erniefreeman's Blog

NFL training camps open in two weeks and two days.  This should not be interpreted as evidence that I am counting the days or anything.  Jets open camp on July 16th, Giants on July 25th.  Most other people open during that week after the Jets open.

     These local sports people kill me.  Every year they try to convince us that the local pro basketball team doesn't have a high enough pick in the draft to select a star that will make the Grizzlies better next year.  Memo to the local sports people.  Wake up and smell the history of the NBA draft.  That's the first point.  The second point is if you're looking for a quick fix turn around scenario, that's more likely to happen with a blockbuster trade.  See the Boston Celtics.
     To the first point of the fifth pick being too low and too late for the Grizzlies.  The Philadelphia squad selected Thaddeus Young with the 12th pick in 2007.  He's a starter and a future star.  Grizzlies went with Conley.
     Not much going on after the fifth selection in 2006, unless you count Brandon Roy with the sixth pick.  He's doing just fine in Portland.  49th pick Leon Powe seemed to be working out for Boston in game two of the finals the other night.  And Daniel Gibson, LeBron's sidekick in Cleveland seems like a good pick with the 42nd overall selection in 2006.
     2005 saw Monta Ellis go with the 40th pick to Golden State.  He's a future all star.
     2004 was much the same, highlighted by Luol Deng going with the seventh pick and Andre Iguodala going with the ninth pick.
     2003 saw Dwyane Wade go with the fifth pick, David West with the 18th and Memphis select Kendrick Perkins with the 27th.  But that was part of a trade that brought Dahntay Jones to Memphis.  How did that work out? 
     Okay, last one.  In 2003, Memphis had the 4th pick, but passed on Amare Stoudemire, who went ninth.  And in the second round, Cleveland took Carlos Boozer.  A couple of big guys who are doing okay in the NBA. 
     The issue isn't the fifth pick is horrible.  The issue is whether the Grizzlies front office has the ability to find the guy who will be a star.  History suggests they don't.  And for the sports guys who keep telling us that selecting fifth is like being sentenced to torture by waterboarding, I say shut up.

It had been a little more than 18 months since I had even picked up a golf club, much less played a round of golf.  It was the weekend of October 8th, 2006 in Nashville.  I was playing in an annual tournament with some of my friends (their pictures are on this blog) and I was supposed to win.  Well, there was one guy in the field who could play with me.  The others were relatively new.  And one in particular, Leonard Raglin, from Atlanta, is a guy that I had beaten almost every single time we played.  It would be fair to say that I taught him the game.  He beat me by twenty strokes.  Have I ever mentioned I'm a sore loser.  I'm a sore loser.  I did the figurative equivalent of throwing my clubs into the lake after that round.  I put them in the trunk of my car and had not touched them until Saturday.  I smacked around a big bucket of balls at a local driving range.  So, I'm swinging again.  The impetus for this re-introduction to the clubs is a golf tournament I've agreed to participate in a couple of months from now in South Carolina.  My cousin is involved with a charity in Columbia, so she asked me to play.  So, I'll be there.  And there are no losers in a tournament to raise money for charity.

Right?

 

     First of all, we are here, in San Antonio, site of this year's Final Four.  But getting here wasn't easy, and I mean that quite literally.

     Thursday morning me, Matt Stark and Greg Gaston loaded up a Fox-13 vehicle and jumped on Interstate 40 bound for Little Rock.  Our travel folks had booked us a much cheaper flight out of Little Rock to San Antonio.  It was a connector flight, so we had to switch planes in, get this, Memphis.  That's right, our noon flight departed Little Rock and flew us back to Memphis.  I drove, and it wasn't a bad trip, unless you count the monsoon that poured on us the entire trip, and the apparent tornado that was in the vicinity while we drove.  The bad weather started causing delays in the region, so we were late leaving The Rock.  Our Memphis connection was delayed too.  But it wasn't delayed enough for us.  We missed the flight by five minutes.  Next flight to San Antonio...7:20 Thursday night.  Let me summarize for you: We left Memphis at 8am Thursday morning, but we were now being told that we would be leaving Memphis at 7:20 Thursday evening.  It was roughly 2:30, and we had some time on our hands.  We decided to spend it at the airport. 

