Big Derf Sports is Back!

Welcome back to blog loyal readers.

As I explained via my twitter(@bigderfsports), my old laptop was having major problems and had fallen off from inconvenient to outright unusable for writing.  That forced me to put the blog into a hibernation of sorts for a while while I was saving up for a new laptop.  My pimp new HP dv6 Laptop came in last week and is a dream to use and type on, and I spent a week getting it generally set up and just plain playing with it before I decided that it was time to bring back the blog today.  I've spent far too long not getting my opinion out there.

While the NBA is in season now, I'm primarily going to focused on gearing up for the NFL off-season and the Fantasy Baseball season.  I've got a few large scale plans in mind for this baseball season, led by the return of last year's daily spot starting pitching column, as well as in depth looks at different fantasy strategies throughout the year.

I'll also be rolling out plenty of NFL off-season coverage, including rapid reactions to player movement and fantasy analysis at every step.  Last season I endeavored to touch on all 32 teams throughout the off-season and that proved too much, so this year I'm going to instead try to take a look player movement through a more case by case lens, including the obvious Peyton Manning column at some point.

Not that I'm going to be leaving the NBA alone, I'm just going to be covering it from a different angle.  I'm admittedly not an NBA expert, and have been following the NBA for much longer than I've actually been watching games, so unlike with the NFL, my on-court analysis is going to be basically non-existent.  Instead I'm going to take on the NBA from much more casual angle, likely saving my "analysis" for raving or complaining about my Knicks (yeah I'm still a homer).

Also, despite this being Big Derf Sports, you'll likely also see at least a handful of television columns on the horizon, as that is my other big love, and I doubt I'll be able to stay quiet about it for too long.

Thanks in advance for reading.

-Fred "Big Derf" Tobin

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Possible Consequences Of The NBA Lockout

Last week we heard from Big Derf Sports' own Alex "Skillet" Scarlett about his ideas for solving the NBA lockout problem. Today we have a column here from guest writer Scott Zimms that does a great job of summing up how we got to this lockout, and the effects it might have if it continues.....

Best&Worst: Best Divisions in Sports

I like lists. They're neat and organized. So I decided to start doing a Best&Worst segment (nothing set, just as often as I want) which will either count down the 5 Best, 5 Worst, or both of a specific topic. The first one is "Divisions in Sports", in case you couldn't read the title, and this first article is the top 5. Since I find this topic interesting and it's the first of the segment I will be posting a Worst 5 soon. This list takes a look at success/talent/competitiveness in the past decade, with extra emphasis on the most recent season. Enjoy and feel free to tell me how wrong you think I am.

Spread The Wealth

This is the first article here by the new writer here at Big Derf Sports, Alex Scarlett. He's going to be the new second writer here and hopefully will be posting more than once a day just like I do.

Rather than overintroduce him, I'll let him be himself when he has posting privileges. For now, right onto his column...

Daily Links For 4/1/11

Just a quick pair of links today.  Running late for work.

John Hollinger Murders Derrick Rose's MVP Candidacy (Link ESPN Insider Only) - I don't like stepping on the toes of my links too much usually, but since this one is insider only I'm gonna.  Hollinger out right destroys the idea that D-Rose should be MVP.  First, he goes back and rips the Nash and Iverson MVPs and Jason Kidd's 2001 MVP candidacy as all about the story.  He shows how all of those guys had better years in other years but received no MVP support in their better years because there was no story.  Derrick Rose's candidacy is all about the story and the improvement of the Bulls from last year and that they have been good in spite of all their injuries.  But that doesn't make him the MVP.  His team doesn't get as much worse when he leaves the floor as the Heat do when LeBron sits or the Magic do when Dwight Howard sits.  And their defense, their league best defense, actually gets better when he comes off the floor.  Hollinger comes to the conclusion that Rose is definitely not the MVP and Dwight Howard is the clear cut MVP and I'd have to agree with him.

