King Daemon Sports

Saddness Strikes

2009-04-11T00:24:00.000-07:00

Hello all. I know it's been a long while since i last posted, but it seemed to be the most appropriate time. The baseball season is finally upon us, and already hearts are heavied. Following Wednesday nights Angels-A's game, 22 year old right hander, Nick Adenhart, of the Angels, was involved in a hit-and-run traffic collision in Fullerton, California. Adenhart and three friends where driving early Thursday morning, when a mini-van ran a red light striking the the car with the four friends and sending it into a street light. Three of the four young men, including Adenhart, where pronounced dead while the fourth is in intensive care. The young man driving the mini-van was found shortly after fleeing on foot, it turns out the 22 year old was driving on a suspended license with a blood alcohol content well above the legal limit. So, instead of taking a cab home after going out drinking and getting home safe, albeit with a little less money in his pocket, he decided to drive home and not only got in legal trouble but took the lives of three young men. Now instead of spending the money on a taxi he may spend the rest of his life behind bars, facing felony hit-and-run, felony DUI, and, now, murder charges. It's a shame that one act of stupidity can ruin so many lives.

Later in the day rookie right hander Joe Martinez was struck in the head with a batted ball. In the top of the ninth inning with two outs , in the Giants-Brewers game, Martinez toed the rubber stared in to get his sign rared back and fired a pitch towards the waiting Mike Cameron. Cameron squared up the pitch a drove it on a line right back where it came from, literally, unfortunately Martinez was unable to get out of the way or get his glove up in time. The ball hit with such force that it ricocheted directly off of his forehead to the backstop, dropping Martinez to the ground. You could see the pain even on Cameron's, who suffered a similar incident while with the Mets, face as he ran down the line. Martinez was able walk off the field under his own power. It is expected that he will make a full recover, suffering three hairline fractures on his face and a concussion. As of now he is on the 15-day disabled list, but it is hoped that when he is eligible to come off he will be ready to take the mound again. This is a happy ending to what could have been devastating. (link to video: http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090410&content_id=4209782&vkey=news_sf&fext=.jsp&c_id=sf)

May all of our thoughts be with these families and all of the families that face tragedy on a daily basis.

-Daemon

Manny

2009-02-03T22:24:00.000-08:00

Today saw Manny Ramirez turn down a contract offer that would have made him the second highest paid player next season, at $25 million. The offer was a one year $25 million contract from the Dodgers, he had already turned down a two year deal worth $45 million. It is believed that Ramirez is seeking a 4+ year contract that would pay upwards of $25 million a year, but at 37 years old this wish looks less likely than a one or two year deal. The Dodgers have said they are still interested in retaining Ramirez, but not at the length that he is looking for, the Giants have said that they have interest as well, but they also won't go to the length that he is seeking. There is some speculation that he may want to join the Mets in New York, where he went to high school, and there is a fit seeing as they could use a left fielder and his bat would take pressure off the entire team. But as of now the front runner seems to be the Dodgers.

The most evident thing though is that regardless of where he signs he better be happy, or the team that gets him may get the Manny that was in Boston last season. And an unhappy Manny is not something that you want on your team. Just stay tuned, to see where he ends up.

-Daemon

Super Sunday

2009-02-02T01:21:00.001-08:00

We have now seen a franchise win six Super Bowls, with the Pittsburgh Steelers defeating the Arizona Cardinals 27-23. It was a well played game, especially the second half, and ended up being a high scoring game. Arizona nearly pulled off the upset, if it wasn't for a touchdown pass from Ben Roethlisberger to, Super Bowl MVP, Santonio Holmes with 35 seconds left. After trailing the whole game the Cardinals took the lead with 2:37 left on a 64 yard pass from Kurt Warner to, postseason star, Larry Fitzgerald, which immediately followed a safety by Arizona's defense due to an offensive hold in the end zone. All in all the game moved fairly quickly, even though there were plenty of penalty calls 18 in all. A lot of the calls could have easily been no calls, and in the biggest game of the year should have been, with Arizona feeling the burn more so to the tune of 11 penalties for 106 yards. Both teams witnessed strong play from their passing games, but lackluster performances out of the running attack gaining a combined 91 yards on the ground with the edge going to Pittsburgh with 58 yards. All that remains in the football season is the Pro Bowl next weekend.

Congratulations to the Steelers, and Cardinals.

