Drew Brees Already A Hall of Famer?

This has been on my mind all morning. Is Drew Brees already a Hall of Famer. My answer in short is no, but he will be.

So far in Brees career he has had 31,450 yards 213 TDs 112 INTs (including playoffs). He holds basically every major single season records for the Saints, and has even set some NFL records...

- Most completions for a season - 440 (2007 Season)
- Highest Completion percentage for a season - 70.62 (2009 Season)
- Most completions for a Super Bowl game (tied) - 32 (Super Bowl XLIV)

Pretty impressive for someone who is only 31 years old. There is no doubt in my mind that Drew Brees will be a Hall of Famer, because I believe that this young, high powered offense is going to be able to help him keep putting up amazing stats for at least the next 2-3 year, which will be enough to raise his numbers to the point that there is no question that he is a Hall of Famer. I've always been a big Drew Brees fan and I am glad that he has found a home where is will be treated like the great QB that he is. A couple more years of this and I think he enters the Manning, and Brady class.

Breaking News: Kurt Warner Retires

I hate Kurt Warner I really do, but I am going to give him his day. He has announced his retirement, and I really think that is a great idea, because he has had some concussions, and if he stuck around there is no question in my mind that he would have got seriously hurt.

Now that his career is over the questions is whether or not he is a Hall of Famer. In my eyes there is no question. They guy is a first ballot Hall of Famer. He has 2 MVPs, a Super Bowl ring, and the stats to back up his career.

So, congratulations Warner you had a hell of a career, but you're still a fag.

Fisk Calls It Like He Sees It

People are going to slam McGwire for awhile, and he 100% deserves it, but I thought Fisk did a hell of a job...

"[McGwire] says, 'Well, it doesn't help eye-and-hand coordination.' Well, of course it does," Fisk told the Tribune for Wednesday's editions. "It allows you more acuity physically and mentally and optically. You are going to be stronger and you are going to be better.

"Some of these numbers that are out there are really warped. Should they be considered? You saw how McGwire was viewed in the Hall of Fame voting. If you take the length of time that [steroid users] use that stuff and subtract 15 or 20 home runs a year for those guys, where are their numbers then?"

Oh, and he doesn't stop there. He goes on to attack McGwire for saying that the PEDs did not help his home run production (the biggest piece of shit lie ever!!!)...

"That's a crock," Fisk told the Tribune. "There's a reason they call it performance-enhancing drugs. That's what it does -- performance enhancement. You can be good, but it's going to make you better. You can be average, but it is going to make you good. If you are below average, it is going to make you average. Some guys who went that route got their five-year, $35 million contracts and now are off into the sunset somewhere. Because once they can't use [steroids] anymore, they can't play anymore."

"Try having your knees operated on and catching for 30 years," Fisk added. "Do you think you feel good when you go out there? [McGwire] had to stand around and play first base. So excuuuuuse me."

Then he started after Clemens...

"The reason he got let go from the Red Sox [after the 1996 season] was because he was starting to break down," Fisk told the Tribune. "His last couple of years in Boston just weren't very productive, a la 'The Rocket.' Then all of a sudden he goes to Toronto and he wants to show somebody something. Then he gets two consecutive Cy Young Awards [in '97 and '98]. Come on, give me a bucket.

"It's obvious to players. You notice that stuff. You know how hard it is to play the game. You know how hard it is to be productive at any age, but especially at an older age. You see guys who are as productive later on as they were early [in their careers]. It offends guys that stayed clean."

Sorry about all the quotes, but they are all too classic to not put them up. I agree 100% with everything Fisk had to say, but the sad thing is there is very little you can do about it now, other then not letting it happen again. McGwire, Bonds, Sosa, are all in the record books already. I don't see the MLB having the balls to take them out, and you really can put a asterisk next to their name, because you don't really know who did and who didn't use steroids. I guess you could put it next to McGwire's name because he admitted it, but what does that do? If you did that it would just give another reason for guys like Bonds and Sosa to never admit it.

Baseball is my favorite sport right now, it is too bad that we sat back and revered something that was fake. Guys like Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth should be revered and atop the record books, but now we are stuck with talented players who may have been good enough to break these records without any help, but did it anyways (when actually the doctors should probably be the ones given credit).

It's just too bad.

MJ Hall of Fame Speech

Coach by Day...Superhero by Night?

According to a firsthand witness Jessica Banks from Wellesley, MA; at approximately 8:30 PM ET on Sunday July 12th, at the restaurant Sonsie in Boston, MA, an aggravated 'homeless' looking male began shouting into the restaurant's open terrace dining area for a brief time before losing his match and being shooed away by what appeared to be a restaurant manager.

