Crishad's MLB Blowout

Hello ladies and gentlemen. As the Joker would say "We are tonight's entertainment!" Or in my case, this week's entertainment. I meant to start this yesterday, but I've been a little bit busy dealing with some things. Anyways, baseball starts on Sunday. It's incredibly hard to believe, but spring is around the corner and soon we'll be sitting on a deck somewhere having a couple of beers and discussing who should win the MVP and Cy Young awards again. Anyways, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to preview each division in baseball post by post and include a preview of the Brewers and Twins. I will also give my predictions for the 2009 season including MVP, Cy Young, and Rookie of the Year awards. Oh yeah, I'm going to give you some ammo this week. So here's what I have so far:

3/31 - NL East and NL West previews

4/1 - AL East Preview

4/2 - AL West Preview

4/3 - NL Central Preview and Brewers preview

4/4 - AL Central Preview and Twins Preview

4/5 - Predictions and PLAY BALL!

So there you have it. I hope to get both the NL East and West previews up later tonight so keep checking the blog or my Facebook page as I'll get them up there as soon as I write them. Take care kiddies!

March Madness Part 1

This weekend is the greatest weekend of the year. You can't tell me otherwise. The opening weekend of the NCAA tournament has to be the most exciting sports event ever. That includes the Super Bowl and the Minnesota State Hockey Tournament (don't knock it until you try it my friend). So I bet you're wondering just how the biggest sports fan on the planet celebrates this weekend. Well, you're in luck as I've chronicled the first two days of my TV experience.

Thursday 11:00: Turn the TV over from Sportscenter to find...the news? Seriously, anyone who is watching at this moment cares about one thing. Basketball and money. The anchor is also very amusing. She makes Hannah Storm look like Morgan Freeman.

Thursday 11:15: Opening tip off. BYU takes on Texas A&M. They show a BYU player shooting a free throw and then zoom to the crowd where they show his 8 wives and 19 children.

Thursday 12:10: John Calapari recruits two things. Good Athletes and good students...in that order. Actually they forgot that he recruits absolute dumbasses as well. If you can't get up for any tournament game, you should be shot. I don't care if it's Cal State Northridge. Wake up for God sake!

Thursday 12:23: I need milk to make my Pasta Roni, but everything in the fridge is expired. Must jump into the car and speed down West Johnson St. to get it before the end of the game.

Thursday 12:34: Got back just in time to see Memphis finally pull away from CSUN. I'm still mind boggled by the fact this game was that close. It just proves how much Memphis sucks.

Thursday 1:30: 4-0...let's keep this going.

Thursday 4:00: Really, there's nothing to be concerned about yet, I'm 7-0 going on 8-0

Thursday 6:15: Now 8-0, the Gophers begin.

Thursday 7:30: AJ Abrams starts to torch the Gophers. I think about the supposed pure shooter for the Gophers Blake Hoffarber. I guess he should just shoot from his ass more. Either that or lodge the ball up his ass and fire it out towards the rim. Blake, please don't shoot anymore...enjoy the pine next year!

Thursday 7:45: Now pounding beers, my roomate wants a pizza but I inform him that I have no money and just popped some kettle korn. Sweet and drunkeness...always a good decision.

Thursday 8:20: Leave it to the Gophers to end the perfect bracket dream. More importantly, the pizza deal has been work out. Crishad gives up three Buffalo Chicken Strips for some Pugs Pizza. Experts call the trade delicious.

Thursday 11:15: After nearly collapsing UCLA survives against VCU. Then Illinois comes back to lose to Western Kentucky by 5. Oh by the way, did you know that Kentucky is missing the tournament for the first time since 1991? Gee, guess Tubby wasn't so bad after all huh? (14-2 after day 1)

Friday 11:00: The Black Hannah Storm reads the news on WCCO. I guess Obama couldn't compete in the Special Olympics. Officials were infuriated. Probably because if our president gave full effort in those games, he'd shatter the Special Olympics record books. Oops...I went there.

Friday 12:15: Is NDSU seriously going to beat Kansas? My cinderella may come true!

