Maddux Sports Blog

Matt Cassel is a Chief. Bizarre. It seemed destined to happen – the Chiefs didn’t have a true number one in town, and Scott Pioli left the Pats on good terms to go to K.C. as the main man. What is so surprising, though, is that the Pats essentially gave Cassel away. New England packaged linebacker Mike Vrabel with Cassel, and all they got in return was a second round draft pick, 34th overall. The Chiefs get two starters in two positions of high need, and they give up just a pick that is far from guaranteed to produce an instant (more…)

The Redskins must operate in a different reality than the rest of us. Most people would look at their recent history – a dizzying number of high priced free agents have produced nothing but heartache – and learn from it. Not Daniel Snyder and company. Free agency had only just begun when the Redskins spent the first $154 million. $154 million! They signed Albert Haynesworth to a $100 million deal that could be worth as much as $115 million if he performs well over the course of the deal. The chances are almost none that it will play out over the whole contract, but what is particularly ridiculous about this deal is the amount of (more…)

Ouch. I had a very, very, very rough day of Match Play forecasting. Of my picks for the final four yesterday only one – lowly Ian Poulter – is still standing it was a bloodbath. Tiger looked mortal. Actually, he looked like what he is – a guy coming off a major surgery who has been out of action for eight months. It was a lousy time for him to become human. The carnage means that I like Camilo Villegas more than ever right now. That means, of course, that he will get pulverized tomorrow. (more…)

Tiger is back. I was very curious to watch him play today. The public is obviously going to be heavily betting on him in his return in the Match Play, so I wanted to get a first hand sense of whether there would be any value in betting against him. In a word – no. It seems ridiculous to think that a guy could take eight months off, have major surgery on a pretty important golf joint, and have a new son a couple of weeks ago, and still be ready to perform at a high level. But then it seems even more ridiculous to think that a guy can be as (more…)

It is the eve of baseball spring training game action, so I thought it would be a good time to look at some future odds. I don’t generally like tying my money up for months with a reasonably low expectation of return, but I can’t help myself when it comes to making a few future wagers each year. Baseball just lends itself so well to this kind of exploration. Before we get into the teams that look interesting I have to admit one thing – I think the Yankees are going to win the World Series. I hate everything about them, and (more…)

The New York Rangers have become the latest NHL team to make a coaching change. This is getting to be an epidemic – the NHL revolving door is almost as big as the NBA’s . Some coaching changes make at least a temporary difference – Ottawa went on a nice positive streak before going back into the tank. This one is going to make no difference at all. John Torterella is perhaps a slightly better coach than Tom Renney, but not by much. The bigger problem is that the world’s greatest coach couldn’t have success with the overpriced, underperforming mess that is the Rangers. They are beyond hope, and that won’t change until GM Glen Sather is run out of town. That won’t happen in a hurry, so the Rangers are not a team worth betting on. It must be something in the air at Madison Square Gardens or something – no competence is allowed.

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So much for my theory that Matt Kenseth’s Daytona 500 win was a fluke. After not winning a race all of last year, and mostly looking pretty useless, Kenseth has two wins in two races this year. Last week he won thanks to some bizarre circumstances, but this week he was just plain faster than anyone else. He’s driving with a new aggressiveness, and is benefiting significantly from a new crew that brings a much more positive attitude to his operation. Kenseth was particularly strong in the pits. It will be very interesting to watch how long he can maintain this momentum. Kyle Busch also had a very good weekend. A historic one, in fact. On Saturday he became the first driver ever to win two NASCAR events on the same day when he won both the truck and the Nationwide event on the same day.

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College basketball is brilliant, and it gets better and better every week as the season progresses. This is shaping up to be a great weekend. Here’s a look at five games I will be paying particular attention to:

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Well, it took precisely one day for all the questions I asked about the Suns yesterday to be answered. Amare Stoudemire is out for eight weeks with eye surgery after suffering a detached retina on Wednesday against the Clippers. That essentially eliminate any chance they had of being relevant down the stretch. It seems like Steve Kerr is cursed. He certainly can’t catch a break as GM. I know a lot of people are really down on Kerr, but I’m not one of them. He has certainly struggled to get this team going this year, but I put a lot more of that on Terry Porter than Kerr. Sure, Kerr made the decision to bring Porter in, but that decision turned out to be much worse than it looked at the time. Mike D’Antoni had to go, the team couldn’t lay much defense, and Porter was respected, so it made some sense. I also think that not trading Stoudemire was the right move, even if it really doesn’t look like it right now. Picking up Jason Richardson was also a good move, and Shaq was a solid gamble.

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The trade deadline hasn’t passed in the NBA as I write this, so I don’t know for sure that Phoenix has stayed pat with what they have. I believe that they will, though, so I’ll assume that they did. Whether they do or not, they have played two of the most interesting results I have seen in a while since the all-star game. They’ve made it very clear that they are happy to see Terry Porter in the rear view mirror. In the first two games of the Alvin Gentry era they have averaged 141 points per game – 140 in the first game, and two better the second time. Those are their two highest totals of the season. Now, some of the credit for this sudden success has to due with the fact that both games were against the incredibly pitiful Clippers. That’s only part of the explanation, though – they averaged 107.5 points per game in the first two against the Lakers’ runt sibling.

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