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You are browsing the archives of 2009 April.

Three years ago, Mel Kiper predicted that Georgia’s incoming freshman quarterback, Matthew Stafford, would eventually become the first overall pick of the NFL. And with the 2009 draft concluded, and the Lions selecting Stafford No. 1 overall, it may take another 3 years to remove the smug grin from the face of ESPN’s draft guru. Although Kiper only managed to pick 8 of 32 first round players successfully, he’s using Stafford as the basis of his draft genius, and now points his all seeing eye towards the 2012 draft. With another bold prediction of the future

So, I’m in the barbershop getting a haircut yesterday, and something tells me to glance up at the TV that stays locked on ESPN. On the bottom line scrolls the words, “Nets to retain Lawrence Frank as head coach”. At this point, I wanted to shake my head in disgust, but decided to stay still for the sake of my haircut. But enough of that. Let’s get down to it.

With the 44th pick in the 2009 NFL Draft, the Miami Dolphins select Pat White, quarterback, West Virginia. For the 3rd time in as many years, the Dolphins drafted a quarterback with a second round pick, but this year’s pick is a little different. This is Pat White. The fleet footed winner from Daphne, Alabama. While many embrace the move, others begin to question the move and along with it is the talk of, “What happens..

Boston Red Sox veteran John Smoltz, still recovering from June shoulder surgery, will avoid batting practice (again) this Thursday. In fact, he’ll likely sit out of all baseball-related activities for the next week or so, according to manager Terry Francona. The 41-year-old righty, who signed with the 14-7 Sox in January after 20 seasons with the Atlanta Braves — we still don’t get that — is scheduled to rejoin the team on May 6th when they return home from a nine-game road trip. Maybe he’ll even pitch for them someday.

Alex Rodriguez could return to the New York Yankees lineup a little sooner than initially expected this season… which is a good thing, since I totally picked him to be the American League MVP this Spring. I may or may not have been under the influence, but I stand by my pick. According to Dr. Marc Philippon, the doc who operated on his hip back in March, Rodriguez could be back in pinstripes as soon as ten days from now. Dr. Philippon even watched the three-time American League MVP work out on Wednesday at the Yankees minor league complex and said..

For those of you who didn’t listen to SJ Radio tonight (but you can HERE), shame on you!
Seriously, though. Here are the results of the FIRST SJ Mock Draft Contest:
1. Oblong Biscuits - 20 points (wins tiebreaker)
2. Mark - 20 points
3. JohnQ - 20 points (only had partial tiebreaker)
4. [...]

If you want a guy to feel enormous amounts of pressure, try giving him $41.7M guaranteed bucks before he’s taken one NFL snap. Oh, I almost forgot, the notoriously terrible Detroit Lions did give their #1 draft pick, Matthew Stafford, that type of loot. Am I bitter he got millions before he’s played one NFL game?

Philadelphia Phillies ace Cole Hamels, who I just traded for in my Fantasy Pros 911 Writers League (this was literally his first start on my roster) has sprained his ankle. So yeah. Thanks for that. The lefty exited Tuesday night’s game against the horrible Washington Nationals in the fifth inning after he appeared to have snagged his metal cleat while trying to field a John Lannan bunt. This marks the second straight start in which the reigning World Series MVP left early

First off, after 105 races and 16 seasons, spanning from 1990, Owner James Finch got his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win, with rookie driver Brad Keselowski. Drivers that have gotten top 10s for James Finch include Geoffrey Bodine (2) in 2002, Mike Wallace (4) in 03, 04, 07, Johnny Sauter (1) in 2005 and Brad Keselowski (1) this weekend at Talladega.

I’m seriously beginning to wonder where the Washington Nationals get off thinking they have what it takes to be in the major leages. The one area of the game where they’ve really excelled as a team is handing the opposition three-game winning streaks, which is incredibly generous, but not cool if you’re a Nationals fan. At times this season, it seems as though they can’t even spell their team’s name correctly, let alone swing a bat and field a baseball. Hanging out in the dark, creepy basement of the National League East, the Nationals are sitting 6.5 games behind the division-leading Florida Marlins (whose bandwagon I’ve pretty much abandoned this week)