Maddux Sports Blog

I’m not going to gloat or say I-told-you-so because I’ll make more than a few bad predictions and observations here, but I feel good about suggesting that Ole Miss had no business being ranked at number four. It’s not just that they lost to South Carolina – these things will happen. It’s that they looked so bad doing it. Jevan Snead was thoroughly ineffective, and Steve Spurrier totally and thoroughly won the coaching battle. That Spurrier point is the most telling one – it has been a long while since Spurrier has outcoached anyone, and Ole Miss should be ashamed that it happened to them. If the Rebels had trouble with the Gamecocks then it could be a really long SEC season for them.

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It’s  my birthday today. I am older than Tom Brady, but much younger than Brett Favre. I am at that age when you really start to cringe when you hear about a guy who has retired because he can’t physically do it anymore, and then you realize that he is younger than you. I could be the father of a college freshman (physically, I mean. There is sadly one good reason why I am 100 percent sure that I am not, and it has everything to do with what it takes to make a baby – that just wasn’t happening back then), but putting him up for adoption probably would have been the right thing to do because I would have been too young to raise him. If I were an NFL coach or MLB GM I would still be young enough to be surprising, but by a lot of measures I’m starting to feel pretty old.

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The sports world is always good at producing news that makes you go ‘huh?!?’. There is lots to choose from that fits into that category today:

- Jay Cutler has spent a fairly long interview finding all sorts of ways to tell the world how much be respects Josh McDaniel. Among the head scratching quotes: “Just the brief amount of time I was able to spend with him, he’s impressive. He knows a lot about offenses, he knows a lot about getting guys open and scoring points, as everyone’s seen when he was in New England”. Remind me again why Cutler fought so hard and like such a baby to get away from the team? By the sounds of that quote t sounds like the right thing to do would have been to suck it up and be a part of things there. It’s not like he landed in a significantly better place offensively in Chicago. Bizarre.

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I this blog, I consider three guys who are totally committed to their sport and who have set high standards for their sport. Here’s a look at Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, the PGA’s Tiger Woods and NHL center Jeremy Roenick. 

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There is a ridiculous amount of stuff going on today, so let’s not waste any time:

For a second there last night I thought I was going to look like a genius with the Nelson Cruz pick in the Home Run Derby. It wasn’t as exciting as it has been some years, but it was still an interesting way to spend a few hours. I was impressed with Fielder – I frankly didn’t think that a guy that massive would have the stamina required to win the marathon that the Derby is. I was also surprised by how little Pujols had to show for himself in the event. I thought he would rise more under the pressure for his hometown fans. I’m sure glad I didn’t get sucked into backing him.

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Two guys in the news right now are making their lives much harder than it needs to be because of strange decisions. The first is Dany Heatley, the Ottawa Senators’ sniper. Heatley hasn’t got along well with new Ottawa coach Cory Clouston, and he pouted his way through the second half of the season. His frustration was enough for him to demand a trade after the season ended. That’s a tough situation for the Sens – Heatley is talented, but he doesn’t always play well with others, and he is very expensive. The Kings, Sharks and Rangers all expressed interest, and it seemed like New York was taking the lead when they cleared salary cap space by trading away Scott Gomez to Montreal. Another team came through in the end, though – Edmonton. The Oilers had a deal in place, and they looked like they would add a new sniper for their new coaching staff to play with. Just one problem, though – Heatley has a no-trade clause, and he wasn’t willing to waive it to go to Edmonton, a team that doesn’t have a great reputation among current players. There is another level of difficulty – Heatley was due a $4 million bonus last night at midnight, and Ottawa was hoping to get rid of him before they had to cough that up. Now they have to pay it, and salary cap rules don’t allow them to recoup it from another team in a deal. The Sens therefore have to ask a bigger price for Heatley than they already were. Needless to say, Heatley isn’t a popular character in Ottawa.

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NBA free agency is underway, but it doesn’t get going nearly as aggressively as it does in the NHL. The free agency period starts at noon eastern time on July 1st, and money flies around like crazy. The 30 teams in the NHL have spent more than a billion dollars in the last three years combined on the first day alone, and this year was no slower. Here’s a look at the impact of the big deals today and those that came just before players became free agents:

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It’s all drafts all the time right now. Just one day after Blake Griffin was made the number one overall pick in the NBA the NHL is set to stage their draft. It’s a two day affair – the stuff everyone cares about on Friday night, and the rest on Saturday. If you haven’t been following things as they have developed, here’s a look at the top five players in the draft:

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What a strange day of golf that was to watch. Ricky Barnes started out looking like he was totally unbeatable, and looked worse and worse as the day progressed. Mike Weir self-destructed like he is sadly prone to do. Phil Mickelson paired every thoroughly impressive hole with an equally awful one. David Duval looked like he was teetering on the brink the whole time, yet somehow mostly kept it together. Most bizarre, though, was Tiger. It’s not that he played poorly – he is human, so that can happen. It’s how bad his body language was. He was shooting poorly, and he was showing his frustration in increasingly negative and self-destructive ways. I don’t know what was going through his head, but it wasn’t good. There certainly wasn’t that killer instinct that we are so used to seeing from him. He’s played well at times since returning from injury, but this is clear proof that he’s far from alright.

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What an incredible hockey game. Hockey doesn’t get nearly enough credit for being an exciting game, but if the games were always that exciting then it would be the most popular sport out there. It had all the intensity, drama, and intrigue you could possibly hope for and more. Pittsburgh is an amazing story, too. In February they fired their coach when they were six points out of the playoffs. 51 games later including playoffs here they are. The most impressive thing about this team, too, is their age. They are so young and so ridiculously talented that they could win a few more. It’s unbelievable, really – Crosby is 21, Malkin is 22, Staal is 20, Fleury is an old man at 25 – this is a core with a long future together. It may change now that they have a Cup, but they are such an ego-less group as well, so you could imagine them staying together for a long time. One final thought on the matter – I went to high school with Craig Adams of the Penguins. This is his second Cup – he won one in Carolina. I already felt like I hadn’t accomplished enough when I thought about his one Cup, so this isn’t going to help any. At least cashing in on a big uderdog will take some of the sting out of it.

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