Should Pats sign T.O?

By Chad Garner

Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Should the New England Patriots sign wide receiver Terrell Owens?

That's the million dollar question right now.

Well, based on talent alone, the 36-year-old T.O. might just be a good signing.

Or would he be?

Interesting.

If you ask me, there's no substitute for talent, and T.O. adds great value to a Patriots team that is very questionable on the outside since Wes Welker is suppose to miss the beginning of the season after recovering from major knee surgery.

But T.O. also could be a major buzz kill on the field and in the locker room if he's not happy.

A cancer, as they say.

But that's why each NFL organization gets paid big bucks to make difficult decisions.

So it comes down to weighing the talent and need of a team, to how much of a negative the said player could be and how it would effect the chemistry of the team.

I know that we've always heard rumblings of T.O. being a major pain in the rump when he doesn't get the ball enough -- in San Francisco, Philadelphia and Dallas. But last year I don't remember much from him yapping in Buffalo, especially since that team was downright poor and I think he knew that anyway.

He's got a history of showing up his quarterback (remember Donovan McNabb and Tony Romo?), but would he ever consider acting up with Bill Belichick at the helm and Tom Brady as the QB?

I'm guessing no, considering Belichick puts players in a position to succeed, and Brady, with outstanding QB play, also takes care of his receivers when they get open.

Make no mistake about it, if T.O. did come in, he'd have to quickly realize that he's not the No. 1 option (Randy Moss would have a thing or two to say about that).

But from a football standpoint alone, wouldn't Moss and T.O. scare most opposing secondaries?

You're darn right they would.

But I could also see both of them ruining chemistry if they start losing or don't get enough looks in the passing game. So the season could go downhill in a hurry if one or both of those superstars aren't happy.

But Belichick and his staff have been able to turn "problem players" into model citizens (Corey Dillion, Randy Moss are great examples) before, so why couldn't they do the same with T.O., who would obviously look at New England as a spot he could win a championship at.

Go ahead and call me crazy, but I'm in favor -- not 100 percent, however -- of the Pats signing T.O.

There's just something about adding a legitimate weapon in that offense that gets me excited. But the chemistry thing, which can be a little overplayed sometimes, concerns me, too. But if the Pats are winning, not many players stand up and complain. If they do, they look silly doing it.

The question still remains: Will the Patriots land T.O.?

If I'm a betting man, I say I'm folding right away.

There's no way the Pats take that gamble, even though T.O. would be the best No. 2 receiver in the NFL, by far.

Plus, T.O. is pretty arrogant and I don't envision him letting the Pats sign him at a discounted rate. T.O. loves money, and he's going to chase the green while other players try to chase that elusive championship.

So if he's not about team, he's not the right fit here, anyway.

Fantasy Baseball Friday: 2nd half players to have

By Jim Ingram

Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Since most people recognize this weekend to be the "Official" start to the 2nd half of the season, I'll humor them. What I'd like to talk about are the players you need to have on your team to help you make the playoffs. I don't care if you need to grab them off waivers, or make a trade for them. We'll take a look at each position.

Catcher:

Matt Weiters - I know he just went on the DL, but prior to that he'd finally found his swing

Buster Posey - The man has been on fire for three weeks now. Of course he'll slow down, but he'll end up in the top 5 at the position for the 2nd half.

First Base:

Gabby Sanchez - I know the position is deep, but the rookie will certainly help with average and increased power. He's a great fit in deep leagues at both first and utility.

Matt LaPorta - He's eligible at first and outfield, and has been raking since he got recalled. He finally gets a chance to play full time.

Second Base:

Ian Kinsler - Yeah, I know he's a household name, but he missed almost 20 games earlier this year. While some people are worried his average is 20 points higher than his career, I don't. His power numbers are down this year, but I feel it's more of a byproduct of his early season injury. Watch for it to return as the year goes on.

Clint Barnes - he's done a tremendous job replacing Tulo. It's nice that he's eligible at both middle infield positions, and can hit a few homers to boot.