-Daemon

New Hire

2009-01-17T23:14:00.000-08:00

The St. Louis Rams have hired their next head coach, Giants Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. As Defensive coordinator, the 49 year old, turned the Giants defense into a force to be reckoned with, amassing 53 sacks in his first season plus a strong Super Bowl sacking Tom Brady five times. This season, even after losing two of his defense's stars (Micheal Strahan, retirement, and Osi Umenyiora, injury), he had his defense ranked 5Th over all. Spagnuolo has his work cut out for him, as the Rams are 5-27 over the past two seasons and have struggled on both sides of the ball, with the defense being ranked 28Th over all and the offense tied for 30Th scoring just 14.5 points a game. The Rams signed him to a four year deal, reportedly worth $12 million, in hopes that he can turn them back into the perennial playoff team they were not too long ago.

-Daemon

Bye Bye Chucky

2009-01-16T23:35:00.000-08:00

Today the Tampa Bay Buccaneers fired John Gruden. The high profile Gruden suffered a late season collapse to lose a playoff spot by being beat by his former team, the Raiders, in the season finale. Aside from winning the Super Bowl in 2003, he led the Bucs to the playoffs once. Giving him a 60-57, making him the winningest coach in franchise history, and to postseason appearances in seven season. Joining Gruden in the unemployment line is the General Manager Bruce Allen.

Set to replace Gruden is new defensive coordinator, 32 year old, Raheem Morris. Morris was set to take over the coordinator's job for the departing Marty Kiffin, serving as the Defensive Backs coach for the last two years, but after Gruden's dismissal moved right into the head coach's possession. The Bucs are hoping that Morris will turn out to be a whiz kid and turn the team into a perennial playoff team. Mark Dominik will take over the General Manager's possession, having served as the Director of pro personnel and been a part of the franchise for 14 years.

Good luck to all four men.

-Daemon

Stadium News

2009-01-14T17:45:00.000-08:00

Baseball's great commissioner, Bud Selig, would like the city of Fremont to OK the building of a new stadium for the the Oakland A's. The stadium, primarily private financing, would cost close to $500 million and would replace the A's long time home in Oakland. Having already unveiled their plan in 2006, the A's have been waiting for the Fremont officials to okay the stadium. A plan of the A's, in partnership with Cisco Systems, came to an agreement to purchase 143-acres, that belongs to Cisco, in Fremont as the location for the new stadium. The A's hope to have their new stadium built and ready for the open of the 2011 season. In the case that Fremont doesn't approve the stadium, soon, Selig has given the A's permission to talk with neighboring cities in an attempt to find an accommodating city.

-Daemon

MLB

2009-01-13T19:56:00.000-08:00

After losing John Smoltz to the Boston Red Sox, the Atlanta Braves have signed Derek Lowe to a 4 year $60 million contract. Lowe, most recently of the Los Angeles Dodgers also, played with Boston prior to the Dodgers. In four years with the Dodgers Lowe went 54-48, with sub 3.90 eras every year and averaged 200 innings. He was considered widely at the lowest the third best pitcher on the market. At 35 this may be Lowe's final contract, although pitchers have been throwing into their 40's in recent years. And on top of recent trends, Lowe is not your typical power pitcher who loses stuff as he gets older rather he is a ground ball pitcher who relys more movement and location. Although at $15 million a year it shows how deals,such as the Sabathia deal, affect the rest of the market.

Joining Lowe in Atlanta is Japanese import, the first Japanese-born player in franchise history, Kenshin Kawakami who signed a three year contract. A successful pitcher in Japan, winning the Central League MVP in 2004, he accumulated 112 wins in 11 seasons, he was widely regarded as one of the top Japanese free-agents on the market. In recent years there has been an in flux of Japanese pitchers, that tend to start strong but then fizzle out after the league adjusts seemingly unable to adjust to the teams new approach. Part of this may be because of the language barrier, but another may be the fact that by the time players come to the Majors they are already approaching or into their 30's and are already set in their way, not wanting to change their habits, plus they have already reached their peak and in some cases are already declining.

Smoltz finalized a one year $5.5 million contract with the Red Sox, and expects to start for them. Coming off of a shoulder surgery, like new team mate Brad Penny, it's unclear how he will preform. After 22 seasons with the Atlanta Braves this will be his first time playing for a different Major League team. This may be Smoltz's final season, but with a competitor like him it's hard to tell, only he truly knows, and at this point he may not yet either.

-Daemon

New NFL Hirings

2009-01-13T19:16:00.000-08:00

The Kansas City Chiefs have made a move in an effort to turn around their downward spiral, by hiring Scott Pioli. The former New England Patriots vice president of player personnel, will occupy the recently vacated General Managers position. While with the Patriots he teamed with Bill Belichick to build a team that annually competes for the Lombardi trophy. He has been involved in drafting multiple Pro Bowlers. With Kansas City he will have his work cut out for him, but as the credentials to turn it around, with just a few smart moves and a good draft, holding the third overall pick, it could be turned around very quickly, just look to Miami and Atlanta this season.

