Johnny Football Has Got Me Thinking...

I know you're all waiting to hear about what I have to say about the impending sale of the New Jersey Devils, but I'll wait until after it's official to give my thoughts. But, most of you that know me already know how I feel about the whole thing.

Johnny Football or Johnny Drama?

Johnny Manziel has had quite the roller-coaster ride since winning the Heisman trophy back in January. He was on all of the late-night talk shows. He had pictures with all kinds of elite athletes and celebrities. He has become one of the most recognizable people in all sport, let alone college football. However, from what we have seen, it looks like Johnny Football can't handle the spotlight off the field as well as he seemingly could on it. He has tweeted about how he can't "bleeping" wait to get out of College Station. He had to leave the Manning Passing Academy because of missed meetings. And now he has this autograph fiasco hanging over his head. It's like a train wreck; we want ESPN to shut up about it, but we can't look away when they talk about it. Did he accept money? Did his friend accept money and thus act as an agent? Why did he sign so many autographs? If it's all true, this is just another instance of Manziel acting like an idiot. Sure, he wants us to cut him slack because "he's just a 20-year-old kid trying to have fun." Sorry, Johnny, but once you won the Heisman, you became a public figure. You're no longer a kid at that point. It's time to be a man and start taking responsibility for your actions. Getting kicked of a University of Texas frat party while wearing a Tebow jersey? C'mon, man! You have got to smarter than that. I hope all of the allegations are false, but if they turn out to be true, then Manziel just showed the whole world that he is incredibly selfish. Why put your whole team at risk for a few extra bucks? It's not like he needs it; he comes from an upper-middle class family. This leads me to my next point...

NCAA "Hypocrisy"

Jay Bilas has long been a man on a mission to get real NCAA reform when it comes to student-athlete compensation. Recently, he had NCAAshop.com shut down because he was able to search by student-athlete names to find memorabilia. Manziel and Jadeveon Clowney were just two of the names that brought player-specific results. Mark Emmert, NCAA president, had the site shut down based on how people could see that as "hypocritical." The student-athletes can't profit off of their likenesses, but the NCAA can. Right. So, Jay Bilas single-handedly shut down a revenue stream for the NCAA. He's currently the NCAA's worst nightmare, and he won't stop until there's real reform. But, if Manziel is doing this - and he comes from a comfortable economic situation - what about the guys that come from nothing? What must they be doing to try and get their family any little bit of cash to help their situation? Honestly, the fact that the NCAA doesn't even let the "revenue-generating" sports' athletes get paid is foolish. Amateurs don't play in 100,000-seat stadiums. Amateurs don't play in front out millions upon millions of TV viewers. Amateurs don't get to be in a video game. It's time to properly compensate these kids for the hard work and sacrifices they make so their respective schools can make money. This does raise a very interesting question, though.

What if there was another pipeline to the pros?

College football is the only way to get the NFL. College basketball is (for the most part) the only way into the NBA. Baseball is much more international, but the a majority of American-born prospects come from college. This leaves us with hockey. There are multiple avenues to get to the NHL. You could go to college and play for a powerhouse. Or, you can head north of the border and play in one of the three CHL junior leagues. How does this change the college hockey landscape? The kids in the QMJHL, OHL, and WHL get paid. They don't have to attend classes and maintain academic eligibility. It's no coincidence that the best prospects come from the CHL. I am in no way knocking NCAA hockey, though. Some awesome players have come from the college ranks. But could you imagine if there was a similar system in place for football and basketball? There would be a complete and total overhaul in the college sports landscape the likes of which no one can even begin to fathom. The best recruits wouldn't even think about going to school. They would chase the paper in the junior leagues. You would find out real quick how many kids actually care about their education and which just care about their sport. There would never be a crowd of 100k+ at a college football game again. The days of one-and-done recruits in college basketball would be over; teams would actually have to build for the long-term. The quality of play in both sports would suffer greatly because all of the best players would being playing in the junior leagues where they would be getting paid. This is something not a lot of people are talking about with all of this craziness with the NCAA and Manziel. It is interesting to play the "What If?" game with it, though.

Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez

(Photo credit: USA Today)

Forgive me for being late on this story as I have been vacationing down the Jersey Shore this week, but on Monday, Major League Baseball finally handed out the suspensions involving the players implicated in the Biogenesis investigation. Twelve players were given 50-game suspensions. Those players included Nelson Cruz, Jhonny Peralta, and Evereth Cabrera just to name a few. However, the name most people were paying attention to, Alex Rodriguez, was handed the largest suspension that wasn't a lifetime ban in MLB's history, 211 games. That means A-Rod won't get the opportunity to play again until the 2015 season. However, he does get the opportunity to appeal. During the time leading up to when his appeal is heard, he can play. Since most experts are saying that he won't be able to get a hearing until November, I guess we will see A-Rod (unfortunately) in a Yankee uniform for the rest of the season. His reception in his first game back in Chicago went as expected. The boos rained down on him at every at-bat and whenever he did anything in the field. When he struck-out looking in his last at-bat U.S. Cellular field erupted in cheers. This is will probably be the standard crowd response from opposing fans when the Yankees are on the road. The real test is going to come Friday when A-Rod plays in his first game back in front of my fellow Yankee fans. Honestly, I have no idea what the crowd reaction at the Stadium is going to be. If I had to guess, I'd say it's probably going to be 75%-25% boos-to-cheers. Where do I fall? If I was there, I'd be booing the crap out of him. There are plenty of reasons that I fall on that side. Some are obvious; some not so much.

After 2009, A-Rod's play began to decline. He wasn't the player he once was. His power numbers were down, he was striking out more, and his defense was beginning to take a dive. In just one season after leading the Yanks to the World Series, he had just as quickly turned into a liability. Most Yankee fans, myself included, started to sour on A-Rod based on his play alone. Add the fact that he kept getting major injuries putting him on the Disabled List for long periods of time and his albatross of a contract, and there was plenty of ammo for Yankee fans to use to justify hatred towards A-Rod. You then have A-Rod admitting to using "a banned substance" and his connection with Canadian sports medicine specialist, Anthony Galea, which just added more fuel to the fire. But on top of all of that, there's one quote that really set me over the edge:

"I'm a human being. I've had two hip surgeries. I've had two knee surgeries. I'm fighting for my life. I have to defend myself. If I don't defend myself, no one else will."

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! My aunt that lost a five-year long battle with ovarian cancer was fighting for her life! YOU'RE A MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR ATHLETE! You're not "fighting for your life," as you say. You're fighting because your ego is too big for it's own good and you can never not be the spotlight. So, you foolishly drag this whole thing out just because you think you have a shot to overturn your suspension. Keep dreaming. When the arbiter holds up the suspension, I hope you'll be happy with all the time and effort you wasted. This leads me to why I think A-Rod's suspension is not harsh enough.

Agree with me or not, Alex Rodriguez should be banned from baseball for life. I look at it this way: A-Rod used the game of baseball as his own little toy. He did everything with only his best interests in mind, he always thought he was above the game, and shamed the game of baseball in the process. This all started with his insane contract with the Texas Rangers. He then used PEDs to try to justify the contract he signed. When he was traded to the Yankees, he did nothing to help our team in the postseason until 2009. Other than that year, his postseason numbers as a Yankee are abysmal at best. He opted out of his deal with the Yankees only to sign a BIGGER deal, and this was all announced during the World Series. No respect whatsoever. Now this whole circus that will surround him and the Yankees for the rest of this season. ALL OF THAT compounded on top of each other is why I think A-Rod deserves to be banned for life. What A-Rod did to the game is far worse than anything Pete Rose ever did, I don't care what anyone says. I still say Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame. He never bet against his own team, but I digress. Monday was a rough day for baseball thanks to A-Rod once again, but it was a good day in the sense that MLB basically showed that it's finally beginning to take the steps necessary to crack down on PED users once and for all.

Braun Gets 65 Games For 'Roids

From "Hebrew Hammer" To "Jewish Juicer"

Yesterday, Major League Baseball dropped the hammer on Ryan Braun suspending him for the remainder of the season, which turns out to be 65 games, for his involvement with Biogenesis and his actions when he had his first positive test. Once again it's another black eye for baseball in which a player of star-status turns out to be a juicer. Now, you guys all know that hockey is my first sports love, but I do love me some baseball. There's something special about going to a game, drinking some beers, eating some hot dogs, and watching America's pastime. However, in the past decade or so, the luster is wearing off. You can blame the big-money contracts these players are getting causing loyalty to be thrown to the side and ticket prices to shoot up. The bigger problem is the steroid use. You become skeptical of every home run now. It's sad, because the home run is the best part of a baseball game. And when someone is having a great season power-wise, what's the first thing you say? "He's got to be on 'roids." I feel bad for Chris Davis this year. He's having a MONSTER year, but in this era of baseball, there will be skeptics. Me? I just pray that he's clean.

