NFC North Season Preview

            Hey everyone and welcome back to The Rat Rant! I’ve been entirely away from civilization and the internet for the past week so I’ve been unable to post, however to make up for it I will be posting at least every weekday for the rest of the summer and I’m going to start with one of my favorite subjects: the NFL (what a shocker)!

            This will be a division by division breakdown of the whole NFL and I’m going to start with where else, none other than the black and blue division of the NFC North.

            From the spend thrift Minnesota Vikings to the soap opera Green Bay Packers, to the “We will win 10 games; and by 10 we mean five” Detroit Lions, and finally to Lovie Smith’s Chicago Bears where yes despite his best efforts Rex Grossman is still the starting quarterback. It’s been an entertaining off-season in all four NFC North cities and not even a week into training camp this is where the four teams stand.

 

            1^st Place, Minnesota Vikings: The Vikings have been one of the trendiest picks this off-season to be contenders in 2008 and I am no different. With the addition of Jared Allen the Purple have far and away the most talented D-line in football, a more experienced group of linebackers that include the young and underrated E.J. Henderson and Chad Greenway, and a secondary full of talent and high-priced contracts.

            The defense will keep the Vikings in almost every game this season, which is extremely important as according to ESPN the Vikings have the 5^th hardest schedule in the NFL. So what stands between the mediocre Vikings of the last few years and the potential juggernaut Vikings of the future is the offense, and more specifically Tarvaris Jackson.

            With an 8-4 record as a starter in 2008 the raw but talented Jackson has definitely improved but has a long way to go to prove himself as a starter in this league. The receiving core got a shot of adrenaline when the Vikings signed deep threat Bernard Berrian to a six-year deal. Sidney Rice will be more reliable in his second year, and Bobby Wade will thrive as the slot receiver which is a much more natural role to him than playing out wide.

            Having said all this the Vikings are looking pretty good and I haven’t even mentioned Adrian Peterson. Peterson along with backfield mate Chester Taylor give the Vikings the best running game in the NFL. So barring an injury Peterson and Taylor will run wild for the Vikings behind a more than solid offensive line that features one of the strongest left sides in the game in Bryant McKinnie, Steve Hutchinson, and pro-bowl center Matt Birk.

            So when it’s all said and done it’s all going to come down to Jackson, if Jackson can be an average quarterback the Vikings should win the division without trouble , but that’s where it gets tricky. Will he take that final step and be the quarterback the Vikings drafted him to be? Or will he succumb to all the scrutiny he’s been getting from the national media and be a goat on a great team? Coach Childress has made it clear that Jackson is the guy to give this team the best chance at Super Bowl contention, it is now time for Jackson to prove his doubters wrong as he has been given one of the most talented rosters in football.

            It is without a doubt a make or break year for Tarvaris Jackson and the Minnesota Vikings.

           

            2^nd Place, Green Bay Packers: The defending division champs have probably had the toughest off-season in the entire NFL. Brett Favre: enough said, has served as one of the biggest off-season distractions in the history of the NFL. And if that wasn’t enough Ryan Grant has decided to hold out and demand a new contract, apparently you don’t even need to play a full season or rush for 1,000 yards to make outrageous demands anymore (Ryan Grant played in 10 games and rushed for 956 yards).

            However once you get past the off-season distractions (which takes awhile) the Packers are still a good football team. They have one of the older but more reliable defensive back units in the NFL with ball hawking corners Charles Woodson and Al Harris, in addition to hard-hitting safeties Atari Bigby and Nick Collins.

            The strength on defense doesn’t stop in the secondary as the linebacking core of the Packers is filled with talent in Pro-Bowler Nick Barnett, top-five pick A.J. Hawk and the underrated Brady Poppinga the Packer linebackers are for real and will make plays week in and week out as the Packers hunt another division title.

            What really concerns me about the Packers is the offensive side of the ball, where the Packers have been strong in the past they have huge question marks in the present. As the Brett Favre soap opera continues it’s looking more and more like this is Aaron Rodgers team, I am with the Packers on this decision that it is time to hand over the reigns to the young quarterback but the durability of Rodgers is a cause for concern. Rodgers has played in just a half of a game in the last year and has had his share of injuries making me hesitant to think that he can handle the starting role for a whole season. Rodgers’ backup is Brian Brohm a rookie quarterback who played in a system designed to make the quarterback look good in college. Brohm also has a rough history of injuries in particular the thumb on his throwing hand. I am not convinced that either of these kids has what it takes to be a starting quarterback in this league, and those who want to say the same thing about Tarvaris Jackson; Jackson has won eight games as a starter in this league, Rodgers and Brohm together have won zero.

