The Terrible Podcast - Episode 40 (2/25) A Preview of the Combine

In Part 1 of Episode 40 we start by discussing the state of negotiations between the NFLPA and management. Let's just say things don't look good. We then discuss the return of Bruce Arians, the various Steelers who have gone under the knife and the history of cornerbacks drafted by the Steelers in the past ten years.

In Part 2 we discuss Kevin Colbert's comments from the combine in Indianapolis and his thoughts on Willie Colon and Ike Taylor among others. We then take an in-depth look at what goes on at the combine which started today. We close by answering three great questions from listeners.

Hope you enjoy it and thanks for listening.

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Smorgasbord: A Tiger, A Baron, Some Cardinals and Penguins

*Tiger Woods lost yesterday in the first round of the Accenture Match Play Championship continuing his string of disappointing play. The Masters is only seven weeks away. I'll bet the public will still make Tiger the betting favorite and while I'm not sure I would take him against the field, I would take him head-to-head against any other player. Even Phil.

*Baron Davis is making about $13 million this year and the next two. He had a pretty good thing going at Golden St. in 2008, but opted out to sign with his hometown team, the LA Clippers who were horrible. Now he's been traded to the purgatory that is the Cavs because the Clips don't want him ruining the Blake Griffin-Eric Gordon Era. I honestly wonder if Baron could have a do-over if he would make the same choice. How many guys have chased a few extra million dollars/year (not an insignificant amount, I recognize), left a good situation and flushed their career down the toilet? Baron Davis was relevant in the League a few years ago. But, about to turn 32, he won't ever be relevant again. He is still going to get paid about $30 million, so maybe the money makes it all worthwhile.

*Pitcher Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals will undergo Tommy John surgery on his right elbow and miss the entire 2011 season. Wainwright was a 20-game winner and second in the NL Cy Young Award voting last year. In this Sept. 28 story from last season it was reported that Wainwright might miss his last start of the season because of stiffness in his elbow. It also says he was hurting during his previous two outings. Five months have passed. The Cards are going to pay him $6.5 million this year and $9.0 million next year. I cannot believe the first time the guy throws batting practice in spring training he tears up his elbow. What were the Cards doctors doing in the five months since the end of last season? Can they not stress test his elbow? The 12-15 month rehab that is now going to start this week would have started a long time ago. Tough news for Adam and Cards fans.

*While pitchers obviously face greater injury risk than position players the idea of paying Albert Pujols $30 million/season is, in the words of Chicago White Sox GM Kenny Williams, asinine. Baseball players won their battle with the owners with guaranteed contracts. Pujols is already 31. A ten-year, $300 million contract would be the worst in the history of any sport. If the Cards go down that road they will be done as a franchise for a decade.

*Penguins GM Ray Shero continues to build on his reputation as one of the best dealmakers in sports. Shero's offseason signings of Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek and decision to let Segei Gonchar walk have played out beautifully. This week he was able to acquire James Neal and Matt Niskanen from the Dallas Stars for Alex Goligoski. Most people in the NHL feel the trade would have been a good one for the Penguins if it was Neal for Gogo straight up. Neal is the young, high-scoring winger the team has sought to pair with Sidney Crosby. He is also under contract for more than just this season. The fact that Shero was also able to get Niskanen and add to a stable of young defensemen shows how good he is. With of plethora of defensive talent in their minor league system I would expect the Penguins to look to make another deal of this kind in the next 12 months.

*The Penguins have just re-acquired Alex Kovalev for a seventh round pick. We are sharing today as a birthday. I've got a few years on Kovi, but we are both looking to bring the magic back.

Consol Energy Center: Not Great for Highest-Paying Fans

I attended my eighth Penguins game of the season last night. I have a lot of good things to say about the Penguins organization, the product they put on the ice and many of the seating locations in the new Consol Energy Center. But, the Penguins are really screwing the fans who are paying the most for tickets and premium seating. Here are some thoughts from my experience last night.

