Talk Radio Paradise

cherry452 · Prof. Member Geregistreerd op: 09 Nov 2016 Berichten: 150

When I look at the Hall of Fame ballot and wonder how baseball will ultimately deal with the likes of Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, I try to think back to when the game and its ethics really changed. I cant pinpoint a date, but I do remember a player from my youth. Brian Downing was with the Chicago White Sox at a time when I listened to every game I possibly could on the radio. That particular season the late great Harry Caray was calling the White Sox games. What struck me as unusual was Caray almost seemed to have a vendetta against Downing. He was always finding fault with him and ultimately the pressure of playing in Chicago wore Downing down. On December 5, 1977, Downing was part of a huge six-player trade with the Angels that sent him back home to California. Downing had always been a player who battled adversity and beat the odds. He made his Magnolia High School team, but hardly played and was cut. Same story pretty much at Cypress College. It looked as though his baseball dream was over. But then he went to a White Sox open tryout camp and was signed. When Downing played his first game with the White Sox he was a third baseman and believe it or not on the very first pitch he severely damaged his knee when he tried to make a diving catch near the dugout and tumbled down the steps. When he returned, he was converted to catcher and became a back-up to veteran Ed Herrman. But he never was much of a hitter and could never please Harry Caray. Downing didnt fare much better in his first year with the Angels and realizing his career could be slipping away, he committed to a "serious weight training" program in the off-season of 1978, changed his batting stance dramatically and even had a batting cage installed in his home. From there his career began to take off, though not particularly fast. Downing was so good at getting on base he often batted lead-off and he once led the American League in walks. He ran into more adversity in 1980, when he suffered a broken ankle and was ultimately forced to move to left field. Though not a great fielder, through hard work, he become more than adequate and actually didnt make a single error in the 1982 season. Downing played with the Angels right through the 1990 season before the Angels effectively forced him out in a bit of contract dispute. He played his final two years in Texas as a designated hitter. By the time he left the Angels though Downing had built up franchise record numbers in games played, at-bats, runs, hits, total bases, doubles, home runs, RBIs and walks. He retired on the final day of the 1992 season at age 41. His final game and last at-bat came at the Angels ballpark, and he ended his career with a pinch-hit single off his former teammate and future Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven. Downing received a prolonged standing ovation. Ten years later Brian Downing was honoured as a member of the Angels All-time team and still later on August 27, 2009 he was named to the Angels Hall of Fame along with his former teammate Chuck Finley. The point of this is, Brian Downing was one of the very first to get involved in weight training. By all accounts, he transformed his long lanky body into a muscular physique with nothing more than dedication and extremely hard work. Others perhaps inspired by Downings success followed his path. Others learned of the shortcuts to building a new body with PEDs and created the era that still clouds baseball to this day. Downing carved out a career that is to be admired, but his nickname then - "The Incredible Hulk" - is strangely ironic now considering the brand of baseball it may have helped span over the last 35 years. Changes in Philly It was sad for me this week to see that Chris Wheeler and Gary Matthews were let go by the Phillies as broadcasters. "Sarge", as Matthews is affectionately known, had a great career as a player and worked with the Blue Jays as a batting coach, and even spent two years in the Toronto radio booth with Tom Cheek and Jerry Howarth. I only had the pleasure of working with "Sarge" for one year, in 2001 and enjoyed every minute of it. He was insightful and funny and a good friend. He is apparently staying with the Phillies in another capacity but he will be missed on the air. A couple of interesting notes on Gary Matthews playing career. He slugged seven homers in 19 career post-season games. If thats not impressive enough, in his final Major League at-bat "Sarge" singled off Texas lefty Mitch "Wild Thing" Williams, only to be immediately picked off first base to end the game. What a way to end your career. All the best "Sarge"! An epic game for Nick Foles, a major injury in Green Bay, Stacy starting to roll, Forte, Peterson, Graham, Gronkowki, Witten, Spiller and more