            This is a team that currently has no leader, there are no starts between all of the quarterbacks in camp and they’re second best offensive threat a year ago is currently spending training camp acting like a child rather than a professional running back.

            The Packers have what it takes to contend but too many things have gone wrong in just too short of a time for this team to be what it was last year. Look for a second place finish in the NFC North with a possible wild-card birth.

 

            3^rd Place, Detroit Lions: One of the worst organizations in the NFL appeared to have turned a corner last season. After guaranteeing a playoff birth quarterback Jon Kitna lead the Lions to a 6-2 start and were thinking post-season. Things took a hard left in the second half of the season as the Lions tumbled back down to earth and went 1-7 in the second half of the season. Despite a young and talented roster I would expect more of the same from the Lions in 2008.

            Under center the Lions are lead by Jon Kitna, a quarterback who has never failed to put up numbers, but seems to always be stuck on a bad team. In my opinion this is no coincidence. Detroit has young talent at receiver with Calvin Johnson and Roy Williams, but they’re talent on offense doesn’t stretch much further.

            Weeks ago the Lions released disappointing first round selection Kevin Jones meaning that Tatum Bell is likely to be the starter. With a suspect offensive line it doesn’t look like the Lions will have the running game necessary to make a surprise run in the NFC North.

            On the defensive side of the ball the Lions lost their biggest name in Shaun Rodgers. Ernie Sims has all-pro ability at linebacker but hasn’t shown the consistency to be able to put this team on his back. Kenoy Kennedy leads a high priced underachieving secondary that isn’t looking much better than it did last year.

            When push comes to shove the Lions will at best be a team not to be taken likely but not a serious threat. This a team that is at least five years, a few good drafts, and a franchise quarterback away from moving out of the NFC North cellar for good.

 

            4^th Place, Chicago Bears: Finally to my last place team in the NFC North, the Chicago Bears. The off-season couldn’t have gone much worse, they lost their top two pass catchers in Mushin Muhammed and Bernard Berrian with Berrian going to division rival Minnesota.

            The summer was plagued with distractions by their troubled running back Cedric Benson. The Bears decided to cut their losses and get rid of Benson, leaving the ball to rookie running back Matt Forte out of Tulane University. The quarterback troubles will still be there as Rex Grossman has made no strides in the last couple years and Coach Lovie Smith refuses to give up on him. The Bears offense may not only be the worst in the NFC North it could contend for the NFL’s least productive in 2008.

            Having ragged on the offense enough the Bears will still be strong on the defensive side of the ball. Brian Urlacher spearheads a very strong core of linebackers with Lance Briggs and Hunter Hillenmeyer.

            Behind the defense the Bears could stay with quite a few teams as they have a solid secondary lead by Ricky Manning and Mike Brown hopefully returning a hundred percent from missing almost all of last season with an injury.

            The Bears D-line is no soft spot either as Adewale Ogunleye and Tommie Harris lead a talented group of pass-rushers and run-stoppers.

            However there are just too many holes on the offensive side of the ball for the Bears to be a decent team this year. It’s going to be a rough year for the monsters of the midway and at best could challenge the Lions for 3^rd place in the NFC North. Is it too early to picture Tim Tebow at Soldier Field yet?

 

Terry Horstman

            

It's The All-Star Break So What Else Am I Going To Talk About?

            Baseball returns after the all-star break tomorrow and that only means one thing: it’s time for my first half awards.

            MVP: This should be the most obvious award of them all as I too am naming Josh Hamilton as my first half MVP. In what is shaping up to be the story of the year in Major League Baseball the center fielder leads the majors with 95 RBI, has jacked 21 homers, and is hitting .310 at the plate. However he’s going to have to turn it up even more as the third place Rangers are 7.5 games behind the AL West leading Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

            Cy Young: This was a tough one for me as there are many deserving pitchers at this point in the season. Cliff Lee, Edinson Volquez, and Ben Sheets are all great candidates but they all get the stiff to my Cy Young winner: Tim Lincecum. With an 11-2 record and an ERA of 2.57 Lincecum has been on of the few bright spots on a San Francisco Giants team that is currently 15 games below .500. Lee, Volquez and Sheets all have numbers to match Lincecum but they currently have massively better supporting casts around them which is why Lincecum gets the nod as the Major League’s best pitcher.