Former 49er's head coach Mike Nolan was hired on to Josh McDaniels staff, as the Denver Broncos new defensive coordinator. Before accepting his first head coaching job, with the 49er's, he served in the same post with the Ravens, Jets, Redskins and Giants. His first coaching job in the NFL was with the Broncos as a special teams and linebackers coach in 1987. Under Nolan the Broncos may switch from a 4-3 defense to a 3-4, although that isn't clear at this point. With Nolan added to the staff it gives the Broncos their fourth defensive coordinator in four years.

The Houston Texans have brought in Frank Bush to be their defensive coordinator, replacing the fired Richard Smith. Bush has been in league, in some facet, for 25 season and has been with the Texans for the past two seasons as a special defensive assistant.

-Daemon

NFL

2009-01-07T22:18:00.000-08:00

Back to the world of professional football. As expected, after Bill Cowher said no, the Cleveland Browns have brought in former New York Jets head coach Eric Mangini, to man the same position. He brings with him a 23-25 career record, after three seasons with the Jets. He is expected to bring along the Jets quarterbacks coach, Brian Daboll, to run the offense and Raiders defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, to mind the same position. Also a possibility to stay on is, recently fired Browns head coach, Romeo Crennel who worked with Mangini while with the Patriots. Mangini takes over a Browns team that has much higher expectations and talent than the Browns that Crennel took over four years ago. Mangini received a four year contract to run the Browns, and see if he can turn them into a playoff team.

On another note former 49ers running backs coach, Tom Rathman, was brought back by new head coach Mike Singletary to take over the same role with the team. Rathman, who manned the same position with the Raiders for the last two season, is a former 49er fullback and was the teams running backs coach from 1997-2002 before following former head coach Steve Mariucci to Detroit. Singletary interviewed Rathman on Tuesday and didn't delay in bringing him on to his staff, which he wants to become more of a running offense, even before hiring an offensive coordinator.

There are still teams that need head coaches and assistants, so we will see many more moves in the coming weeks.

-Daemon

MLB

2009-01-06T20:17:00.000-08:00

Fresh from the hot stove league are some moves that teams hope will vault them to the next level.

One was the defending American League champion Tampa Bay Rays signing of former Phillie Pat Burrell. Burrell is expected to step in and be the teams DH, and probably step in to rest Carl Crawford in left. He brings impressive numbers with him, although inconsistent at times, averaging about 30 homers and 100 rbi's a year over the last four years. In a line up that struggled against left-handed pitching Burrell will give them a powerful right to go along with Carlos Pena, B.J. Upton, Carl Crawford, and Evan Longoria. And at just $8 million a year over two years, he comes at a relatively low price especially compared to some other sluggers.

Another was the signing of Milton Bradley by the Chicago Cubs. Long heralded as a five-tool player he has struggled to put up numbers that his talent would imply, often because of either off the field issues or problems on the field. Although for most of last season he either led the American League in batting or was near the top, before finishing with a .321 average. The signing pushes Kosuke Fukudome to bench, the big Japanese signing of last season started the season strong before completely falling off the map. But at $10 million a year for three years, if he falls into one of his spirals again will be grossly over paying, however if he finally puts it together and stays so it could turn into a bargain for the cubs.

Yet another also involves the Cubs, in a trade that sent pitcher Jason Marquis to the Colorado Rockies in exchange for reliever Luis Vizcaino. A move that improves the Rockies rotation, Marquis has reached the 10+ win plateau in each of the last five seasons including a an 11-9 record last season. Vizcaino gives the Cubs another bullpen arm that can help ease the loss of closer Kerry Wood. This move appears more as a means of freeing up money in light of the Bradley signing.

And then there is the probability of a Jason Giambi Oakland A's reunion. All reports have deal done as early as tomorrow. Giambi, the 2000 AL MVP while with Oakland, will likely man the DH role and give the A's another bat to team with first year Athletic Matt Holliday. Last season Giambi hit .247 with 32 homers and 96 rbi's. And the soon to be 38 year old will most likely make this his final stop of his career, with a one year $4.5 million contract with a club option worth $5 million. If able to put up numbers like last season he will be another great signing by Billy Beane, to go along with past signings like Frank Thomas, and at a lot less than he would have been slated to make had the Yankees picked up his option, $22 million.

The hot stove league is far from over with many players still unsigned and spring training just over a month away.

