is a loser. He has a very strong arm, and people really get excited about that, but he can’t read a defense to save his life (I’m not sure if he could read a book to save his life either).
Most people have jumped on board with the Jay Cutler Sucks Bandwagon, but there are still those people that feel he just needs a #1 Receiver to be great. I have great news for those people, the Bears first round pick this year is currently projected to select: Dez Bryant, WR,
My personal plan would be for the Bears to blow everything up and get rid of everyone. Trade every valuable player they have for future draft picks, and I would prefer to not even get 2010 or 2011 draft picks, I want them to look into 2012 and 2013, because this team is going to suck for a while, so the key is to focus on 2014 and beyond. What many people don’t realize about the salary cap is that it also creates a salary floor, and since there will be no cap this year, the Bears could technically go down to a $60 million dollar payroll if they wanted (This year’s salary floor was 112.1 million). This would be awesome, but there is no way that Jerry Angelo would do this, because even as cheap as Bears’ ownership is, they won’t stand for the team to be Detroit Lions bad.
My realistic plan would be to first try to sign Brandon Marshall as a restricted free agent. He is clashing with McDaniels, so there’s a chance the Bears could get him for just a first rounder or just a second rounder, but even if they gave up a first and a third, the plan still works. Get
Next, trade for a bunch of 6th and 7th round picks for these next two drafts. Preferably, I would like the Bears drafting somewhere between 8-10 times in the final two rounds. The NFL could easily go to a 12 round draft and teams would happily be selecting quality players with those picks. I want the Bears to strictly draft offensive linemen with these picks. People are really piss poor at scouting linemen, so there are always quality guys in later rounds that end up making multiple pro bowls. If the Bears find two starters, then they’ve done well with their picks as far as I’m concerned (Also, depending on the level of tender, Jammal Brown of New Orleans might be a good restricted free agent to get as he has been out for the year and replaced by Jermon Bushrod who is cheap and has been very solid this year. If it’s a second round tender, then they should definitely go for it).
I don’t think the defense is nearly as bad as they played this year, but they aren’t too good either. As long as Hunter Hillenmeyer doesn’t play, they are guaranteed to look better. If they can stay healthy and get a run stopping defensive tackle. This class is extremely deep in defensive tackles, and some good ones should fall to the second round, oh wait, the Bears traded their second round pick for Gaines Adams. Nice job, Bears. Nobody great is going to be there in the third, but the Bears do a good job of finding quality cornerbacks late, so maybe they can snag a quality guy there. The Bears should also abandon the Cover-2, and hire somebody from Baltimore, Philly, New Orleans, or the Jets and go blitz crazy on people. They don’t have the talent to get pressure with a straight up defense anymore, so they need to start to scheme any way that they can.
They would not have a dynasty with these changes. Nowhere near it. But they would have a rich man’s Jake Delhomme in Jay Cutler, and the Panthers managed to make a Super Bowl by having Delhomme strictly throw to Steve Smith, maybe the Bears can do the same when reuniting Marshall and Cutler.
Will the Bears do any of these things? Probably not. Will they suck for the next four years? Probably. Don’t worry Bears fans, 2014 is just around the corner.
-Joe
P.S. If they decide to sign John David Booty, they could definitely have themselves a dynasty. For anyone not familiar, JDB played varsity football in SEVENTH GRADE. I think the only other people to do that were Shane Falco and Willie Beamon. Hence, a recipe for success.
P.P.S. Draft Edds and Angerer too.
P.P.P.S. I almost titled this EmBEARassing.
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