            Rookie of the Year: This one is up for debate because it’s hard to determine who’s a rookie and who’s not. Jacoby Ellsbury has received credit for rookie of the year, but I just can’t say that someone who almost won World Series MVP a year ago is a rookie so he’s out of contention. After Ellsbury there are tons of young players who have played great roles this year but the one that stands above the rest is Evan Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays. The rookie third basemen has been the biggest surprise of the surging Tampa Bay Rays with a batting average of .275, 16 homeruns and 53 RBI. You could also make a case for Longoria as the team MVP of the Rays who have broken out of the AL East cellar for the first time in franchise history, no one on the team has played a bigger role than Longoria. Keep in mind that Longoria wasn’t even on the active roster till mid April and his numbers are still extremely impressive despite his late start.

            Manager of the Year: Lou Piniella deserves a lot of credit for the first half of the year as he has the Cubs chasing their first championship in exactly 100 years. Since Charlie Manuel took over for the fired Willie Randolph he has the Mets as hot as any other team in baseball. Ron Gardenhire has the Minnesota Twins right in the thick of things after losing Torii Hunter and Johan Santana in the off-season, and has done it despite an extremely young roster. However my manager of the first half without question is Joe Maddon of the Tampa Bay Rays. Maddon is the manager of what has been one of the worst organizations in baseball for the last few years and it’s looking like they’ll be one of the best for the next few years. The Rays have looked for real for the first 90 plus games this year, they have destroyed both the Red Sox and Yankees at times this season and will be right in the thick of things for the rest of the year in the AL East which has been a two team division for as long as most of the young Rays’ players have been alive.

            The Rat Rant Award: This is the award that goes to the player I’ve had the most fun watching this whole season. Since this would be extremely biased since I watch more Twins baseball than anything else I’m only going to consider my Twins for this award. Now most people are going to say Carlos Gomez has been the most exciting Twin but due to his inconsistency I can’t say he’s been the most fun for me to watch. Mauer and Morneau are perennial superstars in every sense of the word but lack the flash and dare I say pizzazz that keeps you on the edge of your seat every time they step to the plate. So having taken everything into account I can possibly think of I present the first half Rat Rant award to second basemen Alexi Casilla. The Twins were off to a rough start at the beginning of the year, but after calling up Casilla they headed into the all-star break just a game and a half back of the division leading White Sox. Casilla has been a very reliable hitter out of the two spot in the batting order, has been a nightmare on the base paths for opposing teams and was on a 15-game hitting streak earlier in the season. He’s also been one of the most exciting fielders to watch in baseball, he has as much lateral quickness as anyone at his position and seemingly takes care of any ball hit in his vicinity. But most of all Casilla has been the spark this team was craving when they finally called him up well into the season. If Casilla stays as exciting as he’s been his spark should ignite the Twins all the way to the playoffs and a division title.

 

            So there you have it, my awards for the first half of the season. There’s still plenty of time for things to change throughout the rest of the year so stay tuned, it should continue to be a pretty exciting summer.

 

Terry Horstman

Brett Favre Retirement Saga, What Else is New?

            The following piece of writing is a once in a lifetime occurrence, the following piece of writing is rarer than Bigfoot and a unicorn put together, the following piece of writing is me agreeing with and defending the Green Bay Packers.

            If this is the first you’ve heard about the Brett Favre retirement saga then you’ve been living in a hole the last three months. However just in case you are cloudy on the situation let me enlighten you on what is going on.

            In early March Brett Favre announced his retirement from the National Football League, making way for former first round draft pick Aaron Rodgers to take over the reigns and build the Green Bay Packers for life after Favre. The Packers then went into the off-season to build the best possible team around their young quarterback, they used their top draft pick on a good wide receiver in Jordy Nelson out of Kansas State. They drafted Brian Brohm to bring in more young talent at the QB position and bring in competition for Rodgers so he doesn’t get “too” comfortable with his starting spot.

            In the midst of the whole migration of the Packers from the Favre era to the post-Favre era, Brett Favre himself has managed yet again to hog the whole spotlight. He went back and forth for months until he said he’s not coming back, once that finally sank in he then said that he wanted to come back. This has been one of the most inconsiderate moves by a professional athlete I’ve seen in my years as a sports fan. Throughout this whole off-season Favre has been a huge selfish distraction looming over the Green Bay Packers and more specifically Aaron Rodgers. Amazingly the only excuse I’ve heard for this has been,

            “He’s Brett Favre, he can do what he wants, that’s just Brett Favre.”