The face of a cheater. (Photo credit: Google Images)

Anyway, back to Braun. When are athletes going to stop saying that they made a mistake and just say that they knowing did something stupid/illegal? A mistake is forgetting an ingredient in a recipe. A mistake is missing your exit on the highway when you're going somewhere for the first time. A mistake is waking up late for work. A mistake is NOT willingly taking an illegal substance to perform better in professional sports. That's stupidity. Ryan Braun can apologize all he wants, but his image is tarnished forever. I don't think 65 games is enough. I think he should be suspended a full calendar year - no baseball activities until July 22nd, 2014. Especially since he tried to fight his first positive test in 2011. He never actually denied that it was positive, he just said the process of analyzing the sample was wrong. It's sad to see every slugger under scrutiny now, but that's era of baseball we live in now. Until MLB decides to start banning players from the game for tarnishing its image through steroids and banned substances, players will continue to use them because they know they can still get back to playing once they serve a long suspension.

A-Rod Next?

Real quickly on Alex Rodriguez. Apparently, the evidence against A-Rod is "far beyond" that of Ryan Braun, according to TJ Quinn of ESPN. If that is the case, I hope MLB does not offer A-Rod a plea deal. He's been implicated in numerous investigations, and it's about time MLB tell A-Rod that enough is enough. Allegedly, A-Rod also tampered with the Biogenesis inverstigation. If that is the case, he should be banned from baseball for life. That's way worse, in my opinion, than just about anything done before him. Pete Rose has to be sitting somewhere watching all of this happen wondering, "How the hell am I banned from baseball while these actual cheaters are allowed a second chance?!" It makes no sense to me either. I've read that MLB is not going to take action on A-Rod immediately. Now, we'll all just wait and see what MLB has in store for baseball's most disappointing person.

Ilya Kovalchuk Announces His Retireme--WHAT?!

That was my reaction when I got that notification on my phone from the NHL GameCenter app while I was at work. Needless to say, I was stunned. Honestly, I don't know how I held myself together. This post is going to be cathartic for me, and it's going to help me gather my thoughts and put some perspective on all of this. I'm going to split this into two parts. One part is going to be the emotional fan's point of view. The other part is going to be the viewpoint of an objective third party (read: journalist, sports businessman).

How Could He?!

I can't believe this! Retired?! To go back to Russia?! I though he liked it here in New Jersey, hence the 15-year contract. This is completely ridiculous. We are so screwed now. We have no one that can consistently score goals! Our best goal-scorer is thirty-seven and isn't getting any younger. We are going to be one of the worst teams in the league next year. I can't believe it. I gave him the benefit of the doubt for his entire tenure with the Devils. I made EVERY excuse in the book for him because I so desperately wanted this team to be successful with him, and this is how he treats the fans?! Good riddance you lazy bum! Go back to Russia so you can just cherry-pick at the blue line and play no defense. We all know that you never fully bought into playing complete hockey with New Jersey. I believed that he was going to turn over a leaf and be different that other Russians before him. Nope, they're all the same (Malkin and Datsyuk notwithstanding). Now, I understand all of the Canadian reporters' disdain towards Russian players. You'd never see a Swede do this. You'd never see a Finn do this. You'd never see a Czech do this. I hope all of the Russian players that actually want to play in the NHL are happy with Kovalchuk. He pretty much killed any chance of any Russian player getting a long-term deal. No team is going to want to commit big money to a player they fear is going to jump ship for an inferior league. We put a ton of resources towards Kovalchuk that it cost us Zach Parise. Now neither of them are on our team! How did we let this happen?! I was planning on burning my Kovalchuk jerseys (yes, plural) last night after I got home from work, but my mom talked me out of it. I'm giving my SKA one away for five bucks, and I'll light up my Devils one once we start using the fireplace at home. This is going to be a long season for this team and the fans.

