NCAA 2014 Week 1 Pickem:

Texas A&M at South Carolina

BYU vs U. Conn

Tulane at Tulsa

Boise State at Ole Miss

Rutgers vs Washington State

UTSA at Houston

Colorado State vs Colorado

Penn State vs UCF

UCLA at Virginia

Northern Iowa at Iowa

West Virginia vs Alabama

Marshall vs Miami(ohio)

California vs Northwestern

Florida State vs Oklahoma State

Wisconsin vs LSU

Arkansas vs Auburn

Utah State vs Tennessee

Miami Fla at Louisville

Clemson at Georgia

Rice at Notre Dame

NFL Draft 2010

Well it's that time again. This year it's on a Thursday which I'm not a fan of. Half the fun of the draft is waking up early, meeting up somewhere with a group and spending the entire Saturday drinking and pretending football is back. Anyway the Texans and Cowboys have first round picks so let's play "pin the tail on the draftpicks".

Below are what I think each team is weak in and what position they should try to fill. I'm not Mel kiper so I can't name names, and honestly who cares what a guy did in college.

Cowboys:
1. Safety (ss)
2. WR
3. G
4. ROLB
5. LT

The boys got burnt up by the land baron and Sidney rice in the playoffs last year on a lot of seam and post routes. A good SS is key to stopping those routes. Roy Williams is a bust so a WR like dez from ok state would be ideal. The line needs adjustments, both fozell and Marc columbo had bad years. A good ROLB would really tighten up the ware-James combo back there.

Texans:
1. CB
2. RB
3. Safety (fs)
4. DT
5. WR/KR

First priority for the Texans is to replace Dante. Their secondary sucked last year and with dante leaving this is an obvious choice. RB would be a good pickup to fight for the number two with Brown. Again safety for over the top plays which is where the texans opponents really get them. A DT would be as Travis Johnson isn't working and man child is looking too good either. Finally a WR/KR to challenge Jacoby.

Beer of the Week: St. Arnold's Spring Bock (Seasonal)

This week's beer is the St. Arnold's Spring Bock and I have to be honest, this is one of my favorite seasonals...ah hell, beers out there.

Background: This beer is brewed locally in the city of Houston. It comes to the supermarkets around the end of February and stays until May.

Price: Typically running between $6 - $8 bucks a sixer

Look: Typical German style Bock. Doesn't look watered down at all, yet not too heavy looking.

Smell: Definite noble hop smell.

Taste: Not bitter at all. Very hoppy. Imagine a typical hoppy beer i.e. Sam Adams.

Drink: Crisp, full body. Definitely leaves a lingering after taste that would go well at a BBQ. Be forewarned, this is not a skunk beer, so its more for us hop heads!

Overall: A

A Day in San Antonio

Me in front of the Alamo, 02-13-2010

Ah the Alamo, it never ceases to surprise me. I always seem to stumble upon it, forgetting how small it really is. Consider the battle took place in 1836 and the history behind this building. Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, William Travis, the list goes on.

I wanted to snag some photos of a bowie knife or some muskets but they plently of signs and guards around to keep people from taking photos inside. However, its one of Texas' greatest landmarks and helped shape the state into what it is today.

Remember the Alamo.

Also that day I went to Rita's on the Riverwalk which was ok. Nothing to write home about. Had some fajitas and saw the typical riverboats but this time they were throwing beads out Mardi Gras style.

Beer of the Week: Roswell Alien Amber Ale

This week's beer of the week is Roswell Alien Amber Ale.

Background: Picked this up in Anderson, TX when I went to visit my buddy Chris. Bascially I thought it looked cool and since I like ambers, it was a good move.

Price: $8.99 6-pk 

Look: Looks more on the pale side of Amber.

Smell: Smells woody, not sweet.

Taste: Bitter. One of the more bitter ambers I have had.

Drink: Full-bodied, enjoyed the after taste.