-Daemon

Playoffs Day Two

2009-01-05T00:15:00.000-08:00

Today we saw two more teams move on in the NFL playoffs. Unlike yesterday, when the two home teams won, today both road teams came out victorious.

The first were the Baltimore Ravens, who absolutly controled the Miami Dolphins. It was a tight game until 2:30 left in the second quarter, when Ed Reed picked off a Chad Pennington pass and returned it 64 yards for a score putting the Ravens on top 10-3. At the half Baltimore pushed it to 17-3, and continued to play strong aggressive defense picking Pennington off four times and sacking him three times. The Ravens defense allowed them to outscore the Dolphins 14-6 in the second half, with Miami score a touchdown two minutes into the fourth quarter, but missing the point after. Now Baltimore moves on to play Tennesse, in Tennesse, and pushes San Diego to play Pittsburg, in Pittsburg.

The second team to move on to the second round were the Philadelphia Eagles, who beat the Minnesota Vikings. Neither team really dominated this game, with the Eagles getting a pair of first quarter field goals. The second quarter is when most of the scoring happened, Adrian Petterson scored a pair of touchdowns and Asante Samuel picked off a Tarvaris Jackson pass returning it for a touchdown, giving Samuel four postseason pick sixes breaking an NFL record. Going into the half the Eagles were on top 16-14, and it stayed that way until 6:37 left in the game when Donovin McNabb hooked up with Brian Westbrook on a screen pass that went for 71 yard touchdown. The Eagles would add a field goal making the final 26-14, sending the Vikings home and the Eagles to play divison rival New York Giants and the Arizona to Carolina to play the Panthers.

Now we wait until next weekend to see what happens in the world of professional football.

-Daemon

Playoffs Day One

2009-01-03T22:05:00.000-08:00

Today we saw two teams move on to the second round of the NFL playoffs.

The first was the Arizona Cardinals, who hosted a playoff game for the first since 1947 when the then Chicago Cardinals beat Philadelphia. Going into half time it looked as though the Atlanta Falcons were destined for victory, after a shaky start, going to the locker room with a 17-14 lead. But coming out of the half it looked like Arizona just wanted it more, outscoring the Falcons 16-7 in the second half, and sending them home in the process. Now they have to wait for the results of tomorrows Minnesota - Philadelphia game.

The other were the San Diego Chargers, who hand Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts a 23-17 overtime loss. The Chargers were arguably the hottest team going into the postseason, riding the tails of a four-game win streak. In the first half the chargers out scored the Colts 14-10. But in the second half struggled to score, allowing Indianapolis to score a third quarter touchdown. But getting off a game tieing field goal with 31 seconds left in the fourth, sending the game to overtime where Darren Sproles ran it in from 22 yards out to win the game for San Diego. Sproles, who stepped up huge for the Chargers after LaDainian Tomlinson went down with a groin injury, had 105 yards and two scores on 22 carries, including the game winner. The Chargers have to wait to see the outcome of tomorrows games to see who they play next.

Good luck to the teams moving on and congradulations on a good season to all.

-Daemon

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T00:25:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone. I just wanted to wish everybody a happy and prosperous new year. I'll keep it short and sweet tonight. Have a great 2009.

-Daemon

Another Firing

2008-12-30T16:26:00.000-08:00

Hi all. Today another coach lost his job, Mike Shanahan, after 14 seasons at the helm of the Denver Broncos accumulating a 146-89 record and winning two super bowls. This is one of the more surprising firings, although if you look at this season they were another team that looked like they had a playoff spot wrapped up going into the waning days of the season only to be sent home for the year on the tails of a blow out at the hands of the division winning Chargers. This leaves the Broncos to join the Jets, Browns and Lions in a search for a head coach.

On that note it looks like the Browns may be looking at one of the cast aside head coaches, in Eric Mangini, to take the reigns of their troubled franchise. Where as Mangini's former employer, the Jets, are looking at Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo and former Steelers head coach Bill Cowher.

Another coach to lose his job today was 49ers Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz. Even after bring the teams offense out of the cellar this firing had become expected. Especially after new head coach Mike Singletary had the interim title removed, because Singletary wants to focus more on a run heavy smash mouth style and Martz runs a pass heavy finesse style offense. This marks Martz third firing in three calender years, and the 49ers looking for their seventh coordinator in seven years. Although unlike in the past few years the team has some talent on the offensive side of the ball, and don't seem too far from contention.

Again good luck to these men and their families.