in Scott Cullens 50 Points on NFL Week Nine. 1. Eagles QB Nick Foles (22-for-28, 406 YDS, 7 TD) has had some success in his limited playing time, but nothing like what happened on Sunday, when he lit up the Raiders secondary, with more touchdowns than incompletions. Its the kind of performance that should put Foles at the top of the Eagles depth chart, even if Michael Vick is healthy. Of course, with Vick not yet healthy, there is time for Foles to come back to the pack. 2. Packers QB Aaron Rodgers (1-for-2, 27 YDS) suffered a broken collarbone against Chicago Monday night, an injury that should keep him out for at least three weeks, but potentially longer. With Rodgers out, Seneca Wallace (11-for-19, 114 YDS, 1 TD) takes over at quarterback and that drop in talent is going to affect Packers receivers, so downgrade Jordy Nelson, Jarret Boykin and James Jones. 3. Rams RB Zac Stacy (178 YDS, 2 TD, 33 touches) continues his rapid ascent from fifth-round pick out of Vanderbilt to a rookie who has gained 307 yards from scrimmage in the last two weeks. And since Kellen Clemens is at quarterback for the Rams, theyre not shy about handing the ball to Stacy, giving him 53 carries over the last two weeks. 4. Bears RB Matt Forte (179 YDS, 1 TD, 29 touches) quietly produces, week after week, and has the most fantasy points per game (16.6) among all running backs this season. 5. Vikings RB Adrian Peterson (177 YDS, 1 TD, 28 touches) was finally turned loose, after limited touches the last three games, and had a big day against Dallas. Even in what is a relatively disappointing season thus far, he has the third-most fantasy points among running backs, behind only Jamaal Charles and Matt Forte. 6. Saints TE Jimmy Graham (9 REC, 116 YDS, 2 TD, 12 targets) may have been bothered by a foot injury for a couple of weeks, but it cant be considered much of a problem any longer, after he had another huge game in Sundays loss to the New York Jets. Graham leads all tight ends with 746 yards receiving (Jordan Cameron is second with 600 REC YDS) and leads everyone with 10 receiving touchdowns. 7. Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski (9 REC, 143 YDS, 1 TD, 10 targets) has had two 100-yard games in his three games played this season. Hes still behind Jimmy Graham on weekly tight end value, but that may be about it at this point. 8. Cowboys TE Jason Witten (8 REC, 102 YDS, 1 TD, 10 targets) had one of his better games of the season, his second 100-yard receiving game. He ranks fifth among tight ends with 505 receiving yards. 9. Bills RB C.J. Spiller (155 YDS, 14 touches) returned to action after a week off and delivered the kind of game thats been expected of him all season. Spiller still had fewer touches than Fred Jackson (99 YDS, 17 touches), who continued to be productive in his own right. Jackson, who was considered a backup entering the season, ranks seventh among running backs with 747 yards from scrimmage. 10. Texans WR Andre Johnson (9 REC, 229 YDS, 3 TD, 13 targets) certainly has Keenums attention and finally scored his first three touchdowns of the season against Indianapolis. Johnson ranks fourth among wide receivers with 813 receiving yards. 11. Titans RB Chris Johnson (170 YDS, 2 TD, 26 touches) does this. After four straight games with fewer than 40 rushing yards, he busted out for 150 yards on the ground, along with his first two touchdowns of the season. Its that upside that keeps drawing fantasy owners in, only to be disappointed. At least thats how the story has gone for the last two-and-a-half seasons. 12. Chargers WR Keenan Allen (8 REC, 128 YDS, 1 TD, 11 targets) had his third 100-yard game in the last four games. As the preferred wideout of Philip Rivers, Allen should be headed for a big second half of the season. 13. Patriots RB Stevan Ridley (124 YDS, 2 TD, 1 fumble, 29 touches) is rolling now, with six touchdowns and 340 rushing yards in the last four weeks. Start him and nevermind those shaky first four weeks of the season. 14. Buccaneers RB Michael James (166 YDS, 30 touches; 2-yd TD pass) had a huge game in his second start, a rare bit of promise from the Bucs season. Second-stringer Brian Leonard (68 YDS, 9 touches) was also productive in limited work at Seattle. 15. Patriots QB Tom Brady (23-for-33, 432 YDS, 4 TD) followed his worst game of the year with his best game of the year, which definitely didnt cause a problem for fantasy owners that were fed up with him and decided to bench him in favour of Andy Dalton. Nope, no problem at all. 16. Texans QB Case Keenum (20-for-34, 350 YDS, 3 TD) has lost both of his starts this season, but hes played well, passing for 621 yards and four touchdowns, without throwing an interception. Keenum hasnt been shy to go downfield and the Texans have the receivers, Andre Johnson and DeAndre Hopkins to make that aggressive approach work. 17. Eagles WR DeSean Jackson (5 REC, 150 YDS, 1 TD, 6 targets) sits second among wide receivers with 823 receiving yards. His 91.4 receiving yards per game is a career-high; his previous best was 77.1 in 2009. 