*The face value of my ticket (I was a guest) was $152, one of the most expensive in the arena. It was located about eight rows up from the ice on one of the blue lines. These are not good seats. Seriously. I don't blame this totally on the design of the arena. The dimensions of the ice surface and the glass are virtually identical at every rink. But from these seats, you can't see one end of the ice because you have to look through the glass four different times because of the location of the penalty boxes. That means you are looking at the scoreboard to see the action for almost half the game. It's a great scoreboard, but I have a similar contraption that works equally well in my house. There is no way the Penguins should be charging anywhere close to that price for those seats which are actually some of the worst in the entire building. Seats in the upper bowl and behind each goal are much better for viewing the game and are much cheaper.

*But these "premium seats," two large blocks on both sides of the ice between the two blue lines, give the ticketholder access to the Igloo Club, right? This is reserved for the team's best fans, right? Yes and yes. It does and the Igloo Club (Now actually called the Captain Morgan and First Niagara Clubs) is a disaster. The line for the men's restroom takes fifteen minutes at every intermission. Either you leave early before the end of a period or you stand in line the whole break. It gets an F- grade for design because it has fans entering and exiting from the same spot. Top that off with a paucity of urinals and you have some angry fans. To complete the picture add a couple of hundred square feet of unused space on either side of the restroom and a few hundred more dedicated to a totally unnecessary coat room and you have your most important and highest-paying fans completely blistered. At least half of the fans that I interacted with complained about the situation.

*In addition to that design flaw, the Igloo Club also offers fewer food selections and none of the premium brand choices available to fans who are seated in the rest of the arena. How is it possible that the highest-paying ticket holders are the ones most-restricted in their options? Also, alcohol is not allowed to be taken in or out of the Club. If you want to try any of the better food options outside the Club and have a beer with your food, well, you get the picture. Either you can't or you are going to watch some of the game on a food court monitor. God forbid you have an acquaintance who is seated in a different area. You might as well write off getting a beverage together. If the Penguins are kowtowing to private contractors who operate the Club facility, they need to change that policy ASAP. The one thing the Igloo Club does offer is space, but with long restroom lines and poor food options it isn't utilized.

*For the second consecutive game operations couldn't get the lights back up after turning them off during the first intermission. This time it lasted twenty minutes. If it happened on Monday, you can't let it happen again on Wednesday. And both games were nationally televised. Not exactly putting your best foot forward. I assume that won't happen again, but I also assumed that last time.

*There is no question the Penguins have put a fantastic product on the ice the past few years and they deserve great credit for that. They have paid to keep their best players, they have made savvy trades and they have drafted well. Even with all the injuries, the team gives a great effort virtually every game. Overall the organization is perceived to be fan-friendly, holding events like Student Rush that benefit many who might not be able to afford tickets to see a game in person. However, they currently risk alienating their best-paying customers buy milking every dollar out of them with incredibly expensive ticket prices while offering an experience that doesn't measure up to that which other customers, paying far less, are having. Time to upgrade that experience because I know plenty of fans who are already trying to relocate to cheaper and often better seats.

Two Cheating Coaches Still Have Jobs at UConn & Tennessee

In October I wrote this post on UConn basketball coach Jim Calhoun and Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl. I argued that these two coaches haven't been held accountable by their own schools for the violations they have committed. This week the NCAA finally announced findings against both universities.

Calhoun, one of the biggest bullies and cheats in all of sports, was suspended by the NCAA for three Big East games next season for recruiting violations and cited by the NCAA for failing to create an atmosphere of compliance within his program. He has vowed to fight the charges, having said mistakes were made but that he is not a cheater. This is so far from the truth it is laughable. As Pat Forde has written it is largely the Cult of the Head Coach that has allowed him to escape punishment to this point. Now is the time for UConn to move on and get rid of a man who thinks he is bigger than all around him. Calhoun's success at Connecticut is inarguable, but these charges should finally give the University the necessary ammunition to take action.