            These are the same excuses we’ve heard over the last 17 years every time Favre threw a game losing interception, now as a retired player the endless and even more brainless excuses are resurfacing again. These excuses have always just been smoke screens to cover up the media’s love affair with Brett Favre, now as he attempts to come back they are making one last ditch effort to bail him out. It makes me incredibly happy to see that the majority of football fans and analysts all over the country are no longer falling for it.

            What’s even more amazing is that the Packers aren’t even falling for it as they have informed Favre he may return “as a backup.” This shocked just about every cheese head in the world, it may have shocked Favre but it did not shock me. In fact if I were the Packers head coach I would have done the exact same thing.

            Think about it Favre is 38 years old, he demands a 12 million dollar contract, and every year is an even slimmer chance that you will win the Super Bowl with him as your quarterback. Every year is also another year delaying the success of your future, apart from Favre the Packers are one of the youngest teams in the NFL, they have a talented young quarterback in Aaron Rodger who isn’t getting any better on the bench. The decision by the Packers to not allow Favre to come back in and hold the fate of the team for another year was the most sensible decision made in the NFL this off-season. They are a better team talent-wise and chemistry-wise with Favre out of the picture.

                        So Favre will not play 2008 in Green Bay, but will he play in 2008 at all? It’s possible but it’s doubtful. I just don’t see many teams that are just one quarterback away from the Super Bowl. A lot has been said about possibly going to the Bears or the Vikings but Green Bay will not allow Favre to go somewhere else in the sam division so Chicago and Minnesota are both out of the question.

                        I could see maybe Miami, Baltimore or perhaps the New York Jets giving Packer’s GM Ted Thompson a call but I don’t see the appeal of a $12 million, 38 year-old quarterback. The best thing for all parties considered would be for Favre to stay retired at the top of his game on his terms. It also gives the rest of us a chance to enjoy a football season without hearing his name every four seconds by every NFL media outlet in America. Brett Favre needs to act like an adult for the first time in his career and graciously step out of the spotlight and stop delaying the developing career of Aaron Rodgers.

Slow Down Viking Fans we Still Have a Long Way to go

            So if you’re reading this you probably know, I tend to get a little worked up over Minnesota Vikings football. This off-season especially has been one of the most exciting to follow in all my years of being a Viking fanatic, from the acquisition of players such as Jared Allen, Bernard Berrian and Madieu Williams, to division rivals Green Bay and Chicago losing many key players to their teams of a year ago making the Vikings the pre-season favorite in the NFC ‘Norse’ division. In the last three months the Vikings have made a bigger splash than any other team in the NFL, so it’s probably surprising to some of you to hear me say: we’re getting too much love.

            Don’t get me wrong Brad Childress and the gang attacked this off-season exactly the way they needed to. They got the best available players at the positions they needed most, if there were an award for off-season MVP it would have to go to Minnesota GM Rick Spielman for putting his non playoff team from 2007 into Super Bowl conversations for 2008.

            I think I speak for all Viking fans when I say that the attention from the national media has been nice considering we haven’t had much in recent years, but we all need to take a deep breath and slow down. There’s no one happier than me about the big time additions to my favorite sports team but the 2008 Vikings haven’t won a game yet and they’re being treated like first ballot hall of famers.

            Jared Allen hasn’t registered a sack in a Vikings uniform, and Viking fans are comparing him to John Randle and beyond.

            Bernard Berrian hasn’t scored a touchdown in Minnesota yet, and suddenly no one seems to care that the days of Randy Moss, Cris Carter, and Jake Reed are long gone.

            Brad Childress hasn’t taken this team to the playoffs yet, but after the off-season he just turned Viking fans again seem to be forgetting that you have to play the regular season first before you go the playoffs.

            My point is that even though my favorite sports team proved to be a young team with loads of talent and even more potential a year ago, they are now not just the talk of the town they’re the talk of the nation. You can’t turn on the NFL network without hearing “Are the Vikings for real?”

            All these additions have been great but they not only add talent, they add expectations. This 8-8 football team last year is going to have to play at division championship level for a whole season before any of these expectations come true. I have loads of confidence in this team but I don’t think anyone is attributing the fact that they still have a season to play and if all goes well: the playoffs.

