There is an impressive amount of interesting news out there today. Let’s get to it:
It’s official – Ken Griffey Jr. is a Mariner again. I thought for sure he was going to Atlanta, but it turns out he fooled everyone. The move makes sense for many reasons. First, he’ll finish his career out as a returning hero. He’ll also be on a team that won’t have a lot of pressure for him because expectations won’t be huge. Most significantly, the AL has the DH. That makes so much more sense than Atlanta. It will be fun to watch.
The Chargers franchised Darren Sproles today. I’m only a little surprised. They weren’t going to be happy to see him go, but he’s now pretty expensive for a guy who isn’t built to be an every down back. It also creates a tough situation when it comes to what to do with LaDainian Tomlinson . I would not want to be in A.J. Smith’s shoes right now. My mind might change, but right now I am pretty bearish on the Chargers.
I love the trade the Bulls made. In fact, I think it is a serious steal. There were six players involved, but the basics are that they sent Andres Nocioni and Drew Gooden to the Kings for Brad Miller and John Salmons. I’m not a particular fan of either Nocioni or Gooden , so I’m not sad to see them go. Miller is no superstar, but he’s a true center who can be trusted with as much time as he needs to fill. They lacked that until now. The gem of his deal, though, is Salmons. He’s a very underrated offensive force, and will add a scoring touch to a team that needs to score a lot to make up for their underwhelming offense. If the two players fit in even remotely well then I like the team’s chances of getting up for that last playoff spot. The only downside is that it locks in more salary for the Bulls. I’m okay with that, though – Salmons is as good as a lot of free agents they could get. Vinny Del Negro just has to figure out how to find time for Salmons. I think this will mean that Larry Hughes and Thabo Sefolosha will get splinters in their butts from spending so much time on the bench. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Kirk Hinrich gets dumped away tomorrow. I’d be all for that.
Tyson Chandler is going back to New Orleans because Oklahoma City didn’t pass him in his physical. I didn’t see that coming. The reports are that he had a sprained ankle. Unless it seemed like a chronic problem, I don’t understand why the Thunder wouldn’t take him and be patent. He’s a huge upgrade for the team – a freaking all-star – and it’s not like they need immediate help to make a playoff push or anything. Surely there is something more going on here. But we probably won’t hear what it is.
Stephen Curry sat out for today’s Davidson game and his team got rolled over by The Citadel. They lost by 18, and only scored 46 points. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what happened – the team fell 32 points below their season scoring average, and Curry averages 29 points a game. There is perhaps not a more one dimensional team in the country.
I watched the strangest basketball game I have maybe ever seen today. Penn State beat Illinois 38-33. No, that’s not the first half score. It was strangely compelling for a game that was so stunningly offensively inept. Needless to say, neither team has even played a game like this. Even more strange, Penn State came from way back to close with a late charge. Illinois is supposed to be a good team, but it’s more than a little scary that they took the last quarter of the game off. As a big Big Ten fan I am a little concerned that the two best teams in the conference both lost in the last two days.
Butler lost their second straight, and third in the last six games. None have been against particularly good teams. It looks like their youth and inexperience is catching up to them. Count me as a non-believer.