In the Tennessee findings, Pearl was cited for unethical conduct, misleading investigators and failing to conduct himself with high standards of honesty and sportsmanship. He was already suspended by the SEC for the first eight conference games this season and docked $1.5 million over five years by the University. Because of a clause in Pearl's contract Tennessee was unable to dismiss him with cause until the NCAA findings were announced. The NCAA Committee on Infractions has yet to complete its findings so more could be coming, but Pearl has suggested that he is doesn't fear for his job because no new findings were announced and that the two sides are working on a new deal.

If these are not fireable offenses for a college coach, what are? It is so easy for fans and universities to criticize the NCAA for its bureaucracy, ridiculously complicated rule book and inconsistency in meting out discipline that they no longer take any infractions seriously. But these are real infractions. They strike at the core of what is trying to be instilled in the student-athletes and paint the coaches involved in the worst possible light. It is time for the University of Connecticut and the University of Tennessee to step up and fire these two coaches. One is an arrogant jerk and the other a seemingly likable guy, but both have histories of rules infractions and have tarnished their universities.

Unfortunately neither school will take such a measure. They don't practice what they purport to teach. Ethics and rule violations be damned. Winning games is the only thing that matters until someone else lays the punishment out for them or suspends them from postseason play. In this case the NCAA took unprecedented action to suspend Calhoun and the same could becoming for Pearl, but it appears their schools will do nothing more. Just keep the wins coming.

The Terrible Podcast - Episode 39

In Part 1 we take a look at some offseason issues facing the Steelers including the franchising of LaMarr Woodley and the hiring of a new secondary coach.

In Part 2 we interview former Steelers running back Verron Haynes and talk about his Super Bowl experience, the combine, the draft and the current situation with the collective bargaining agreement. Follow Verron on twitter @VerronHaynes. Thanks for the time Verron.

Thanks for listening.

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Knicks Lose and Lose Big. A Look at the Two NBA Blockbusters

It's been a bad 48 hours for the New York Knickerbockers. Don't believe what you may have read yesterday, the trade for Caremelo Anthony was not a good one for New York. On its merits alone the deal does not make sense. Throw in the fact Melo probably signs with the Knicks as a free agent in the offseason and that the New Jersey Nets acquired Deron Williams in a trade with the Utah Jazz this morning and the Knicks trade is a flat-out disaster.

First, and most importantly, Carmelo Anthony is exactly the type of player the Knicks do not need. He isn't one of the best 20 players in the Association and at 26 doesn't exactly look like a guy who is going to age well. As far as max players go there are better alternatives for $22 million/year starting this offseason. Melo does one thing exceptionally well. He is as good as anyone in the league at creating his own shot in the low post. But that's the rub. The Knicks already have Amare Stoudemire dominating the paint. Having both stationed down low is going to make each much easier to defend. To make matters worse New York traded away their best outside shooter in Danilo Gallinari and another serviceable shooter in Winston Chandler leaving nobody to stretch the floor and keep defenses from sagging on New York's dynamic duo.

The Knicks also swapped point guards in the deal, but Chancey Billups best days are behind him and he won't play the 38 minutes a game Ray Felton was averaging, so even more minutes will go to guys who shouldn't be on the floor. But no matter the troubles offensively, defensively it is going to be worse. The Carmelo-Amare duo is going to get torched and Billups can't guard any of the today's quick point guards. With no depth left on the bench the Knicks won't have anywhere to turn. Keeping opposing teams under 100 points is going to be a rare feat the rest of the season.

The second problem with the deal is that the Knicks gutted their roster to acquire a player who they very likely could have had for almost nothing other than salary this offseason. New York would have had to renounce the rights to Winston Chandler to sign Anthony. That's it. Pay Melo the same dollars they are going to pay now and he's bouncing on Broadway. Denver had virtually no leverage in the trade talks, yet the Knicks kept upping the ante and bidding against themselves just as the Mets did with Jason Bay last offseason. Denver got all they could and while the Knicks didn't give up a ton of talent in the deal, they traded all their available assets and gave themselves zero financial flexibility going forward.