Friday 1:15: Fuck Kansas. Seriously, if I ever saw Bill Self, I would punch him in his face. I watch wrestling and I know how to do it.

Friday 1:25: I want to seriously know where Myron Eaton lives. Either that or the dumbass that was guarding him.

Friday 3:00: Pitt is suffering from Memphis syndrome. Come to play or don't come at all. I almost wish ETSU actually beat them.

Friday 8:15: GOD HE KICKED HIS HEAD OFF...THAT WAS AWESOME...Hey I have to watch Smackdown...leave me alone.

Friday 9:05: Another 4-0 session. My record currently stands at 10-2 for the day and 24-4 for the tournament.

Friday 10:55: Wisconsin wins, too bad Wake Forest got blown out by Cleveland State.

Friday 11:15: Sienna down by 1...stop the ball...STOP THE BALL...WTF??? 26-6 after two days.

Yeah that got pretty lengthy, but I'll post again on Sunday about the second round. So far today I'm 2-0 about to be 3-0. That means a 29-6 record potentially with three sweet 16 teams eliminated. So I guess that means 29-9 but oh well, things are looking up.

Vikings Need Cutler

Throughout my life, the Minnesota Vikings have played musical quarterbacks. Since my birth in 1986 the Vikings have used Tommy Kramer, Wade Wilson, Rich Gannon, Jim McMahon, Warren Moon, Brad Johnson, Jeff George, Daunte Culpepper, Brad Johnson again, Tarvaris Jackson, and Gus Frerotte with special guest appearances by the likes of Spergeon Wynn and Todd Bouman. It's apparent that the Vikings have not had a franchise quarterback since Fran Tarkenton was scrambling around the field in the 70's. However, the clouds may have parted, the heavens may have opened, and Jay Cutler may be there for the taking. Dear Rick Speilman, MAKE THIS MOVE!

Just showing that previous list makes it painfully obvious that the Vikings have had one philosophy over the past 22 years, find a quarterback who won't lose the game. The Vikings have had enough weapons around the quarterback over the years such as Cris Carter, Randy Moss, Robert Smith, and most recently Adrian Peterson, where they could rely on that strategy. After all, before Culpepper took the starting job in 2000, then Vikings coach Dennis Green famously told Daunte that he was handing him the keys to a bus and all Daunte had to do was drive the bus. However, recently that strategy is the one that's holding the Vikings back from what the fans want: a Super Bowl championship.

That's where Jay Cutler comes in. Cutler is a quarterback with a very promising future. He threw for 4,500 yards last season with 25 touchdowns and 18 interceptions. Yeah, the interceptions are high, but this is only his third season in the league. Besides, Cutler's most valuable asset to the Vikings may be his mentality. I may be right with a bunch of Vikings fans when I say that I want to see a quarterback come on to the field late in a game with his weapons struggling and go into "I'm going to win this game and raise holy hell in the process" mode. (It's a mode that coincidentally Adrian Peterson also has.) Yes, Cutler has not won a playoff game and yes, he blew a three game division lead with three games to go last season. However, he's the quarterback the Vikings need.

Do you want further proof? Cutler ran a version of the West Coast offense in Denver under Mike Shanahan. This is an offense that is very similar to Brad Childress's Kick Ass offense. The KAO is a perfect fit for Cutler and we have weapons that are good enough to propel Cutler to the next level. Peterson in the backfield, Bernard Berrian and a healthy Sidney Rice (and maybe even Tory Holt too) catching his passes, and "The Flash" Visthante Shiancoe at tight end. The stars are aligning for his arrival.

So with all of that, I want Rick Spielman to give up the farm if he has to for Cutler. This is going to be the difference between 10-6 and a one and done playoff situation and 13-3 with a conference championship appearance.  I hope that one day, like I alluded to earlier, some Packer fan will get down on his knees and say a little prayer and at that moment the clouds will part, the heavens will open, and as fear rolls through their body, tears roll down their cheek, and piss rolls down their legs they will see this across the ticket "Vikings trade for QB Jay Cutler."