            If all does go according to plan it should be a fun season in Minnesota and I’m sure it will be. Just hold out on calling them the best thing since The Beatles, let them play some football games, and we’ll see what we got. Who knows? If these Vikings really are different than the Vikings before them then they might even exceed these great expectations. However I’d settle for a win at Lambeau Field, week one on Monday night football.

            Until then we can only imagine, just don’t let your imagination run away from you like Adrian Peterson from opposing defenses. Trust me your imagination isn’t that fast. 

Terry Horstman

Enough is Enough, Get Rid of Fan Voting

            With the mid-summer classic just days away the rosters have been released for the American League and National League all-star teams, the American League team once again littered with players from the Red Sox and Yankees, what a surprise.

            At this time of year baseball fans across the country get a chance to vote for their favorite players to hopefully earn a starting spot on their respective all-star teams. It’s also the time of year when wearing a Red Sox or Yankees hat sky rockets your popularity, numbers don’t really matter as long as you’re apart of the evil empire or America’s bandwagon you will get a paid vacation to hang out with baseball’s best, (term used very loosely).

            For example the Boston Red Sox (America’s bandwagon) have six representatives in the all-star game, four more players than division leading Tampa Bay who just made the Red Sox look like a little league team in a humiliating three-game sweep last week. No Tampa Bay players made it in on fan voting, while Jason Varitek was second in the voting among catchers. In addition to an all-star selection Varitek also owns the worst batting average among all catchers in the A.L. hitting .219, .99 behind Tampa Bay catcher Dioner Navarro and .106 behind all-star starting catcher Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins. Players like Varitek who are past their prime clearly do not belong in an all-star game, and if he played on any other team in the country (besides the Yankees) there is no way he gets voted into the all-star game.

            Another example of this is Dustin Pedroia of Boston who was voted the A.L. starter at second base. Now this is a little different being that Pedroia actually has produced this season, but he is not the best second basemen in the A.L. That title belongs to Ian Kinsler who is the A.L. leader in batting average, total hits, and runs scored. He is also third in doubles and fifth in stolen bases. Pedroia is distantly behind Kinsler in each category.

            The entire Boston outfield finished ahead of White Sox outfielder Jermaine Dye. While Dye still has a chance to be voted in as the final addition to the A.L. roster he still has hit more homeruns and has a better batting average than any outfielder on the Red Sox. Just to put these numbers in perspective Dye has a batting average of .308, Boston outfielder Coco Crisp has an average of .264, if Dye wore a Boston Red Sox jersey to work he would’ve been among the American League’s leading vote getters.

            This is not the first time this problem has been brought up. Look through past rosters of the all-star game especially for the A.L. and you can smell the B.S. no matter where you’re standing. I would normally support including the fans in something like this. But there are just too many fans that don’t know enough about baseball that it puts the players in small markets at an almost insurmountable disadvantage.

            The best thing that Major League Baseball can do would be to eliminate fan voting from the all-star game. I know it’s a tradition and I know it’s fun, but it’s just gotten out of hand. Fans don’t get to vote on the teams that go to the World Series, the two teams that deserve it most end up going. So let’s get fans out of the way of the players that deserve to go to the all-star game.

Terry Horstman

           

            

NFL Rookie Salaries, something's gotta give.

            Miami Dolphins offensive tackle Jake Long is one of the highest paid players in the history of the NFL at his position. New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning was able to demand that a blockbuster trade be put in place so that he could play in the market of his choice. John Elway did the same thing when he was being drafted in 1983, the only difference then was that rookies in the 80’s were at least getting modest contracts. Now days first round draft picks in the NFL are making more money than the accomplished veterans in the league before even playing one snap as a professional. It is now time to say enough is enough.

            NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has finally started speaking publicly about the ridiculous salaries of NFL rookies and stated that something has to change. Head of the NFL players union Gene Upshaw disagrees and thinks that the statements made by Goodell were offensive and unnecessary. I like most people in the world think that Upshaw should shut up because there is no way you can defend the type of money these kids are making before even doing anything to earn it what so ever.

            Since I was about 10 years old I have loved watching and following the NFL draft from the first pick through the seventh round, but a question I’ve always asked even when I was a kid was “why do these players that are yet to play make more money than the players that have already shown they can play?” And it makes me so happy to see that the commissioner is finally treating this like an issue that needs to be dealt with.

            It’s ridiculous that players can come into this league with absolutely nothing to show for themselves and start making demands. I was actually offended on a serious level when Eli Manning pulled that stunt on draft day by publicly stating that the team with the first pick the San Diego Chargers were not a good enough organization for him to play for. Manning got what he wished for and was traded to the Giants.

