Spreadsheet's Blog
Posted Saturday, April 04, 2009 11:45 AM
Of the approximately 3 billion males in the world, is there one who wouldn't trade places with Tom Brady?
Movie star good looks, best football player on the planet, and Gisele Bundchen. The Big Guy upstairs tossed in that little knee problem just to keep Brady's head on straight, but that wasn't really necessary. The guy is humble pie to the core.
If betjamaica and every other web site are right, in a year Brady will be able to wear two Super Bowl rings on each hand.
Can things get any better?
Well, yeah. They just did.
If things weren't good enough already, Brady is living every man's fantasy with TWO of his women fighting each other.
OK, Gisele and Bridget are fighting over Brady's son, but close enough. Seems Bridget, the boy's mother, took offense when stepmother Gisele was quoted in a magazine article that she was treating the kid as her own.
Didn't take long for Bridget to sharpen her nails and remind Gisele just who the boy's real mother is.
That guy in the corner with the wine cooler and cheshire cat grin? I think I recognize him.
Posted Saturday, March 28, 2009 12:20 PM
By all acounts Jay Cutler is a decent kid who just should shut his mouth.
He spends some offseason time working with mentalled challenged youngsters. He also is part of an organization that helps at-risk kids stay in school. He has overcome the personal obstacle of playing the toughest position in the toughest sport and at the same time remembering to inject himself with insulin every day.
Great. Now just shut up.
Does it say anywhere in his contract that the Denver Broncos can't discuss trading him? Does it say anywhere in the contract that the team will do everything in can to make sure Cutler is mentally comfortable?
OK, so new coach Josh McDaniels let the cat out of the bag. In three-team trade talks the chances are good that someone will blab. Pro football reporters have good sources.
McDaniels figured he could improve his team with Matt Cassel at quarterback. Whether he's right on that, who knows? But he has a right to try to improve a team that hasn't gone to the playoffs since Cutler arrived two years ago.
McDaniels and the Broncos are trying to smooth things over and
BetJamaica.com and other books still have them listed middle of the pack to win next year's Super Bowl at 35-1. Cutler has reponded to that by putting his Denver-area home up for sale.
It's time for t...
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Posted Thursday, March 26, 2009 02:56 PM
There are races within races as the NBA heads for the home stretch.
Cleveland, unbeatable at home, is battling the Lakers for the best overall record.
Orlando is straight out trying to get the edge on Boston and a potential Game 7 at home in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Boston, once way over .500 ATS, is now only 37-36 as it tries to get healthy for another run and refuses to use Kevin Garnett for big minutes.
The Lakers are playing like a team whose ticket is already punched for the Finals.
Oddsmakers have taken notice of a sublte shift. Boston has slipped to +275 in
Betjamaica's latest futures numbers, with the Cavs moving to +225. No one appears sold on the Magic (+700), while the Lakers remain the favorite at +175.
Posted Tuesday, March 03, 2009 11:32 AM
Jim Calhoun has this thing about tough, unexpected post-game questions. A few years back he went off about not recruiting Connecticut native Ryan Gomes after Gomes and Providence College toasted the Huskies. Now he throws a nutty after being asked about his salary.
Had Calhoun held his fire and given the questioner an ounce of respect ("Hey I know people are hurting and I do make a lot of money, and it does seem out of whack for coaching, but I think I'm pretty good at what I do, etc. etc etc.), it would have been no biggie.
But Calhoun's response gave the question -- and the issue of coaching compensation at state schools -- more legs than it deserved and guaranteed that it would be a monkey on the team's back right into the NCAA Tournament, and perhaps beyond.
Should Calhoun be paid based on the number of fannies in the seats at UConn games? On the number of NCAA Tournament appearances? On the number of players he prepares for the NBA?
Who knows?
All I know is that seeing a fuming Calhoun go off at that press conference reminded me of the smug auto company CEOs who took private planes to Congressional hearings...of the companies that gave bonuses to execs as they took taxpayer bailout money...of the firms that didn't have the common sense to cancel lavish junkets as their stock tanked.
Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell knew instantly that Calhoun had done some damage. "I think if coach Calhoun had t...
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Posted Monday, March 02, 2009 12:12 PM
That's it?
That's what they're saying here in New England as fallout continues from the Matt Cassel/Mike Vrabel deal.
A second-round draft choice for a starting quarterback and a starting linebacker?
That's it?