Bill Simmons Breaks Down The NBA Season - Simmons wrote an 800 page basketball bible... So when he writes about the season itself, you should take a look at it.  This link is to part one of his two part review.  He power ranks all the non-contenders in this column as the look for the future.

Daily Links For 3/31/11

NBA Investigating Jay-Z - Jay-Z Was in the University of Kentucky locker room after their win over North Carolina and there are photos and video to prove it.  As a part owner of the Nets, Jay-Z should know better than that and I'm betting he does.  However, I think that Jay-Z, like everyone else, just doesn't care about the NCAA.  Because he's not an athlete, the NCAA can't really punish him and the NBA has already set a precedent of just fining executives for smoozing up to college players.  Jay-Z can afford to pay a fine or two.  The NBA should make an example out of him or someone for this kind of activity, whether it's a draft penalty or something else it shouldn't be just a fine.

Wilpons Continue To Try And Sell Part of The Mets - The Wilpons need to come back to reality.  Everyone knows that the Mets aren't doing too well financially...No one is going to buy part of the team from them if it's not a majority share.  It'd basically be a sunk cost to give the Wilpons the money for a minority share of the team.  You're just buying in to the ability to lose money with the Wilpons.  And everyone knows that the Wilpons absolutely need to get capital.   Each time you hear about what the Wilpons are willing to sell, the share gets bigger and bigger.  If investors just wait it out they know they'll be able to eventually work out a deal for a majority share of the team and likely get it at a good price as the Wilpons will be desperate.

Warren Moon angry about Cam Newton's treatment - Warren feels that people's dislike of Cam Newton stems from the fact that Newton is a black man playing quarterback.  That is crazy.  It has nothing to do with the fact that he is black.  Newton has proven himself a bad character guy.  He had problems at Florida before transferring.  He not only stole a laptop but was also caught cheating three times.  That is a red flag.  At the Combine, before he's played a NFL down, he was calling himself an entertainer and icon and talking about himself in the third person.  That is a red flag.  It's not because he's black, it's because he has shitty character.  Moon brought up the fact that people had seemed to get over their racial bias after JaMarcus Russell went first overall, but JaMarcus had horrible character and was not a hard worker off the field which is why he failed.  Teams don't want to draft Newton for his amazing potential and have the same thing happen with Newton that happened with Russell.

Pegged Cap was NFL Players Idea - The NFLPA was complaining about the NFL's cap offers and the fact that anything over the predetermined cap would be going mostly into the owners pockets...But as it turns out the pegged cap was the players idea.  It makes sense.  The pegged cap protects the players if the NFL ends up falling short of revenue projections.  It gets them a guaranteed cap set point even if the NFL itself isn't making money.  But because they are getting that, they shouldn't be complaining about the NFL getting more of the money over projections.  If the players want that protection from the NFL not making enough revenue, the NFL owners should get some sort of compensation for offering that protection, and that should be the owners getting a greater share of the money over projections.

Chad Pennington Tears ACL in Basketball Game - Only news because Pennington is such a class act.  He's a guy who has come back from injury after injury and was working his way back from another shoulder injury when this happened.  He's likely to miss the whole 2012 season, and is expected not to come back after that.  Hopefully he catches on as a coach somewhere next year if he's not going to be playing.  Too smart a player to end his relationship with football just because he won't be playing.

Daily Links for 3/16/11

Jalen Rose Is Ignorant - He called black players that go to Duke 'Uncle Tom's.  Because Duke didn't recruit lower class black athletes, that means to him that the Black players that went there were being subservient to white folks.  WHAT?!?  And be sure you watch the video there.  Skip Bayless offers Jalen Rose about 10 opportunities to step back from what he said and Jalen doesn't.

And Grant Hill Called Him Out For It - Grant manages to both take the high road by not attacking Jalen back AND make his point amazingly well at the same time.

Oh... And So Did Jason Whitlock - Some people say Whitlock bases all of his columns on the fact that he is black and that it somehow makes him a bad writer.  Personally, I see a smart man who knows that his fellow white columnist would be definitely be considered racist if they say what he says.  He covers things in a unique  way and a unique perspective.  It makes him a must read in my book.