            However it’s not just the football owes me something attitude that players seem to have these days that’s killing me. It’s the consensus that we must pay these kids millions upon millions of dollars to get them on the football field. These contracts are killing football, now more than ever kids will get drafted, demand a hefty ransom in guaranteed money, never perform and are still set for life and never have to do anything again.

            Something has to be done sooner than later and while I have not heard Commissioner Goodell’s exact solution I’ve thought of one myself that would surely cure this growing financial problem among rookies.

            In the NBA each first round pick gets a guaranteed 3-year contract with the team that selected them. Players don’t often hold out or demand to be traded. If the NFL adopted something like that rookies would not just get more modest contracts, but they would receive better incentive to play harder and earn more money.

            For example say Tim Tebow of the Florida Gators was the number one overall pick in the 2009 NFL draft. Tebow would get a guaranteed contract of five years with the team that drafted him, with x amount of dollars in total money, and x amount of dollars in guaranteed money. Then the number two pick overall would receive a similar contract of five years just with a bit less guaranteed money and total money. The amount of money in each contract would keep decreasing until the last pick in the first round. For players being drafted from the second round on there would be no set contracts, but their signability would be much higher based on the contracts set in place in the first round.

            If the NFL put this proposal in play players would have no way of complaining or threaten to hold out, because hey they don’t deserve to hold out. Players would shut up and play quicker and would also play harder. In addition to all that since there would be no hold outs, players would get into rookie training camp faster which would contribute greatly to their development as a professional football player.

            Now for those of you on the players side of this, (if there are any of you besides Gene Upshaw) then don’t write this off immediately. The salaries of the first round picks would still be worth a lot of money, just not more money than any pro-bowler at their position. Because if you think that rookies should make more money than the best of the best before even hitting the field I know the number of a great psychiatrist I could put you in touch with.

            

All you need is Love

            Well better late than never, and that certainly is the case for my NBA draft review. For the first time in my life I felt almost every single emotion in a span of 24 hours: First happiness, the Wolves drafting O.J. Mayo brought the 3^rd most talented prospect in the draft to the Twin Cities meaning that Wolves GM Kevin McHale was actually going to attempt building a winner.

            The Happiness was followed by a wave of confusion. I put 2 and 2 together a bit faster than usual and realized that the Miami Heat had taken Michael Beasley (my top ranked player) the pick before, and weren’t the Heat in love with O.J. Mayo?

            I could sense the trade coming, I sensed it, I sensed it and I sensed it but no report came that my Wolves and the Heat were in any talks about swapping picks. This was the first wave of anger, how in God’s name could we not even try to get Beasley? We drafted the player the Heat loved, we were only one pick below, and imagine Beasley and Al Jefferson down low together. But when all was said and done Beasley was not going to become a Minnesota Timberwolf and I moved into my next emotion: acceptance.

            After all I’ve seen Mayo play in person and he blew me away, the kid has been in the national spotlight since he was nine years old, and he will be an amazing scorer in the NBA where no defense is played, ever. A lot of people questioned the kid’s character based on poor decisions in his past, throughout draft week every reporter littered Mayo’s brain with questions about the allegations of accepting money and gifts from agents while he was still in high school. Mayo handled each question with the utmost maturity and was a better public speaker than any other player at the draft. So my initial emotion of happiness returned and I went to sleep that night excited about watching Ovinton J’Anthony Mayo in a T-Wolves jersey next season. I had no idea draft day was far from over.

            At 6:30am the next morning I awoke to a text message from a friend of mine in Portland that simply said: Mayo for Love? That was all the information I needed to know that Wolves general manager Kevin McHale had traded 3^rd overall pick O.J. Mayo to the Memphis Grizzlies for his man crush Kevin Love. This next emotion wasn’t anger, it was rage much earlier in the day than I’m used to.

            The T-Wolves didn’t need a power forward, especially an undersized slow one. McHale once again got tunnel vision and only focused on the prospect that he wanted and would’ve done anything to get him. For the next two hours this was the worst trade I ever heard of and hated every single piece of it.

            Then I calmed down and looked into it more deeply and realized McHale might’ve known what he was doing on this one. So before you’re ready to cancel your season tickets T-Wolves fans let me attempt to make this trade seem like a good thing.