18. Packers RB Eddie Lacy (150 YDS, 1 TD, 22 carries) has been a beast, gaining at least 97 yards from scrimmage in five straight games. With Aaron Rodgers hurt, Lacy becomes extremely important to the Green Bay offence. 19. Washington RB Alfred Morris (121 YDS, 1 TD, 25 carries) is starting to churn out the yardage -- 390 rushing yards and three touchdowns over the last four weeks -- to the point that hes up to fifth in the league in rushing, with 686 yards. 20. Seahawks RB Marshawn Lynch (141 YDS, 25 touches) keeps churning out the yards, one week after a season-low 27 yards at St. Louis. Hes currently second in the league with 726 rushing yards. 21. Washington WR Pierre Garcon (7 REC, 172 YDS, 12 targets) has been hit-and-miss with his results, scoring only two touchdowns and having two 100-yard games, but hes had at least five catches in every game and remains the top passing option for QB Robert Griffin III. 22. Eagles WR Riley Cooper (5 REC, 139 YDS, 3 TD, 6 targets) has seen a real uptick in his production, with more than 80 yards receiving in three of the last four games. Coincidentally or not, Nick Foles has played significant time in the three games that Coopers production has gone to new heights. 23. Browns QB Jason Campbell (23-for-35, 262 YDS, 3 TD) played well in his second start of the season and has thrown 75 passes without getting picked off this season. With that quarterback play, Browns receivers have value. 24. Browns WR Greg Little (7 REC, 122 YDS, 9 targets) had his best game of the season against Baltimore and while WR Davone Bess (3 REC, 24 YDS, 2 TD, 4 targets) didnt have a lot of targets, two touchdowns is two touchdowns. WR Josh Gordon (3 REC, 44 YDS, 7 targets) and TE Jordan Cameron (1 REC, 4 YDS, 5 targets) were held in check, so credit Cambpell for getting other receivers into the game. 25. As much as Andy Dalton struggled Thursday, following three strong performances, Bengals WR A.J. Green (11 REC, 128 YDS, 19 targets) was thrown at so often that he couldnt help but be productive, even with a few drops. Green leads the league with 862 receiving yards. 26. With Saints WR Marques Colston out, Robert Meachem (4 REC, 93 YDS, 5 targets) had a big game for the Saints annd Lance Moore (6 REC, 70 YDS, 10 targets) played a bigger role in his second week back in the lineup.dddddddddddd Kenny Stills (3 REC, 35 YDS, 5 targets), looked like he was breaking through the week before with 129 yards and two touchdowns, but its worth noting that he has yet to record more than four catches in a game. 27. Bengals RB Giovani Bernard (104 YDS, 2 TD, 13 touches) had a tremendous game in the Thursday nighter, with a Play-of-the-Year run. BenJarvus Green-Ellis (72 YDS, 21 carries) was productive enough in his own right and still carried a significant workload. 28. Dolphins RB Lamar Miller (129 YDS, 1 fumble, 20 touches) is starting to find his way, with more than 100 yards from scrimmage in back-to-back games. His previous high was 75 yards in Week Two. 29. Following his least productive game of the season, Steelers RB LeVeon Bell (139 YDS, 20 touches) stormed back against New England. Standard performance these days against the Patriots run defence now that DT Vince Wilfork and OLB Jerod Mayo are out of the lineup. 30. Chargers RB Danny Woodhead (98 YDS, 16 touches) is tried and true. Hes a backup running back who has produced at least 75 yards from scrimmage in each of the last six games. Starter Ryan Mathews (34 YDS, 7 carries) wasnt much of a factor in Washington. 31. Falcons RB Steven Jackson (76 YDS, 16 touches) is getting more comfortable in the offence. The season is getting away from the Falcons, but if Jackson can stay healthy, he could still have strong second-half value. 32. Panthers RB Jonathan Stewart (65 YDS, 12 touches) returned to the Panthers lineup, naturally cutting into the workload of DeAngelo Williams (54 YDS, 15 touches) and Mike Tolbert (37 YDS, 1 TD, 9 touches). The three-headed running back committee drastically reduces the value of any of them. 33. Raiders RB Rashad Jennings (176 YDS, 1 TD, 22 touches) rose to the occasion, at least in terms of individual production, once Darren McFadden (15 YDS, 6 touches) aggravated a hamstring injury. In the two games that Jennings has had at least 20 touches this season, hes gone over 100 yards from scrimmage. 34. Jets RB Chris Ivory (139 YDS, 1 TD, 18 carries) pulled back ahead of Bilal Powell (29 YDS, 9 carries) in the Jets running back see-saw, though the assigned workload wasnt tilted that dramatically. With two 100-yard rushing games in the last three weeks, Ivory has to be the preferred option, but it would hardly come as a surprise if Powell has some more productive games. 