Third Base:

Aramis Ramirez - Have you seen what he's done since coming off the DL. He seems to be back to his former self.

Chipper Jones - I'll probably catch hell for this pick, but he's been hitting for average, .301, and has an .881 OPS the past month. Not tremendous, but definitely valuable.

Short Stop: I really hate the position this year in Fantasy Baseball

Rafael Furcal - He's the only one I'm going to choose for right now. No one has been hotter of late, and he is really showing what he can do when fully healthy.

Outfield:

Carlos Beltran - In case you didn't realize it, he made his season debut last night. If the Mets were smart they'd make Angel Pagan the everyday right fielder.

Carlos Gonzalez - This is the time to prey on the lesser knowledgeable players in your league. I bet there are actually a good amount of people who don't realize how good, and valuable, he is. The man is the 5th ranked Outfielder for fantasy baseball. He hits for average, power, drives in runs and will get you 20 + steals. The only weak part of his game are his walks.

Adam Dunn - This is the year he gets traded by the Nationals. He'll go to a better team, with a deeper lineup. When that happens, his RBI total will increase.

Starting Pitcher:

Gavin Floyd - The kid has been lights out the past month. He's finally back on track and ready to turn his season around.

Max Scherzer - Talk about a man on fire. After his stint in the minors, it looks like he's righted himself. He's won 4 straight decisions allowing 6 runs and averaging 7.6 K's in those 5 starts.

Relief Pitcher:

John Axford - He's the man getting the saves for a bad Brewers team. My guess is someone takes a flyer on Trevor Hoffman at the deadline leaving him with the job for the remainder of the year.

Evan Meek - I look for Octavio Dotel to be moved as well opening up the closer's job for the man who's been great all year.

Race has nothing to do with it, Jesse

By Chris Maza
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

I will put it out there right now. I am not a fan of the NBA. I think of the four major sports, it is the one with the biggest legitimacy problems.

Lebron James' hour long special on ESPN culminated pretty much everything I don't like about the organization and the people in it. I hold Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert's letter to the fans in the same respect. It all seemed like a scene from professional wrestling when they set up the table in the ring and have the wrestler sign the contract for a title fight, then have someone else come down the ramp, steal the microphone and start yelling.

Gilbert's comments were bombastic, ill-advised, inflammatory and at some points unrealistic, but there's one thing they weren't - racist.

Jesse Jackson has crawled out of his hole to make the most unbelievable statements in this whole ordeal - that Gilbert assumed a slave master mentality and talked about James like he would about a runaway slave.

I don't know Gilbert or his politics or his feelings on race relations. When discussing what he had to say about Lebron, I don't need to know because none of that is pertinent to what he wrote in that letter to the fans. Surely Gilbert felt betrayed. He felt scorned. He felt played. That's why he wrote what he wrote. But let's say Lebron was white and did exactly what he just did. Would Gilbert's letter have been phrased any differently? Doubtful.

In addition, it's unreal that Jackson would compare Lebron, who made more money as an employee of the Cavs than Gilbert did as the team's owner and is one of the most highly-paid United States citizens, to someone who was actually OWNED by someone else, paid nothing, given no rights and forced to work under the absolute harshest of conditions with the alternative being death.

I am not dismissing the fact that slavery has had a ringing effect on the country and that equal rights were not achieved until a very short while ago. Rather, I'm saying that Lebron is probably the last person that should be called a poster boy for racial inequality and the fact that he is being compared to a slave actually is a slap in the face to anyone who has had to deal with real hardship. Comparing Lebron's situation to racism is basically making a mockery of the suffering that anyone who was a slave faced.

Lebron had a choice of where he was going to go and how many millions of dollars he was going to make to play a game, which is his right, a right that a slave, obviously, would not even have concept of. Gilbert had a right, too. That was the right to say what he really thought of Lebron, and it was a right he exercised. And while it may not have been the most eloquent letter ever penned, surely most people could at least see why he might write it.