 

Why I like it: We finally dumped the contract of Marko Jarric who was probably the biggest mistake in the entire McHale regime. Antoine Walker who had absolutely no role with this team is gone, along with his overpriced contract. Mike Miller is a swingman still in his prime who can seriously help this team. Miller is a tremendous shooter and a competitor with fire in his guts, a player the Wolves haven’t had in quite awhile.

            However those are just the throw-ins the main focus of this trade should be Mayo v. Love. Mayo is more talented and 15 years from now will probably have more impressive career numbers. But, he’d be a long shot for the Wolves to resign after his initial contract expired. He would join an already crowded backcourt that includes first round picks Randy Foye and Rashad McCants. Love is a player who has expressed interest in playing in Minnesota, not a very common statement. There is a better chance he will play his whole career here, and if Al Jefferson can play center on this team then these two could form a frontcourt to be reckoned with in the near future.

            Who this trade puts the most pressure on is without a doubt Randy Foye. There’s already been quite a bit of pressure on the combo guard going into his third year out of Villanova, after the Wolves traded eventual rookie of the year Brandon Roy to Portland for the rights to Foye. He has so far shown a lot of promise when he’s been healthy, but injuries and a lack of talent surrounding him have prevented him from having great seasons instead of average seasons. Trading away Mayo says one thing, “Randy we need you to be the guard that we knew you could be when we traded for you.”

            If Foye can become the dominant guard he is capable of being this will go down in the record books as a good trade, if not Wolves fans will again be crossing their fingers come lottery time 2009.

 

Terry Horstman

2008 NBA Mock Draft

            With just under 30 hours to go until the NBA draft the speculation is at an all-time high as we await the beginning of basketball’s biggest poker game. So on the eve of the draft here is my first, and only mock draft for 2008.

 

1. Chicago- Derrick Rose, PG, Memphis

2. Miami- O.J. Mayo, SG, USC

3. Minnesota- Michael Beasley, SF/PF, Kansas State

4. Seattle- Jerryd Bayless, PG, Arizona

5. Memphis- Brook Lopez, C, Stanford

6. New York- Russell Westbrook, PG/SG, UCLA

7. L.A. Clippers- Eric Gordon, PG/SG, Indiana

8. Milwaukee- Kevin Love, PF, UCLA

9. Charlotte- Joe Alexander, SF, West Virginia

10. New Jersey- Danilo Gallinari, PF, Italy

11. Indiana- D.J. Augustin, PG, Texas

12. Sacramento- Anthony Randolph, PF, LSU

13. Portland- Brandon Rush, SG, Kansas

14. Golden State- DeAndre Jordan, C, Texas A&M

15. Phoenix- Donte Green, SF, Syracuse

16. Philadelphia- Marreese Speights, PF, Florida

17. Toronto- Darrell Arthur, PF, Kansas

18. Washington- Kosta Koufas, C, Ohio State

19. Cleveland- Roy Hibbert, C, Georgetown

20. Denver- Alexis Ajinca, C, France

21. New Jersey- Robin Lopez, C, Stanford

22. Orlando- Chase Budinger, SG/SF, Arizona

23. Utah- JaVale McGee, PF, Nevada

24. Seattle- J.J. Hickson, PF, NC State

25. Houston- Chris Douglas-Roberts, SG, Memphis

26. San Antonio- Jason Thompson, PF, Rider

27. Portland- Ante Tomic, C, Croatia

28. Memphis- Bill Walker, SF, Kansas State

29. Detroit- Ryan Anderson, SF/PF, California

30. Boston- Courtney Lee, SG, Western Kentucky

 

            Okay, okay, okay, I may have jumped the gun giving my Wolves Michael Beasley, but here’s why that’s a bigger possibility than you think it is:

            Derrick Rose is going to be the first pick said and done, he’s from Chicago, the Bulls want a point guard and Derrick Rose represents point guard in every sense of the word. So without hesitating Chicago will make Rose the number-one pick at approximately 7:05 pm eastern-time Thursday night, then it gets fun.

            The Miami Heat hold the course of the rest of the draft in their hands. In the last few days more than a share of reliable rumors have spread that the Heat don’t want Beasley and will attempt to get O.J. Mayo as D-Wade’s running mate for years to come. In my absolute honest opinion I believe that the Heat will draft Michael Beasley at the two spot and trade him to Minnesota who will draft Mayo shortly after. So Miami gets their man and Michael Beasley is a T-Wolf. (Yes!)