The focus of this article however focuses on a particular customer very close in proximity to the event; Head Coach for the Syracuse University Orange Men's Basketball Team, Jim Boeheim. According to Banks, Coach Boeheim was accompanied by three others in a Rolls Royce wielding a large diamond wrist watch and a flat ring sporting another diamond with the number "3" on it upon entry to the terrace dining section of the restaurant.

At an identified time into the dinner, the 'homeless' male began his shouting match into the restaurant. The male continued yelling, "Are you threatening me?! Are you threatening me?!" in a very ungrammatical, irate fashion. Other customers sat quietly and "awkwardly" as the male allegedly, according to Banks, seemed to be directing his rant at someone specific.

Being in such close proximity to the aggressive male, Boeheim then turned slightly toward Banks and a friend who where sitting at the neighboring table. In between Boeheim's knees was a "huge" black pistol with what appeared to be light, laser or site on top. "It looked like it weighed 5 lbs," said Banks. Boeheim kept the gun low, out of sight and "about to cock it".

Upon the male retreating to his shopping cart by the curb and walking away, the restaurant manager went straight to Boeheim's table, apologized, and made him aware that someone is patrolling the surrounding sidewalks. Boeheim tucked his concealed weapon back into his "bermuda shorts".

Possibly in humor or potentially serious, Boeheim turned to the other male at his table and said, "I was about to put two in him..." The male responds, "...yeah thats cool just don't shoot me."

A potentially hazardous situation for a Hall of Fame coach. Jim Boeheim has been coaching the Syracuse Orange for 33 seasons including 25 NCAA appearances, winning seven Big East Regular Season Championships, five Big East Tournament Championships, and three trips the National Championship Game with one victory in 2003. Boeheim also ranks third all-time in career wins with a 799-288 wins to loss ratio (.735) and served as an Assistant Coach for the 2008 United States Men's National Basketball Team in the Summer Olympics that won gold.

Jim Boeheim is by no doubt one of the best basketball coaches of all-time. We as fans can only be thankful that he did not have to use necessary force. It is clear that there have been more than a few gun related incidents involving sports figures and although Boeheim used correct judgment, refrained and appeared to only use it in self-defense, the 'what-if' always remains. Strictly as a precedent, we can refer to one of the most notable mistakes that has occurred in the past year, Plaxico Burress, and from there make opinions of our own.

-Scott Beer
DuelingCouches.com

Source: Jessica Banks & unnamed 2nd witness

(DuelingCouches.com is guaranteeing to be the only known source and the first to publish this story. All credits must be published and sourced appropriately.)

*Below is a photo taken by Jessica Banks via camera phone before the incident:

Strong 2009 NHL Hall Class

Steve Yzerman, Brett Hull, Brian Leetch and Luc Robitaille were announced as part of the 2009 Hockey Hall of Fame class on Tuesday, all receiving the honor in their first year of eligibility.

These are the players I grew up watching, and they are some of the best of all-time. Yzerman has the 6th high point total of all-time. He is trailing only Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Gordie Howe, Ron Francis and Marcel Dionne (all in Hall of Fame).

In 1991 Brett Hull won the Hart Trophy (MVP) when he put up 81 goal goal, which is just rediculous. He also made 8 All-Star games, and was 4th quickest to reach 500 goals. He is also the only hockey player ever to score 50 goals in a season in the NCAA, the minor leagues, and the NHL.

Brian Leetch is one of my personal favorites. He is a 2 time Norris Trophy (best defenseman) winner, and also became the the first and only American born player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 1994. He played all but 1 of his 19 years with the New York Rangers. He is a BC grad, which I always hate to admitt.

Luc Robitaille scored more than 40 goals in each of his first eight seasons, including three 50 or more goal seasons, with a career-high 63 in 1992–93.[1] That year the Kings made it to the Stanley Cup Finals for the only time in the franchise's history losing to Montreal. He was named to 8 All-Star teams, and was finally able to get a Stanley Cup during the 2001-2002 season while playing for Detroit.

Needless to say this is one of the stronger NHL Hall of Fame classes I have even seen...

Congrats, Jim

Congrats, Jim. It was about time, huh?

Jim Rice finally has a space in Cooperstown. Rice was undeservedly in that group of borderline players for years; the good-but-not-great players (Andre Dawson ect...). Based on the criteria voters have used for years when deciding who gets in, it's ridiculous that it took until the 15th and final time for him to get in with 76.4 percent.