He didn't write it because he felt Lebron was his property. He wrote it because of the way Lebron went about announcing his decision, that the guy who had given Lebron over $62 Million over the past seven years had to sit in front of his television and find out whether or not he'd have the pleasure of paying him another ungodly amount of money. He was insulted.

Jackson is so far from being relevant anymore largely because he is so hung up on race that he can't see that not every interaction between a white person and a person of color has a negative racial connotation. Every time the very deep wound caused by slavery and continued racism begins to heal, Jackson feels the need to take out the forceps and spread it wide open again. Any rational person sees that Gilbert was not saying James was his slave. Jackson, however, is not a rational person and that's why everyone of every color should take his words as nothing more than the ramblings of a lunatic.

Swish vs. Youk debate

By Chad Garner

Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

OK, I get it. Most Red Sox fans know their team inside and out, but don't know much about the rest of Major League Baseball.

Another example of that theory stems from the All-Star debate concerning Boston's own Kevin Youkilis and New York Yankees' Nick Swisher.

In case you've been living under a rock, Swisher was voted into the All-Star Game by the fans. Yes, fans throughout the country.

I'm not even going to sit here and say Youk didn't deserve to be an All-Star because he did. Currently, the Boston first baseman is hitting .294 with 18 HRs and 57 RBIs with an OPS of .992. Yes, those are All-Star numbers.

But Swisher also deserves to go, especially considering this is far and away his best season and he's probably never going to go back to the All-Star Game. Anyway, Swish has the credentials, too, with a .304 batting average, 14 HRs, 48 RBIs and a .910 OPS.

It's tough to say one guy was going to have to stay home and watch the game on television, but the fans had the final say and they elected the Yankees' outfielder, not Youkilis.

Boston fans need to pipe down and stop ripping on how Swisher's not worthy. They also need to realize there's a lot of talent in MLB, more than just guys that wear a Boston uniform.

I don't care about Lebron James

By Jim Ingram

Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

In case you hadn't heard, "King James" is in negotiations with ESPN (man I hate that channel) to air a one hour special Thursday night so he can announce where he will sign. Who does Lebron James think he is? The last time I checked, he was just a basketball player. He isn't a doctor, or scientist who heals the sick or helps cure cancer. He isn't a teacher who helps educate the youth. He is just a man born with great athletic ability who can play basketball.

Don't get me wrong, I am a huge sports fan. It just bugs me that someone who plays a game can hold this much influence over people. While he seems like a decent guy, much better than many athletes, he's not the type of person I want as a role model for my sons. It's not his fault either. I blame the public because they're mostly sheep and buy into these stars as demigods.

Realistically, not one "expert" out there knows where he's going to sign. Personally, my best guess is he returns to Cleveland, and is hailed as the savior of a hard luck city. The thing most people forget is he has not won ANYTHING in the NBA yet. Luckily for him he's only 26, and has 7 years of experience under his belt. Unfortunately for him, none of that helped when he stuck head in the sand against the Celtics this post season. If he does get his special aired on ESPN tomorrow night I will not be tuning in. After all, his team still isn't going to be better than the Celtics, Magic or the Heat.

Rant over. What do you think?

The All-Underrated Team - National League

By Chris Maza
Fan Fanatic Sports

As promised, here is the National League's All-Underrated Team. Remember - these are not necessarily guys who should have been voted in, but merely guys who have done work for their teams and deserved to at least pick up a significant number of votes.

C - Miguel Olivo. Olivo doesn't qualify for the batting title yet because he spent the beginning of the year splitting time with Chris Ianetta, but that should make his numbers even more impressive. Olivo's .301 average, 39 RBI and .901 OPS are better than all of the five top vote getters in the NL and his 11 homers are more than anyone except Rod Barajas at the position.