Let's Take a Step Back Here

Yes, Kovalchuk running away does put the Devils in a huge hole in the short-term. The timing of this could have been better for the team, but a lot of things "coulda, shoulda, woulda" happened here. We can't dwell on that. It happened, and Lou and co. have to figure this one out. Let's look at this from a purely financial standpoint. We all know the Devils aren't the most financially stable team in the world. Kovalchuk's contract was going to be a burden on the back end of it. He was slated to make $56 million in the next five years alone and $77 million over the next twelve years. This helps the Devils financial situation tremendously. You can't say Jeff Vanderbeek isn't privately celebrating this. Only negative to this financially is that any prospective buyer might not inject as much cash as they would have before, but any new owner (that IS NOT looking to move the team) would be better than JVB. The next thing you have to look at the makeup of the team itself. As it stands right now, we seem incredibly devoid of any scoring outside of Patrik Elias. However, one my buddies I interned with at the Devils and I posted a picture that explained the 2003 Cup-winning squad. No player on that team had more than 57 points that year. Yes, it was a full 82-game season. It gave me a ton of perspective on the outlook for next season. I can see this team using this situation as a rallying point throughout the entire season. This team has always played better with a chip on their shoulder. I have no intention of not getting my partial season tickets again. I'm sticking by this team 100%. I just hope Lou is able to do something to make this season not a total disaster. If anyone can get a team out of this mess, it's Lou Lamoriello. I'm sure he's got some tricks up his sleeve. I'm sure if he can convince Mike Gillis to give us Cory Schneider for only our first-round pick this year, he can get Darcy Regier to give us Thomas Vanek without giving up Adam Larsson. I'll be watching very closely to see what Lou has in store for the team and the fans. Whatever happens, I hope it is for the best. LET'S GO DEVILS!

The aforementioned picture. (Photo credit: Zach Antonucci)

Let's See How The Devils Are Doing

So, I decided to change the name of my blog. "Orlando's Overtime" just came to me one day and I really liked it. It makes sense too; I blog about what happens when the games end. Anyway, since the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup, all thirty NHL team have been very busy this offseason. I'm going to key in on the Devils because, to some of my friends, I'm an insider. I'm not, I'd like to be, but I try to stay on top Devils news. Generally speaking, I'm very happy with our offseason moves.

Goaltending

We all know Marty Brodeur isn't getting any younger and that his retirement is coming a lot sooner than every Devils fan would like to admit. We have some younger guys in our pipeline, but nobody is really sure how they are going to pan out. The Devils were mentioned in rumors of just about every goalie on the trading block, which led me to believe Lou was active trying to get a goalie to step in once Marty retires. Then the NHL Draft happened. I was bummed that I couldn't go to the draft because it was at the Prudential Center. The Devils had the 9th pick. Here I am hoping that we don't take defense and take a dynamic scoring winger. On Twitter, I see rumblings of a trade.

Our future. (Photo credit: Google Images)

With us? The 9th pick? No, we're not trading our pick, are we? Then Gary Bettman comes to the podium and announces that we trading the 9th overall pick to Vancouver for Cory Schneider. WHAT?! That's all it took to get Schneider?! Lou Lamoriello strikes again! He absolutely FLEECED Mike Gillis in that deal. All of the sudden, the Devils' situation in net after Marty is clear; Cory Schneider is the future in New Jersey. Sorry Keith Kincaid, Jeff Frazee, Scott Wedgewood, and Maxime Clermont. You guys just weren't cutting it enough for Lou, I guess.

Defense

This offseason for the Devils' defense is going to be defined by training camp. We have a bunch of young guys in our pipeline that look to challenge for a spot on the big club. Regarding the guys already (presumably) on the squad, Henrik Tallinder was traded to Buffalo in a trade that was about as pure of a salary dump as you can have. That's $3.375 million off the books for next season, and it opens up a spot for a young guy to make the team. Good, the Devils can FINALLY start to get younger. Peter Harrold was also re-signed, which I like. Harrold has grown on me, so I'm glad we were able to keep him on board. However, Lou brought back Marek Zidlicky for another year at $3 million. At least I'll have somebody to heckle every single game. I DO NOT like Zidlicky. He's old, he can't play defense, he can barely hold the blueline on the powerplay, and he's good for at least one momentum-killing, bone-headed penalty every game. Lou did make it sound like he's not done revamping the defense, though.

