Black Ball Sports

Jay Cutler thankfully is a Chicago Bear.  I say thankfully because MY Washington Redskins were in the running.  And instead of using the few drafts pick we have to rebuild our poor offensive and defensive lines we were going to trade it all for Cutler.  So I for one say congratulations to the Chicago Bears.

But to Josh McDaniels and the Denver Broncos I say I hope your correct.  Yes, Cutler did act like a baby when it came out they were trying to trade him.  But McDaniels made it worse by lying about the fact that he attempted to trade him.  But the Broncos organization made a mistake by rushing to trade Jay Cutler.  What was the rush to trade him?  I would’ve given it a couple more weeks until we got closer to the draft.  What was the hurry to deal him?  He was coming off of a 4000+ yards season and a pro bowl.  The market for him wasn’t going to change that much between now and the draft.

The Broncos did get a lot of draft picks and a serviceable quarterback in Kyle Orton.  But whenever u trade a top 10 quarterback you always come out behind.  Those draft picks may or may not turn out to be good to great NFL players. We all know the draft is a crap shoot.  So when you strike gold with a big time QB that is the face of your franchise you have to do everything in your power to keep him.  Especially, when like Cutler he is just coming into his prime.

This is why I hope Josh McDaniels is correct in his decision.  He is a new head coach and already before his first game he has made a decision that has changed his franchise.  Not many teams have franchise quarterbacks under the age of 27.  There are only about 10 teams in the league right now that are happy and secure in their starting QB.  Every time Cutler has a good game or goes to a pro bowl he is going to be compared to the current quarterback of the Denver Broncos.  And Cutler is so young that comparison is probably going to go on for the next 10 years or so.  I hope for Josh McDaniels sake that his legacy was not decided in the first 3 months of his head coaching career.

I hope some day to see the excitement of the Final Four in College Football.

The best part of this weekend in my opinion is that the teams earned their way here.  With the lack of major upsets, all four teams had to make it here on the merits of playing the best competition.  Of course to most observers, Michigan State and Villanova are the “surprises”.  Not as glamorous as their opponents, both of these teams have track records which would indicate this is legit, and not all that much a suprise.

Jay Wright has had this Villanova program heading in the right direction for years, and this is the end result of that hard work.  It is good to see a team from the Philly area represent, as it has been a notoriously good college and high school basketball city.  Is it just me or is it so strange that New York City, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago and DC really haven’t had good, consistent programs for seemingly decades?

Tom Izzo leads the Spartans back to the Final Four, and I am willing to admit that I don’t give them enough credit.  I’ve always respected Izzo, but at the same time, year after year I look at his no name teams from the generally weak-average Big Ten, and just bypass them.  But here they are again, something like the 5th Final Four in about 10 years?

UConn and UNC are the glorious teams here.  They have the big time future NBAers, All-Americans, coaches with reps bigger than their states.  Thabeet, Price, Adrien, Lawson, Hansborogh, Green etc, all top tier players.  They are the elite of the elite, the teams kids dream of playing for the first time they pick up a basketball.  Even UNC’s color, Carolina Blue, is legendary.  But they also represent the difficulty to win a championship.  Jim Calhoun has two championships despite being the dominate programs coach for 20+ years.  Roy Williams has had great team after great team at Kansas and now UNC, and yet has just one title.  We often forget how difficult it is to get a team of teenagers and early 20 somethings to focus and bring their A game for six straight games against top competition.

Who do I like?  I want UConn and UNC to meet up for the ultimate showdown.  And the reality is, there is no reason it shouldn’t happen, except that Nova and MSU are not intimidate, have played teams of this caliber this season and know and relish in their underdog status.  Unfortunately, I’m thinking it is a year for the bigs, the elites, to make it happen.  UConn and UNC will meet for the championship Monday night.

North Carolina will win it all.