Overall: C

Moneyball Morey courts Kevin Martin

Looks like Moneyball Morey has struck again at the trade deadline.

The Houston Rockets have made a late night trade multi player trade involving TMac for Kevin Martin.
Houston Chronicle Article Here

The official breakdown is 7 players swap teams, 3 of them not scrubs. Those three are TMac (laughable), Carl Landry (Rockets) and Kevin Martin (Kings).

Now we all know that trading two expiring contracts for a multiyear contract will open the door for some wiggle room this offseason, but how much? The Rockets, if they plan on getting a superstar, will still need to unload. HERE is a list of the salary breakdown for the Rockets.

In my opinion the Rockets are paying two guys to play half the court (Kevin on offense, Trevor on D). These guy's contracts put together will go up from the say 16-17 mil range to over 20 in a couple of years. Is it worth it to pay these two guys 20 mil when we could go after a superstar like DWade or Bosh? Some might say yeah since we just got out of the diva drama a superstar brings, but to me this doesn't sync with the development of Yao.

Yao is (when healthy) an offensive superstar and I still feel having a quality slasher really opens up his mid range shot. I also think that the Rockets were anticipating Trevor to be this and now they are hoping Kevin can be this. I think that Kevin is a scorer in this league but has no defense. It's almost like trading for a mini Mac.

Looking ahead to the offseason...
The Rockets would be smart to try and restructure Yao's contract and go after another big body, one with a defensive presence.
Say that they do restructure and are in position to get someone like Bosh this offseason.
His contract will be in the 20 mil range, can you resign Scola at that point?
If the Rockets intend to resign Scola, it will probably cost them 4.5 - 5 mil a year for a contract.

If this were done, minus any callups or draft picks, the lineup would look like this:
C- Yao
PF-Bosh
SF-Ariza
SG-Martin
PG-Brooks

Where is the defense? Martin and Brooks are exploited quite a bit, we all know what to expect from Yao, and Ariza would be stellar. So basically, we don't have much on D and coupled with Adelman, the Rockets plan on playing small ball for a while now. One question though, how does a 7'6'' 300+ pound guy fit in to that system? He doesn't and will get injured again trying to keep up.

So to get back on track with this whole trade, Kevin Martin is a good pick up for the price but you just sacrificed heart to get that. Let's hope Moneyball Morey has got more up his sleeve today because we really need some size and D.

Rockets and the NBA Trade Deadline 2010

Today, Wednesday the 17th of February, is a big deal to fans of the Houston Rockets. We're one day away from the trade deadline and we're basically allowing the highest paid NBA player to workout on his own and not suit up and try and help the team.

Stats:
1. Tracy McGrady Houston $23,239,561
2. Kobe Bryant LA Lakers $23,034,375

TMac has played in 6 games while averaging a super human 7.7 minutes a game. PPG you ask? 3.1.... Link: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=532

3.1? Shouldn't that period be moved over a space?

Basically, TMac pissed off the management of the Rockets with this stunt last year on the trade deadline: Link: http://t-mac.com/tmac/blogDetail/1519
He knew he was in danger of getting traded to Detroit or another team and decided to announce, not to the Rockets but the world through his website, that he was "shutting it down". So becuase of this, the Rockets lost out on at least getting another position player, and who knows, maybe they would have beat the Lakers in Game 7.

Well fast forward past the Lakers winning and start at the beginning of training camp. TMac again is not ready from his microfacture surgery and again the Rockets get to find out when he's ready through his website. His attitude is not anywhere remotely being a team player so Adelman told him to take a hike. This was a bad move.

Adelman said he did not want to screw up the nucleus and the tempo of the game by having a superstar run isolation plays. Well now, thanks to small ball, the Rockets are 12th or 13th in the West and are sitting on the fattest contract in the NBA.

So today, one day before the deadline, the hopes and dreams of the Rockets Nation are again on TMac. I wonder what he has up his sleeve this time....maybe this: Link: http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/houston_rockets_catch_tracy