Time for Larsson to step up. (Photo credit: Google Images)

He said that re-signing Zidlicky allowed for some flexibility to make more moves if he had to. What this offseason does signal is that it's time to take the training wheels off of Adam Larsson. Put the guy in the top pairing. Put him on the powerplay next to Kovy. Let him kill penalties. He has the potential to have his number up in the rafters next to Stevens, Daneyko, and Niedermayer. It's time to start giving him opportunity to realize that potential and take his game to the next level.

Forwards

This seems to be where most of the focus is now with the Devils. We were able to lock up Patrik Elias for three more years. At the end up this contract, Elias will have played for the Devils for twenty years, and it will all but assure that he retires playing for only the New Jersey Devils in his career. As I had been saying for the entire season and offseason before it happened, we lost David Clarkson to the Toronto Maple Leafs. They signed him to a seven year deal with an AAV of $5.25 million.

Ryane Clowe (right) will add more toughness. (Photo credit: Google Images)

I love Clarkie, but not at that price. I'm glad the Devils didn't give him that insane contract. To replace Clarkson, we signed Ryane Clowe for five years with an AAV of $4.85 million. This is going to be risky. If he stays healthy, this can be a great deal for us. If the injury bug rears its ugly head, this becomes a very bad contract. We also signed Michael Ryder for two years with an AAV of $3.5 million. I like this signing because Ryder can definitely put the puck in the net, and that was something that the team was missing last year.

Stanley Cup Recap With Some Draft Talk

Congrats to the 'Hawks

Jonathan Toews lifts the Cup. (Photo Credit: Google Images)

The 2013 Stanley Cup Final was a great one! Overtime games, crazy finishes, everything hockey - no, SPORTS - fans ask for in a playoff series. I'm quite proud of picking this series pretty much exactly right. I said Chicago would win Game 1, Boston would win Game 2 and 3, Chicago would finish it off by taking Game 4, 5, and 6. That's what happened, so I'll be waiting for my call from NBC to replace Mike Milbury. The Bruins almost made a liar out of me by taking Game 6, but Chicago has other ideas. I still can't believe that Chicago scored two goals in seventeen seconds to steal the Stanley Cup away from Boston. Now, when I think of the Game 7 collapse by the Devils in 2009, I can always just say to myself, "Well, at least we didn't lose the Cup because of it." I feel like Chicago won the Cup because they have the depth that nobody could match. They were able to roll four lines in every game, and they were all effective unlike most teams that only have about two lines that can make a difference. I can't take anything away from Boston, though. They made this one heck of a series with all of the overtime games and the finishes. The NHL proved that they still have the best and most exciting playoff series of the four major team sports in the U.S.

Devils Off-season Questions

Now that the season is over and the Stanley Cup has a home, I turn my attention to what my Devils need to do to get back to the playoffs and the Final. I'm glad to see that Dainius Zubrus is going to re-sign for three more years. I didn't always like him, but Zub has grown on me. He's consistent; you know exactly what you're going to get from him night in and night out. So, I like that he's coming back and for a decent price too. $3.1 million per year for three years works for me. Now, the next move should be getting Patrik Elias re-signed. This should be a slam dunk. Patty has said he wants to be a career-Devil, so this deal shouldn't take too long to hammer out. I hope Marek Zidlicky gets shown the door. In his prime (which was about a decade ago), he was an average defenseman at best. He's thirty-seven years old, and I've seen my friends that play at Bridgewater Sports Arena hold the blue line better than he can. However, I do think David Clarkson doesn't come back. This free agent class is the worst I can remember because David Clarkson is going to be one of the best free agent's available. He won't get the kind of money in New Jersey that he will be able to command on the open market. I think Clarkson continues the trend of Devils going home and he ends up with the Leafs in Toronto.