You could say Rice was the anti-Cal Ripken. Ripken was known for his ability to crank out 20 home run, 80 RBI seasons (with a great glove at short). Rice, on the other hand, had about a 10-year span where he was the most productive hitter in the AL. He didn't have the endurance Ripken had but, man, were those seasons great.

In order to really understand how dominant Rice really was you need to examine how much better he was than the rest of the AL during his run of dominance from 1977-79 and again from 1982-86. This was back when hitting over 30 home runs meant something and over a .900 OPS was rare.

Let's take a look at his run in the late '70s.

-In 1977 Rice hit .320 with 39 homers and 114 RBI. He could have won MVP that year had Rod Carew not hit an astounding .388 with 239 hits but it was a travesty he finished fourth in the vote. Ahead of him were the Orioles' Ken Singleton and a guy from Kansas City named Al Cowhens, niether of whom had a higher average, home run total, RBI or OPS than Rice. Another case of robbery in Rice's career.

The league average was .266 and Boston was the only team over 200 home runs.

-In 1978 Rice had one of the premiere seasons in Red Sox history. He was on par with some of the years Ted Williams put up, Yaz's 1967 Triple Crown season and Pedro's transcendent 1999. He hit .315 with 46 HR and 139 RBI while totaling 406 total bases, a feat not matched until Larry Walker had 409 in 1997. From that point on having 400+ total bases was not as big of an accomplishment. Sammy Sosa (425) had the seventh-best total in history in 2001 and there have been five other instances in which it happened, included Todd Helton twice.

I won't get started on why there was the sudden surge from 1997-2001 because it's been discussed over and over but the fact remains it was a special number until the late '90s.

Rice won the MVP while the league average dropped to .261 and the highest AL home run total was 173. Another indicator how great Rice was that year was he topped Rod Guidry 252-191 in the balloting. Why is this significant you ask? Because Guidry had a season that Pedro or Sandy Koufax would be proud to put on their resume. Wouldn't a 25-3, 1.74 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 248 strikeout season create a close vote most seasons? Not in 1978, Jim Rice's most prolific season.

-Expecting a drop-off in 1979? Nope. Rice finished fifth in the MVP with a .325, 39 HR, 130 RBI. Either he, George Brett or Fred Lynn should have been MVP that year and it doesn't make much sense that Don Baylor won it or that Ken Singleton was again ahead of Rice at second.

The league average bumped up to .270 but still no teams over the 200 home run mark. Rice's stats, along with the aforementioned players, were a lot better than the rest of the league.

Anyway, Rice was eight points from a batting title, six away from the home run lead and nine RBI from the top spot in RBI. My point here is he was a top-three player in the AL for the third successive year. There were names like Bobby Bonds, Don Baylor, Lynn and others popping up but Rice was the most dominant over that period.

After injuries limited him to 24 HR and 86 RBI in 1980 and the strike held him to 17 HR and 62 and RBI in 1981, Rice was once again a top player between 1982 and 1986. He averaged .302, 28 home runs and 112 RBI in that period. No player averaged more RBI. Not Dale Murphy, who averaged averaged 105, Eddie Murray (averaged 108 but had an injury-plagued 1986 that brought his stats down), George Brett (who had more than 112 RBI only once in his career or any other of the best players of the 1980s.

Rice, simply put, was unrivaled from a production standpoint from 1977 to 1986. Three home run titles, a pair of RBI championships and four 200-hit seasons say it all. I'm glad voters finally recognized just how good he was and how good he could have been had his eyes not gone on him after his last MVP-type year in 1986.

Rice Finally In H.O.F.

It is about time that Jim Rice made the hall of fame. The poor guy has been on the ballot for 15 years and it seems like he was kicked in the groin for every year he didn't get voted in. Do I think Jim Rice was a good player? Yes. Do I think that Jim Rice deserves to be in the Hall of Fame? No. If a guy like Jim Rice can make the Hall of Fame, this makes Fred McGriff a sure in? I mean the Crime Dog has just as many hits, more rbi's and more hrs.

I just think that the Hall lowered it standards for Rice.

Barry Bonds 756 Ball Not In Hall Of Fame

The Hall of Fame will not accept Barry Bonds 756 homerun ball. Marc Ecko who bought the ball for 750,000 dollars says that talks between him and the Hall of Fame stalled.

That sucks for him, he spent 3/4 of a million dollars on a ball for no real reason. As a fan of baseball I can say you can't blame the Hall of Fame due to the steroid and perjury charges. However, as a Bonds fan I am outraged. That ball made history, it crowned the best homerun hitter in the MLB. Steroids or not, he is still innocent and still the homerun king.