Sound familiar? It should.

Reports are suggesting the Isiah Thomas fingerprints are all over the deal. You'll remember Thomas as the Knicks' cagey President of Basketball Operations who in five seasons from 2004-2008 virtually abolished the Knicks from the NBA landscape with one incredibly bad deal and free agent signing after another. Apparently Knicks owner James Dolan and Thomas, the basketball coach at Florida International, still speak almost daily and it was Isiah driving this trade rather than General Manager Donnie Walsh. If this is true Walsh has to resign today and Dolan, already a three-time winner, gets the award for Dumbest Owner in Sports permanently named in his honor.

Utah's trade of Deron Williams to the New Jersey Nets this morning is the third and final nail in the coffin for the Knicks. Williams would have been a perfect compliment to Stoudemire in Coach Mike D'Antoni's system. And the Nets got him relatively cheaply. Williams is one of the ten best players in the league and is under contract through next season although a new CBA could impact his situation. Either way someone in the Knicks front office completely missed the boat on this one in not making a stronger pitch to acquire their franchise point guard.

Many in New York have been signing the praises of the Knicks and their ability to finally put two max-salary superstars on the floor together. The problem is they got the wrong two. They missed on LeBron this summer and then they gave up more than they needed for a player who doesn't fit what they already have. The next day their cross-river rival got the superstar who would have been the perfect fit. For a much cheaper price. Tomorrow's headlines should read The re-emergence of Isiah Thomas Sends the Knicks Wandering in the Wilderness--Again. The Knicks are no closer to success than they were eight years ago. They will probably have a playoff berth to show for this year's efforts, but another monstrously bad deal has turned their fortunes again. Tough times still ahead for the Knicks and their fans.

Some Brief Thoughts on the Swimsuit Issue, Being a Dictator, Tobacco Road and the NFL

* I'm not saying the SI Swimsuit issue is ready for the scrap heap, but when I'm wondering if they picked the cover model because she is Cristiano Ronaldo's girlfriend and not the other way around, cracks are appearing in the facade.

* Sticking with that theme, when I'm looking at the bodypainting and thinking the artists have done some fantastically detailed and intricate work, it's time to find some less-accomplished artists.

* If I am an authoritarian ruler pretty much anywhere in the world right now, I've got my advance scouts checking out various destinations. Back home I have suitcases packed, my Swiss banker on speed dial and pilots at the ready. Uncomfortable times.

* Stan Musial and Bill Russell were both awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom yesterday. (Here is the complete list of the 15 recipients.) They are two of their generation's greatest sporting figures. Though they are incredibly different, you will have trouble finding two men who are equally and more universally respected.

* The NFL's television ratings took another quantum leap this year. Football now so completely dominates the American sporting landscape that we should no longer refer to "the big four sports" with some kind of sporting equality. It is football above all others. With fewer and fewer kids participating for a variety of reasons and the effect of head injuries becoming better understood, it really is becoming our culture's gladiatorial spectacle.

* With the college basketball season more meaningless than ever, it still amazes me that media outlets spend hours debating who is ranked #1 in the polls.

* Is every kid in the south now playing soccer? The south is still the go to spot for the best high school football players, but it isn't producing great basketball talent. What are those kids playing?

* The ACC and SEC just flat out stink in hoops. Woe Tobacco Road...

* Lance Armstrong retired again. Officially. I still would put it at even money that Lance goes down in one of these drug investigations. So much smoke. I just don't believe that many people are carrying an unsubstantiated vendetta against the guy. But cycling does have a good, clean track record, so there's that. Waaaaaaait a second...

* The Daytona 500 is this weekend. NASCAR's golden era is over. I think we are going to look back back at 1995-2005 and wonder what the fascination was. But in Europe they still watch Formula 1 which is basically a grid race to the first turn and then 60 laps of cars running in a line with one pit stop, so who knows.

* The Pirates announced today that Joel Hanrahan will open the season as their closer. Surprisingly this story is not yet overshadowing the Pujols negotiations.