high expectations

For a decade the niners were terrible. They had no leadership. Had no stars and had a rotating door of coordinators, coaches and one and done free agents. Than Jim harbaugh was signed  turned a morbid offense into an intelligent well run efficilent offense led by Alex smith. In his first year the nineers went to the NFC championship game. Next year super bowl appearance and third year NFC championship game. This year the expectations were extremely high. Kaps third year, revamped offense, solid defense and favorable schedule all were reasons to believe this was finally the year they won their 6th championship. A string of injuries to star players, questionable play calling, poor play and locker room drama ends with the niners at 8-8, coachless and future unknown. What's the point of this post? For a decade I had nothing but low expectations for this team and after having high hopes for this year only to see them unfulfilled it leaves a weird feeling in my stomach. Haven't felt it for awhile. What is it?

My ballot

I'm about to start getting busy with other things, so in that theoretical parallel universe where I stuck with the journalism career track, leveraged the sports background into a reporting gig, wound up in a position that qualified me to weigh in on these things, and gave me enough credibility that some people actually care about my thoughts, my 2015 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot would be:

Randy Johnson 

Pedro Martinez 

John smoltz

Edgar Martinez 

Craig biggio

Mike piazza

Tim Raines 

Curt schilling

Jeff bagwell 

Mike mussina

Just off: Barry bonds and roger Clemens. Not a priority on this ballot, though if I had more space I'd have no problem voting for them. But I also couldn't vote for one and not the other. Alan trammel is also close, without the complications. 

Kent y Delgado

Anybody think Jeff Kent or Carlos Delgado should be in? I feel like there was a lot of talk toward the end of Kent's career about how he was qualified, but I'm not sure I was ever really convinced. Obviously he provided a lot of offense (in every sense of that word) for a few years, but that seemed to be his only distinguishing feature, and even that seemed overvalued. Delgado strikes me as one of those guys who pretty much gets dismissed (well, maybe overlooked is a better word) because he didn't provide the overwhelming numbers some other sluggers did, but who was nonetheless very good for a decent amount of time. I suspect we'll all agree these guys were good players who aren't Hall of Famers, but maybe somebody has a more interesting argument to make.

Bryan Bulaga is not a whale

I tried to post this in the first half, but the website wouldn't let me for some reason.  David Diehl is the color guy for the Packers vs. Bills broadcast, and he has repeatedly called Bryan Bulaga "Bryan Beluga."  Mark Schlereth used to do this a lot.  I haven't heard Diehl say it since the first quarter.  This is how I imagine the conversation with the producers went:

Producer:  "Mr. Diehl, his name is pronounced 'Bulaga'"

Diehl: "That's what I said: Beluga

Producer: "No, no.  'Bu-la-ga'"

Diehl:  "That's what I freaking said! Beluga! Don't make me punch you.

Producer:  "My mistake sir, please just refer to him by his number from now on."  Shakes head.

Being cynical

Ah yes, the article about how great athletes' preparation is what keeps them great through what used to be their declining years. Haven't we seen these kinds of discussions in some other sport before? [I was looking for similar on Bonds and Rodriguez, but couldn't find them and I'm busy--we all know they're out there.]

No, I have no evidence, and I'm not really that suspicious--Peyton is doing the same thing, and I think it all has more to do with officiating and league rules and schematic changes anyway. But I'm cynical, so I have to toss it out there.

Love watching Drew Brees suck

Drew Brees loves the camera.  He lost me as a fan during the lockout when he got in front of the camera at every opportunity to word-vomit nearly every thought that came to mind. So much fun to watch the Panthers make him loo terrible.