     We eventually made it to San Antonio around 10pm Thursday.  What a long day.  We were supposed to file some reports for Fox-13 News at Nine Thursday, but with us still being in the air, we were unable to file those reports.  I did have some fun times with Stark and Gaston.  We talked a little sports and had couple sweet teas at Corky's in the airport.  I have pictures.  So glad we're here. 

This Saturday night on tobacco road, it's NORTH CAROLINA invading cameron indoor to play duke.  It's GOOD versue evil.  My father, my uncles, aunts and cousins who, who still live in my native state, will cheer hard for the HEELS.  Those who cheer for duke, we'll temporarily excommunicate from the family on the gounds of mental defect.  This is big.  For me, this is the unofficial start of March Madness.  And I got one question for you.  WHO YOU GOT?

     As a kid, I used to love going to the Felt Forum in New York for the NBA Draft.  I could not wait to see who the Knicks would select.  I wasn't there for one of the best picks ever, when they selected Patrick Ewing, but back then, they usually got it wrong.  And not much has changed.  This year's draft will be on June 26th.  And not much has changed.  I can't wait.

     So, who do you think is going to draft University of Memphis big man Joey Dorsey?  Today I scanned four or five internet Mock Draft sites, and all of them had Mr. Dorsey being drafted in the second round.  That means he would not have a guaranteed contract, would have to "earn" spot on the team, and is likely headed overseas.  Only first round picks get guaranteed money in the NBA.  And there are only two rounds of drafting.

     I hope Joey is a first round draft pick.  I just hope the Knicks don't draft him.  They have enough problems.  A couple of days ago I was talking with a longtime Memphis Tigers fan about the Tennessee game and he talked about the Tigers having played a horrible game and still only lost by four to Tennessee Saturday night.  I commented that I thought they played a heck of a game.  He said, "well if Joey Dorsey had gotten a few more rebounds Memphis would have won."  I said, Joey tends to not play big in the big games.  That sent him into a tirade.  And it sent me into research mode.  And the news is not good for the Tigers fan or Mr. Dorsey.

     This season, the guy is averaging fewer than seven points a game, and ten rebounds a game, making sixty seven percent of his shots, but shooting 34% from the free throw line.  We'll see how he does in the tournament, but history might be a good guide.

     Last year Dorsey averaged 8.5 points and 9.4 rebounds a game in the regular season.  Then in the NCAA tournament, 6.3 points and 7.8 rebounds a game.  He never scored more than ten points in any tournament game.  In his first game against North Texas he had 15 rebounds.  In the next game against Nevada, he pulled down nine rebounds.  In the third game against Texas A&M Dorsey had four rebounds.  Then there was the Ohio State game against Greg Oden.  There is a pattern there.  Not sure if you can see it.  Not sure if he has a nickname, but nobody's using "Ghost", as far as I know.  Or he could go with "Wesley Snipes", who starred with Sanaa Lathan in Disappearing Acts.   

     In his sophomore year, Dorsey's numbers also declined when comparing his regular season statistics to his NCAA statistics, although not as much.  He averaged six points and seven rebounds in the Tigers' elite eight run.

     One mock draft has Dorsey going to Atlanta with the 41st overall pick in the second round of the draft.  Another has him going 36th overall to the Charlotte Bobcats in the second round.  I can't wait until June 26th.  But Wesley, you will need to step up your game if you want to ride the "Money Train" of the guaranteed money in the first round of the NBA draft. 

I'm talking football. 

Over the past couple months, I've had two spirited "discussions" about whether the Southeastern Conference is the best football conference in the United States of America.  The last exchange happened Saturday at my house with a University of Tennessee graduate who insists the SEC is tops.  He's not the only one.  Most, if not all of the pin headed so called experts on ESPN say the SEC is best too.  Now, my position is that there is no significant difference in the level of play in the power conferences like the Pac Ten, the Big 12, the ACC or the Big Ten.  The question many people throw out when trying to determine who's best is "what would happen if this team from so and so conference played in the SEC?"  Well, the answer is we don't know.  Full disclosure, I am a Michigan State University graduate.  I don't think the Big Ten is best, but I can't prove that it is not.

