Well, here we are again at the crossroad of the week. Another Wednesday and another opportunity to share a few deep thoughts. I won't waste much time today as there is so much meat to chew on this week's sports bone.

I have learned from Beeze that it is always good to find a way to add some "color" to my blog. When I can add a pretty face and tie in two sports at the same time it is a "winner"!

Assuming that we have an NFL season later this year, Tony LaRussa will have a reason to catch a few Oakland Raider games. Why would Tony be interested in watching Raider games you ask? Well, because his daughter Bianca was selected as a Raiderette last week. Congrats Bianca, we will definitely be watching!

In a related story, Al Davis is not dead...he just appears to be so...I  hope someone else is making those draft picks for the Raiders.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6424198 

I hope you take the time to watch this link to Mike and Mike. The discussion is regarding adding a wild card team to each league. Specifically, Mike and Mike speak to Tim Lincecum's comments against changing the current playoff format. I am personally for adding a wild card slot for each league, but I understand that there are legitimate reasons against the move. Even if you are against another wild card spot, I feel certain that you will agree that Tim's arguments are weak...as Big Mike said so succinctly...really Tim??

I think the next story qualifies for a "wanna get away" moment. A Brewers fan named Robin decided to make a sign and go to the Brewers game last Friday evening. Of course beside being a stud at the plate, Braun recently signed an extension that will make him a Brewer until 2020. Young, rich and single is a combination that is bound to draw many offers. Well, Robin's sign not only proposed marriage to Braun, but also included her phone number. To make matters worse, she was interviewed and as her number was clearly evident, she began to receive shall we say "many" calls and texts. In fact, she got so many calls that she finally had to put her phone on airplane mode...

But the story did not end there:

"The great twist in the story is that Braun — who has a girlfriend — got wind of the sign after the game and actually tried to call Robin's phone (video here). Alas, her voicemail box was full and Braun couldn't even leave a message with an answer to the proposal.

"I guess it wasn't meant to be," said the reigning NL Player of the Week.

Braun can certainly keep trying, though, because an attempt to call the number on Monday afternoon revealed that the fan hadn't yet switched to a new one (which is why we've placed the old ball-and-glove logo over the last four digits)."

I am not sure, but I bet I know what the answer will be...

With the NFL draft approaching, I thought that it would be appropriate to discuss the player evaluation process. If you are like me, you are left scratching your head each year with the way that some teams draft. Each team obviously has a different system in judging talent. You may also be scratching your head and trying to figure out who the hell the guy in the Cardinal hat is. This guy is called the "Rogue Scout" and his name is Dave Razzano. He has worked as a scout for the past 20 years and has worked for a several different teams. What got my attention regarding Razzono is that he does not pay particular attention to the "measurables". I will include the link to this article, but this is of particular interest to me. Here is a snippet:

"Razzano has some definite ideas about how and why teams make so many mistakes on draft day. He’s not a big fan of the increasing tendency of talent evaluators to rely on measurables. Said Razzano: “Height, weight, speed, strength – guys fall in love with the numbers, and then coaches justify the lack of [collegiate] production by saying, ‘It was the scheme,’ or ‘He wasn’t coached right.’ The bottom line is, you have to trust the tape.” 

My friend Carl Spackler always talks about how some guys are just "football players". This is exactly Razzano's thought as well. What better way to judge talent than to watch them play football? Makes sense to me...

Razzano watches tape and looks for the "excitement meter" to tell him if a guy can play or not. The Ram's GM was high on  Alex Smith and Razzano was not. The discussion became very heated and one of the other scouts had to "bear-hug" Razzano to keep him from getting personally involved with the GM. Razzano's services were not retained...and Smith has played just as Razzano predicted. Welker was one of this rogue scouts sleeper's as is Jake Locker this year. If you enjoy reading what goes on behind the scenes...check out this link:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ms-silver_rogue_scout_enjoys_label_042511

 

That's all that I have for today, but I will leave you a bit of Jack Handey to get you through the rest of the week.( I have to say, that this is one of my favorite Handey's deep thoughts)...

"Don't ever get your speedometer confused with your clock, like I did once, because the faster you go, the later you think you are."
 

"One good thing about Hell, at least, is you can probably pee wherever you want to."
 

Thanks for stopping by and as always... comments are welcome...