Getting information from the Patriots is easier than making the snow go back into the clouds, but three theories are emerging from the trade's aftermath:
1. It's all about the Benjamins. The Pats were locked in salary cap hell as long as Cassel's $14 million for 2009 were on the books, and wanted to be players in free agency. That was impossible with Cassel there.
2. Vrabel was going to get whacked anyway, and they did him a favor and enabled a good guy to avoid the embarrassment of being cut. He can play for the Chiefs for a year, then retire with his dignity intact.
3. The Pats would rather have a high second-round pick than KC's No. 3 overall (assuming they can't deal and have to make the pick). Top-10 picks are guaranteed more money than many Pro Bowlers.
New England obviously didn't want to take the chance of being stuck with Cassel and not being able to move him, so the Pats bought time and salary cap relief, and now have flexibility to make moves to improve a defense that gave up more TD passes than 30 other teams.
...
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Posted Monday, January 26, 2009 12:03 PM
It comes down to this: Does Larry Fitzgerald have a Larry Fitzgerald game in the Super Bowl? If he doesn’t, the Steelers win. If he does . . . well, he won’t.
Pittsburgh can’t let the Cardinals play pitch and catch, and they won’t.
The Steelers will do what they did to the Patriots this season when they took away both the deep threat of Randy Moss (4 catches, 45 yards, zero TDs) and the underneath stuff to Wes Welker (similar numbers). The Cardinals have no one anywhere as good as Kevin Faulk for dumpoffs, and their offense will disintegrate.
Recall that when the Steelers went in to Foxboro and had their way with the Pats, New England was coming off a two-game stretch in which it had combined for 79 points. In the two games after the Steelers left town, the Pats put up a total of 73 more.
Simply put, the Steelers are death on teams geared to the pass (the only loss to a pass-oriented team this season was to Indianapolis). BetJamaica has the Steelers has 6.5-point faves.
The Cardinals will have no answer. Pit... [More]
Posted Friday, January 09, 2009 11:19 AM
Ok, they beat a just-happy-to-be-here Atlanta team.
But the nonsense stops Saturday night, when the Cardinals take their rightful place among NFL teams that never should have been in the playoffs to begin with.
They are the Gerald Ford of the NFL, thrust into the limelight due only to the incompetence of others. They are the cartoon character who volunteers when everyone else in line takes a step backward. They are the so-so kid who gets an A when everyone else in class screws up so badly that the teacher decides to grade on a scale.
Arizona won exactly three games this season when the team lining up on the other side of the field was not from the NFC West. The Cards gave up more points (426) than did 17 teams that didn’t make the playoffs.
Can they win? No.
Can the Cardinals cover 10 points? Only if Carolina coach John Fox takes ill, Mike Martz is called in on an eme... [More]
Posted Monday, January 05, 2009 09:17 PM
Are the Celtics wearing down? Are the Big Three losing half a step as they sprint toward the halfway mark of their second season together?
When Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen take the court Tuesday night against the Bobcats in Charlotte (Boston favored by 9.5, according to betjamaica.com), it will be the 144th game the team has played since the off-season trades before the 2007-08 season turned around this club.
The Celtics played navel-to-the-wall basketball for 82 regular-season games last season, then had to maintain intensity through a tougher-than-expected 7-game series against the Hawks, another 7-game staredown vs. LeBron and the Cavs, and a 6-game grinder against the Pistons before beating back the Lakers for the title.
Boston was a lockdown cover early this season, even with spreads as high as 18. But the 1-3 West Coast trip tossed cold water on any talk of breaking the all-time NBA record for wins, and a lo... [More]
Posted Monday, December 29, 2008 05:37 PM
Hours after Miami had engineered a 1-15 to 11-5 turnaround and clinched the AFC East and a playoff berth, word filters out that Dolphins dictator Bill Parcells has one foot out the door.
Seems the Tuna has an out clause in his Miami contract that enables him to leave, at full pay ($12 million for next season) if the team is sold. And the ink will be wet on the team’s sale sometime in January, enabling the Tuna to swim away. So the issue for Parcells, who likes money the way Eliot Spitzer likes call girls, becomes: $12 million to stay in Miami, or $12 million plus another $12 million (about $24 million total) or so to work elsewhere.
The Dolphins get 3 at home against the Ravens on Sunday, according to BetJamaica.com, and it’s not likely Parcells will feel guilty if the players are a bit distracted by his possible departure. Twelve years ago the Parcells-coached Patriots spent the week in New Orleans preparing to take on the Packers in the Super Bowl, and the big fella was a little distracted himself. Phone records later showed that he ... [More]