NFL Competition Committee To Ruin Kickoffs - They want to move the kicker up to the 35 yard line and make Kick off touchbacks come out to the 25 instead of the 20.  I understand that players get injured at a high rate on Kick offs, but they are one of the most exciting plays in the game as they are now and you get them after every score.  This change is going to end up making there be fewer returns and fewer returns will mean less kick off injuries overall, but I highly doubt the rate of injuries per return will go down.  Kickers will try to kick the ball higher and pin opponents deep on short returns rather than boot it out and let the other team have it at the 25.

Football Outsiders CB Charting Stats - Always good to have charting stats for Cornerbacks but I'd take them with a grain of salt for now.  I don't think the charting numbers account for pressure on the quarterback influencing throws and have asked them for clarification.  Just based on my own eyes I didn't feel like Cromartie had remotely that good a year and feel like the pressure on the QBs may have made his numbers look better than he actually looked in coverage.

EDIT: Late Addition - Jason Whitlock Podcast With Dan LeBatard - Awesome Podcast about LeBatard's writing and his ability to connect with athletes.  This quote is of him telling a story as told to him by Terrell Owens - "This is what Terrell told me 'Do you know how i found out who my father was? I was in my grandmothers caged front yard... My grandmother was always drinking and wouldn't let me leave the front yard. And i found out who my father was because i had a crush on the girl across the street and he came over and said 'Hey you can't have a crush on that girl... Thats your sister.''"  You never think about shit like that when it comes to a guy like Terrell.  You think he's crazy and shit but you never think about how he grew up and how he became the Terrell Owens he is today.

Lockout? No Chance - Why the NFL Will Have a New CBA By March 4th

There will be football next year. Neither side is willing to admit it, but both the NFL Owners and the NFAPA know that a deal is going to get done on time.  There is too much money on the table for this to not work out and the owners know that the players can't afford to not come to the negotiating table.  The players union knows that it is going to agree to the deal in the end, but the union also knows that it's better for them to wait until March 3rd to finally agree.

How can I say all of that with certainty?  I've done the research and connected the dots that no one is talking about.  Rather than harp over what the Union and Owners say every day, I've gone back and looked at the current expiring CBA to understand why the Owners opted out to begin with.  

People believe the NFL and the Union are fighting over stuff they really aren't as concerned with.  The eighteen game season is something the players aren't happy about, but it will add in the end add cash to their pockets.  It's not the line in the sand people would have you believe it is.  Also unimportant is the debate over the proposed rookie salary scale, as the players and owners alike agree that the rookie salaries are out of control.

So what is the arguing really about?  Cash, obviously.  The owners did a bad job negotiating the last agreement and haven't been making enough money.  The players, I'm sure, know that the last CBA doesn't work but aren't going to just freely give the money back to the owners.

First Blog Post.

I've spent years of my life talking about sports nonstop and being told that I should write about them.  Whether or not that's just because people were sick of hearing me is debatable but either way I'm writing now.  This is going to be a sports blog that mostly just covers the three major sports... Basketball, Baseball, and of course the Mac Daddy that is Football.  I will not be covering Hockey or Soccer here as they don't really excite me... at all.  There will probably be an MMA post or two on occasion and I'll likely use this space as a place where I can sound off if I feel the need to on anything pop-culture/real world related.  Also the simple layout of the blog will remain that way for now.  I'm going for readability at the moment though if anyone wanted to volunteer to spruce this space up I wouldn't argue.  Also plan on putting together a podcast of some sort once I figure out what to talk about and possibly find someone to talk with.

Also be sure to follow me on twitter @bigderfsports (www.twitter.com/bigderfsports) where you'll get links to all my updates here plus whatever I think of thats 140 characters or less to talk about.

And stay tuned right here for NFL Divisional Playoff previews which I'll start posting later today.