35. Eagles RB LeSean McCoy (80 YDS, 1 TD, 16 touches) has lost some lustre in the last three weeks, averaging 75.3 yards from scrimmage., which is okay, but hes averaging 121.9 per game for the season, and leads the league with 777 rushing yards, so theres definitely a decline. 36. Patriots wide receivers Aaron Dobson (5 REC, 130 YDS, 2 TD, 9 targets) and Danny Amendola (4 REC, 122 YDS, 1 TD, 4 targets) had big games against the Steelers. Their emergence limits the appeal on Kenbrell Thompkins and Julian Edelman, the other two wide receivers getting notable time in the Patriots passing game. 37. Seahawks WR Doug Baldwin (6 REC, 75 YDS, 1 TD, 10 targets) emerged as the big receiving threat for the Seahawks following the injury to Sidney Rice. Golden Tate (3 REC, 29 YDS, 3 targets) was effectively shut down by Buccaneers CB Darrelle Revis. 38. With Texans RB Arian Foster suffering a back injury in the first quarter, Ben Tate (81 YDS, 22 carries) and Dennis Johnson (36 YDS, 8 carries) picked up the slack in the Houston backfield. Foster had been on a roll for three consecutive games before injuries have limited him to four carries over the last two games. 39. Ravens WR Marlon Brown (5 REC, 54 YDS, 2 TD, 9 targets) had a career-high five catches against Cleveland and now has five touchdowns on the season. Hes the only Ravens receiver with more than two touchdowns. 40. Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger (28-for-48, 400 YDS, 4 TD, 2 INT, 1 fumble) had big numbers in the loss at New England, his second 400-yard passing game this season, but it was also only the second game this season in which he passed for multiple touchdowns, so its difficult to consider him a fantasy starter. 41. Steelers WR Jerricho Cotchery (7 REC, 96 YDS, 3 TD, 8 targets) now has 424 yards on the season, after 442 yards, total, in his first two years with the Steelers. He also has five touchdowns, his most since 2008. 42. Ravens RB Ray Rice (38 YDS, 14 touches) still hasnt had a game with more than 80 yards from scrimmage all season and hes been held under 50 yards in four of seven games. Starter or not, its getting pretty easy to find better options. 43. Browns RB Willis McGahee (31 YDS, 1 fumble, 21 carries) has been a disaster since signing in Cleveland. His 2.6 yards per carry is more than half-a-yard per carry worse than the net lowest-ranked runner this season (minimum 100 carries). 44. Chiefs QB Alex Smith (19-for-29, 124 YDS) had an incredibly unproductive game at Buffalo, against a Bills defence that is mediocre overall against the pass, but has allowed a league-high 20 passing touchdowns. Chiefs WR Dwayne Bowe (7 REC, 67 YDS, 12 targets), who has been invisible this season, had a season-high for catches and receiving yards. 45. Cowboys RB DeMarco Murray (31 YDS, 4 carries) returned to the Cowboyss lineup against Minnesota, but was virtually ignored in the gameplan, as Dallas had a career-low nine carries Sunday. With Murray back that, theoretically, should give Dallas a more balanced attack as hes gained 642 yards from scrimmage in seven games (91.8 per game). 46. Titans RB Shonn Greene (66 YDS, 1 TD, 10 touches) was healthy and productive, in a backup role, against the Rams. Greene has some deep-league value as the short-yardage back. 47. Bears QB Josh McCown (22-for-41, 272 YDS, 2 TD) turned out to be more than adequate as a fill-in for an injured Jay Cutler, putting up good numbers and helping WR Brandon Marshall (7 REC, 107 YDS, 1 TD, 13 targets) to a big game against Green Bay Monday. It was Marshalls first 100-yard game since Week Two. 48. Bears DE Shea McClellin (5 tackles, 3 sacks), who had three sacks in 20 NFL games going into Monday night, got three against the Packers, a standout performance from the 19th overall pick in the 2012 Draft. 49. An undrafted rookie out of Delaware, Falcons OLB Paul Worrilow (19 tackles) was all over the field against Carolina. He had 16 total tackles in three previous games, so 19 is of course out of the norm, but 19 tackles warrants consideration. 50. Rams DT Kendall Langford (6 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 TFL); Saints MLB Curtis Lofton (12 tackles); Chargers FS Eric Weddle (15 tackles); Washington MLB London Fletcher (13 tackles); Eagles OLB Mychal Kendricks (10 tackles, 1 sack); Buccaneers SS Mark Barron (11 tackles, 1 INT, 1 PD), Seahawks FS Earl Thomas (12 tackles); Seahawks MLB Bobby Wagner (11 tackles, 1.5 sacks); Ravens ILB Daryl Smith (9 tackles, 1 sack, 1 PD); Steelers ILB Lawrence Timmons (11 tackles, 1 TFL), Patriots FS Devin McCourty (6 tackles, 1 INT); Patriots DE Chandler Jones (6 tackles, 2 sacks); Dolphins CB Brent Grimes (5 tackles, 94-YD INT TD); Dolphins DE Cameron Wake (5 tackles, 3 sacks); Dolphins CB Dmitri Patterson (8 tackles, 1 INT). Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. Wholesale NFL Jerseys ' ' '