There are two challenges in this debate: 1. Define best.  2. Prove one is better than the other. 

Hit me with your best shot sports fans.  I want to know why so many people simply accept this flawed notion as truth.

I've heard much of the anecdotal evidence of SEC superiority in football:  "SEC has the better athletes."  What do you mean better?  "They have more players in the NFL."  They have more teams.  "They beat the Big Ten in head to head bowl game matchups."  Really?  Check last season's bowl matchups.  "Florida crushed Ohio State."  That means Florida was better than Ohio State. 

If you love the SEC, tell me why it's the best football conference in America.  Maybe you can get Beano Cook to blog with us, he seems to know a lot about football. 

The Big Dogs started the season looking more like the pitiful puppies.  After six weeks, the team had registered one win, against five losses.  Pathetic.  But this week, the Big Dogs are playing in the championship game.  That's right baby, my Big Dogs are in the Fantasy Bowl of the Southern Football League.  If you play fantasy football, you know how impossible a comeback this has been, but we got er done.  In a 12 team league, my boys were in 12th place after six weeks.  This weekend, we are playing for the title.  A worst to first story that could never happen in "real" football.  In the semi-finals this weekend, I started Sage Rosenfels at Quarterback, and still got the win.  Tampa Bay's Defense got me 29 points.  Brian Westbrook and Earnest Graham had serviceable days in the backfield for me.  I am winning by 50 points and I have Devin Hester going tonight.  I've played fantasy football for seven years now, and I've never won the Fantasy Bowl.  This could be my year.  I can see it now, I'm being interview by Terry Bradshaw and Troy Aikman on Fox, the private jet back to Memphis International, thousands of screaming fans lining the Highland strip chanting "Big Dogs!" in unison.  It can happen.  It's fantasy football.  Anything can happen.  How bout them Big Dogs!

Did Major League Baseball just spend two years, millions of dollars and the promise of real revelations to reach the conclusion that: We think some players were using steroids in the 90's?  Sure seems that way if you're listening to this Mitchell Report madness.  So now Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig has the objective smoking gun (wink wink) that he apparently felt he always needed to make a credible case to somehow discredit Barry Bonds, even though Mitchell suggested no discipline in his costly and lenghty report.  What!!!!  Hey Bud, let it go.  They used.  It's what they do.  It wasn't banned then, so now you're trying to save face, without taking any of the blame.  Fans, remember all the public outcry to "get Barry"?  Are we going to "get Roger" now?  Get Andy?  Get Rick?  Doubt it.  Why don't we get Bud, as in get Bud Selig out of the Commissioner's office.  If Bud is going to implemet the recommendations of Mitchell, except the one about not disciplining the players, it proves, beyond any real doubt, that he was just using this silly dog and pony show as a pre-text for some kind of justification to get Barry Bonds, not to show that he's cleaning up the sport.  That is so weak.  You're the Commissioner of Baseball dude.  You don't need the pre-text, Bud.  But you do need an exit strategy, because it's time for you to go. We like to fire coaches and managers, why don't we get behind a fire the Commissioner movement?  Maybe if Bud goes away, this issue will go away.  The testing for roids is working, and should work better moving forward.  So, Bud, let's move forward.  Better yet, let us move forward...without you.

On Monday, members of the University of Memphis Mens Basketball team thought they would be spending their Thanksgiving with their families, after putting a beatdown on Arkansas State Tuesday night.  On Tuesday,  U-M Basketball Coach John Calipari decided cancel Thanksgiving and  keep his players in Memphis for practice after the team beat ASU by twenty one points.  Can you imagine what he would have done had they lost?  What do you think about this?  Was the coach a turkey for keeping the kids in practice?  Or shoud the players be giving thanks for the opportunity to practice more while their siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles and parents are chowing down at home?

Monday's announced crowd at the FedEx Forum for the University of Memphis Men's Basketball game was larger than the announced crowd for Saturday's professional game between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Indiana Pacers.  I have not done any research on this , but I'm wondering if that happens at areans around the country that host college and NBA games. 