            The Pac-10 dominates the rest of the top 10 as they account for four out of the next five picks. Seattle (Oklahoma City) gets their point guard of the future in the feisty Arizona Wildcat Jerryd Bayless. The underrated Brook Lopez falls in the laps of the Memphis Grizzlies, and UCLA teammates Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love go 6^th and 8^th overall to New York and Milwaukee respectfully.

            The lottery continues with New Jersey making Italian Stallion Danilo Gallinari the 10^th overall pick and the first foreign player taken. The Nets need a big man to run alongside Vince Carter, Richard Jefferson and Devin Harris. Gallinari could fit that roll perfectly.

            Indiana gets their point guard of the future in the diminutive Augustin at 11, and after missing bad with Spencer Hawes last year the Kings take another big man in Anthony Randolph out of LSU. Once thought of as a top 5 selection Randolph’s stock has dropped significantly as of late but I think he could be one of the more surprising players out of this year’s draft.

            The lottery portion of the draft comes to an end with Golden State taking the development project that is DeAndre Jordan. Jordan has tremendous upside but Warrior fans can’t help but compare him to former lottery pick Patrick O’Bryant if Jordan is the selection at 14.

            These are my 2008 projections for the NBA draft, a little bold but I don’t think any of the following is too outrageous. I guess I’ll find out just how much so tomorrow night, remember to tune in at 7:00pm eastern time on ESPN. Also look for my draft recap this weekend at The Rat Rant and pray for Beasley to be in Minnesota blue this time tomorrow. Good luck to all your teams.

 

Terry Horstman

            

Red-Hot Twins find themselves in surprising position.

            This time a week ago the Minnesota Twins had just gotten manhandled in a four game series against the division leading Chicago Whitesox. With 6.5 games separating the two teams it seemed apparent that this division belonged to the south siders and that they’d be comfortably in the drivers seat heading into the all-star break. Six straight wins at the dome later and the Twins are right back into the thick of things trailing Chicago by a mere game and a half.

            The announced crowd of 31,497 had plenty to cheer about Sunday as they watched the Twins wrap up a 6-0 homestand in very Twins like fashion, again winning with one big inning that sealed the deal.

            This recent stretch may not have already proven the 2008 Twins as contenders but it certainly has proven that this unlikely cast of characters is by no means a team to be taken lightly.

            Coming into to the 2008 season the Twins were picked by just about every sportswriter in America to finished dead last in what was thought as the weakest division in baseball. Two and a half months into the season and the Twins are less than two games out of first, and what’s even more surprising in even better position than the 2007 Twins at this time.

            Now I’m not saying by any means that Carlos Gomez, Delmon Young and Nick Blackburn are making Twins fans forget about the likes of Torii Hunter and Johan Santana, but theses Twins are generating a certain kind of excitement that I haven’t felt in the Twin Cities for quite some time.

            Most of these players aren’t even in the prime of their careers yet, so the fact that they are in a better spot than the much more highly praised Twins of a year ago is something that shouldn’t be taken for granted.

            I know what you’re saying right now, something along the lines of “they’re in second place! What have they accomplished?”

            Believe me I am well aware that the Twins have 86 games left to play and that 40-36 is a record hardly worth boasting about. But that goes without saying that this team is miles ahead of where anyone outside of the organization expected them to be, Carlos Gomez is becoming a Twin Cities star much faster than anyone anticipated, the crafty Livan Hernandez is proving he still has enough in the tank for one more run, and the diminutive Alexi Casilla has recently provided the spark at second base that this team has been missing for years.

            So without further ado the 2008 Minnesota Twins, a team supposed to be in the midst of rebuilding in the midst of a race for a division title. So how likely do I think it is that the Twinkies can turn this run into a division title? I’d say about as likely as Gomez hitting a bunt single in his next at bat. 

Welcome

Hello! I would like to officially welcome all of you to The Rat Rant, my spare no dirty details blog about everything sports. As a sports writer and also the avid Minnesota sports fan that I am a certain emphasis will be placed on the sports of my hometown (ex. Twins, T-Wolves, Vikings, Wild, etc). However I will also be covering all kinds of sporting events from around the world.

My name is Terry Horstman and I'm a 20 year old college student from Minneapolis, MN. I attend school at Oregon State University where I have also worked in the sports department for The Daily Barometer, and briefly covered high school basketball for the great website of www.oregonsports.com, check it out!

This is all I have for now but thank you for checking out the blog, I hope you check back frequently for updates as I couldn't be more excited about providing you with ideal sports insight. I can't wait to get started and I hope to hear from all of you, thank you all!

-Terry Horstman