In terms of the draft, the Devils need to do one thing with their first-round selection (9th overall), draft a dynamic scoring winger. If I don't see that in our pick's scouting report, we screwed up. We have plenty of young defense, but we have little or no primary scoring outside of Kovalchuck. We have a couple of promising prospects, but we need to fill the farm with some offensive flair. That being said, so many teams can use young defense, and we have plenty of it. There's no reason we shouldn't be kicking the tires on a trade for someone like a Thomas Vanek or Bobby Ryan because we desperately need someone to take the load off of Kovy. In terms of free agents, it almost sounds like a lock that Danny Briere is going to be a Devil next year. If we can squeeze a year or two out of him for a discount, I'll be more than happy with that. With Vinny Lecavalier being bought out, I would LOVE to have him on the Devils, but I don't think we get him. Some big-market team (read: Rangers) will probably overpay for him.

Blockbuster Trade

Real quick, I'm a Nets fan on the low. The trade with the Celtics is nuts. It's like a trade you make in NBA 2k! It will be interesting to see how these guys fit with the Nets. Some die-hard Nets fans that I know don't like this deal, yet others I know couldn't be happier with the deal. I think that at the end of the day, it all comes down to how Jason Kidd makes this work. If he can get the most out of Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett in the twilight of their careers, I think the Nets are going to be a team to watch in the next few years.

The Final Is Set and Timmy Finds a Home

Remember last time how I said I would roast Rutgers on here? Well, I changed my mind. I don't even think it's worth "wasting" a blog post on my embarrassing alma mater. If you know me, you know exactly how I feel. Anyway, onto things worthy of writing about...

Stanley Cup Final Preview

It's finally here! Tomorrow, the battle for sport's greatest trophy begins in Chicago as the Blackhawks host the Boston Bruins, which should be a fantastic series. This was my pick before the playoffs started. So, I'll be waiting for my call from NBC to replace Mike Milbury. It amazing to think that this will be the first time that these two Original 6 teams will face-off for the Stanley Cup. Let me go off on a tangent for a second, though. I couldn't care less that we have an "Original 6 matchup." It doesn't make the hockey any better, and no one that isn't in their late 70s really cares about "Original 6 matchups." So, I don't really understand why everyone is making a huge deal about it. But, I digress...

The first thing that needs to be considered is the old "Rest vs. Rust" argument for Boston. Yes, they swept Pittsburgh in a very impressive manner. Let's be real, though, Pittsburgh is a soft team. It wasn't really a "hard-fought" sweep (if there is such a thing). They've had all of this time off while Chicago has been going into overtime games against LA. Chicago gets the few days off that they needed, but it's not too many that they will ruin their momentum going into this series. If Claude Julien kept his players sharp during this layoff, the time off won't be an issue, but if they falter in Game 1, it will be the first thing the analysts run to to explain the loss.

Next, it will be interesting to see how Boston handles Chicago's depth. Joel Quenneville (former Devil) is able to roll four lines with no problem. He was even doing that in overtime games, so it shows you how much trust he has in his guys. Pittsburgh might have been "deep," but the depth was old superstars passed their prime. Chicago has skill and speed all throughout their lineup (Kane, Toews, Hossa, Sharp, Shaw, Saad, etc.) This will definitely be Boston's biggest challenge yet.

As always when the Stanley Cup Finals come around, goalie match-ups are huge, This is where things even up. Rask and Crawford have been solid all playoffs. Whichever team can break the other goalie first will have the upper hand, and that won't be easy to do. Even since the game against the Rangers when Rask gave up that fluky goal when he fell, he has been a rock in net for Boston. He completely shut down the Penguins that were supposed to have all of this offensive firepower. Crawford was able to help Chicago come back from being down 3-1 to Detroit and thus lead them to the Finals. This is going to be a great, long, tough, hard-fought series. I can't wait for it to start tomorrow!

Prediction: Chicago in 6.

TIMMY!

Unless you live under a rock, or are boycotting all forms of social media, Tim Tebow signed with the New England Patriots. This is one of those things that is shocking, yet not at all surprising. I say that because I didn't think he had a shot at playing this year. But, this is a textbook Bill Belichick move. It's one of those reclamation project he loves oh so much. If Tebow sticks with the Pats, I would love nothing more than to see him score a game-winning touchdown versus the Jets. I was talking with some people yesterday, and we could only figure that Belichick has some crazy plan for Tebow. There's got to be an offensive package that he's cooked up for Tebow that can help him excel. No matter what the rationale behind the move is, it's sure to be a media circus in New England now. Here's to hoping it's a huge distraction!