Notre Dame's athletic director has no class.  On Wednesday Kevin White, the athletics director in South Bend announced the school was not going to release Demetrius Jones from his scholarship, because of the circumstances surrounding Jones' departure from the school.   Last week, Jones enrolled at Northern Illinois University in his native Illinois.  Not releasing Jones from his Notre Dame scholarship won't stop him from playing for the Huskies next season, but it means he'll have to pay his own way, with no scholarship.  Way to be concerned about the kids Notre Dame.  What a joke.

  "We don't believe his departure was handled properly," White said in a statment.  You're right Kevin, it wasn't handled properly by your overrated, overpaid coach Charlie Weis, who benched Jones after the Irish lost their first two games.  The benching was a weak attempt to pass the blame for the winless team on to someone else.  Shame on Weis, shame on White, and shame on the fightless Irish.

By the way, when Weis installed the new QB into the lineup, Notre Dame failed to score a single point against Michigan last weekend.  Sounds like they really needed a Quarterback change, huh?

Coming out of Chigago's Morgan Park High School in 2005, Demetrius Jones had passed for 46 touchdowns the two previous seasons.  He was a parade All-American, and the USA Today rated the 6-4, 213 lb. prospect 33 out of the top 100 high school football players in the United States.  He can play.  In the spring, he won the job to replace departed Brady Quinn.  He "made the most plays" of all Quarterbacks according to Weis.  Way to show confidence in the best man for the job.  Some of these university athletics officials are so hypocritical.  These people want to "punish" a guy for following his dreams.  They gave up on him, so when he attempts to pursue his dreams somewhere else, and the campus known for "touchdown Jesus" wants to stick a knife in his back on his way to DeKalb, Ill.    Notre Dame, you disgusts me.

This, honestly, has nothing to do with the fact that I'm a Michigan State University graduate, and the Spartans are going to South Bend for a game this weekend.  Anyone who spent any time in East Lansing, doesn't much like those golden domers.  So, Spartans, let's win one for Demetrius Jones.  Okay that might be a motivational stretch, and the undefeated Spartans have plenty of history, including last year's home loss,  to motivate them.

But seriously, when institutions of higher learning begin to "get back" at former student-athletes, who've decided to pursue their dreams on other campuses, how much class can there be at that school?

Good luck Demetrius.  And Go Spartans!

Ernie Freeman

 

I just can't seem to get on the same page with St Louis Cardinals Outfielder Rick Ankiel, schedule wise.   Last week, I made my first ever trip to St. Louis.  Rick wasn't there.  He was with his Memphis Redbirds teammates, playing a Pacific Coast Leage game against a team I've never heard of.  In my pocket, right now, is a ticket I will use Saturday to attend my first ever Memphis Redbirds game at the fabulous Autozone Park.  Rick won't be there.  Because as the first sentence in this blog indicates, he's no longer here.  The Cardinals "called him up" to the big club.  And Thursday night, in his first major league game as an outfielder, he hit a three run homerun.  What a comeback story.  The former major league pitcher returning to the major leagues as an outfielder.  I am truly inspired.  We just need to sync our schedules.  I guess I'll have to go back to St Louis now.

     The USA Today is running a poll today asking who is the greatest homerun hitter of all time.  Apparently I misunderstood the question.  I answered Bonds.  But forty percent of the respondents answered Bonds.  Help me out.  Ruth is third on the Major League homerun list, behind Hammerin Hank Aaron (755) and Bonds.  Let me say, I'm a Yankees fan and have much love for the Babe.  I think he may be the greatest baseball player of all time.  But greatest homerun hitter?  Maybe.  But what are the criteria?  People will say Bonds played more games and had more at bats, and he did.  But Bonds was also walked more.  If the Babe had not spent the first five years of his career as a pitcher, his numbers would have been greater, perhaps.  That's not Barry's fault.  The greatest homerun hitter, in Major League Baseball history is Barry Lamar Bonds.

     The ESPN heads insist and want you to buy into the notion that Barry Bonds had an unfair advantage because he took steroids.  Even as he tied Hank Aaron for the all time MLB homerun record, the network was airing a story about Bonds' alleged steroid use.  Unfair advantage?   How about the unfair advantage going to the pitcher Clay Hensley, the man who gave up Bonds' 755th.  Two years ago, Hensley was suspended 15 games for using illegal performance enhancing drugs. 

     Three words for ESPN...let it go.