1B - James Loney. Loney will never be a big power numbers guy, but he's a great defensive first baseman who has driven in just about as many runs as anyone in the fan voting without the benefit of the long ball. No first baseman that made the top-5 has as many hits or doubles.

2B - Kelly Johnson. Johnson has cooled off, but in the early-going, he was one of the hardest guys at his position to pitch to. Even despite some recent struggles, Johnson ranks third in homers among NL second basemen and his OPS is comparable to everyone on the list.

3B - Ryan Zimmerman. Zimmerman has 14 homers and while 44 RBI isn't outstanding, it's pretty good considering his team has a problem getting on base.

SS - None. Other than Troy Tulowitzki, Jose Reyes and Hanley Ramirez, no one really deserved votes in the NL. The rest of the pack was all remarkably unremarkable.

OF - Carlos Gonzalez/Chris Young. Seeing as the NL doesn't have the DH, I've decided to pick two guys for this spot. Both Young and Gonzalez could flirt with 30-30 seasons this year while currently ranking second (Young) and fourth (Gonzalez) in RBI. Young has also played some pretty good center field, recording six assists, including five double plays from the outfield. Gonzalez has yet to make an error, while splitting time between all three outfield positions (43 games in center, 20 in left, 19 in right).

The All-Underrated Team - American League

By Chris Maza
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Well, the MLB All-Star teams have been announced and looking at the fan voting, it's clear a lot of fans haven't been paying attention. So here's my 2010 MLB All-Underrated list. Mind you, these are not all guys who I think should necessarily be winning the voting, but guys who seemed to be totally overlooked.

Let's begin with the American League.

C - Mike Napoli. Napoli isn't the sexiest catcher out there, but he's got more homers than any other American League catcher and the highest OPS among those qualified for the batting title at that position, in front of Victor Martinez and Joe Mauer. Taylor Teagarden (currently in AAA after batting .037) and Gerald Laird (.190-2-13) are in the top-5, but Napoli isn't even considered.

1B - Paul Konerko. Konerko is currently outside of the top-5 in fan voting despite hitting 20 homers (tied for first in the AL) and 57 RBI (second). Mark Teixiera and his 13 homers, 51 RBI, .790 OPS and .230 batting average are in second place in fan voting, yet this guy's not even in the conversation? Oh, by the way, he's also a good fielder with a zone rating better than Justin Morneau and a range factor better than Teixiera (all three have one error this season).

2B - Mike Aviles. This was a tough one because the voters have this one pretty much spot on in my opinion. If anyone does deserve to be in the top-5 in voting, it should be Mike Aviles and that's simply because Ben Zobrist has been playing the outfield primarily this season. Since his return to Kansas City Aviles is batting .319 and is once again starting to look like the spark plug the Royals thought they found in 2008.

3B - Jose Bautista. He's batting just .229, but he STILL has a better OPS than leader Evan Longoria, Michael Young and Alex Rodriguez. With 21 homers, he's just two shy of tying the total of the guys sitting in second and third combined. He's not just up there hacking, either. His 50 walks are tops among AL third basemen as well.

SS - Marco Scutaro. Ok, this is where people start calling me a homer. But hey, the guy stepped into the shoes of one of the best leadoff hitters around these days in Jacoby Ellsbury and everyone shuddered, including me. But he's been impressive, batting .284 with the third-best OPS amongst AL shortstops as a catalyst for a Red Sox offense that is scoring more runs than anybody, despite a makeshift lineup.

OF - Alex Rios. Rios is on pace to steal close to 50 bases while hitting between 25 and 30 homers and you're telling me he's not deserving of being even one of the top-15? He's fourth among AL outfielders in OPS and has been one of the best fielding center fielders in the league.

DH - Jose Guillen. Vlad deserved to run away with the votes in this category, but the fact that Ken Griffey, Jr. got more votes than Guillen is just ridiculous. Sure, Guillen's a head case, but you can't deny that he's on pace to knock in 100 runs for one of the worst teams in the league.

National League coming soon...