-Daemon

Hello, goodbye

2008-12-29T17:11:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone. Well so far we've seen three coaches lose their jobs and one get his. So long to Eric Mangini, Romeo Crennel, and Rod Marinelli. And hello, or rather glad to see you stay, Mike Singletary. Mangini struggled as the Jets head coach, amassing a 23-26 record over three seasons, he helmed a winning season this year finishing 10-6 but missed the playoffs with a loss in the season finale to the impressive and surprising Dolphins. Not even the future Hall of Famer Brett Favre could lead the Jets to the promised land after a late season collapse. Crennel, 24-40 in four seasons, led an underwhelming Browns team to their fifth season of 10+ losses in the last six years. In his defense the team suffered a number of injuries including the top two quarterbacks on the team, but even before the injuries they looked destined to be cellar dwellers. Now Marinelli, 10-38 in three seasons and 1-23 over his last 24, was probably the easiest firing to predict after finishing the season as the first ever 0-16 team in NFL history, bumping the 1976 Buccaneers off as the worst record in the history of the league. All three of these teams have work to do, although the Jets aren't that far from being postseason contenders considering they barely missed this year however they now need a coach and most likely are going to need a quarterback and unless they suddenly become the 2000 Ravens they aren't going to go too far without one. But baring a couple of Atlanta-Miami miracles again the other two are going to have to suffer a few more losing seasons.

Now Mike Singletary accomplished a feat that is very difficult, be successful as an interim head coach going 5-4 and winning 5 of his last 7. More than just winning the players seemed to play harder after he took over, although even through the struggles they never quit on Mike Nolan. He had the team within two last second losses of the playoffs, considering how the team started that is nothing short of amazing. And after sitting down with the brass during the week and laying out his plan for the team, then going out and winning the season finale he was awarded with a long term deal right after the win in the locker room in front of his players.

Congratulations to Singletary and his family. Good luck to Mangini, Crennel, and Marinelli and their families.

-Daemon

NFL

2008-12-27T22:17:00.000-08:00

Hey all. The world of sports is crazy. Just a year ago the Dolphins were the laughing stock of the NFL now they're one win away from the playoff, the Falcons were in a position people thought would take a few years to right now they've locked up a playoff spot and have an outside shot at a first round bye, San Diego was in the conference championship then struggled early in the year, in large part to to heartbreaking losses, and were written off crowning the Broncos AFC west champs now riding a three game win streak they need to only win the final game to make the playoffs. Look at the AFC east, the Patriots may miss the postseason with an 11-5 record, just the second team to do so, all after the Jets were written into the superbowl just a few weeks ago and all while the Chargers may host a playoff game with an 8-8 record. And in the NFC north the Bears were written off and it looked as though the Vikings had the playoffs wrapped up, now Minnesota has to win their finale against the Giants, but luckily for them New York will more than likely rest key players having locked up home field advantage last week against Carolina.

For some the games hold more than a playoff berth at stake, take Norv Turner for instance after taking San Diego to within a game of the super bowl last year may need to win the season finale to retain his job. At some points I feel Turner, in particular, would have done better for himself if he had stayed as a corrdinator, he is hands done one of the best offensive minds in football but as a head coach is overwhelmed. This is easy to see too, look at his record as a head coach it's very underwhelming but when you see him take over a game as a corrdinator it's a sight that a fan, of the team he's coaching, enjoys quite heartily. But, Turner isn't the only coach who's job may hang on the outcome of their game, there's Andy Ried, Wade Philips, Jim Zorn, Dick Jauron, among a few others. Now most of these coaches' bosses have said that their jobs aren't in jeperdy, but that doesn't always mean anything. I would've thrown Rod Marinelli into that group of coaches that may lose their job, but if he isn't relieved then there is a lot more wrong with the Lions than we all thought.

-Daemon

Those Damn Yankees

2008-12-26T00:54:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone. I can't take it and I know I'm not the only one, spending by teams in baseball. The Yankees just spent $424 million on 3 players! This brings their payroll to $222 million. How can any small market team compete with that? I'm fully in favor of a salary cap in baseball, even if it's somewhere around $110 million, it's far better than seeing a team spend the economy of a small country while the other teams a forced to sit back and watch. The issue with the absurd spending is that it sets the market for years to come, like the Sabathia deal now when the next big name pitcher becomes a free agent he'll simply say well CC got this so i should get at least this. And it doesn't just raise what the big name players make, now a mediocre pitcher who's at his very best a 4 or 5 starter will be able to pull down $5+ million a year. Now don't get me wrong i don't blame the player for takin the money, cause if i were offered nearly that much to play ball i wouldn't even hesitate, and i don't blame the agents for getting the teams to pay so much because they're doin exactly what their job is get their clients as much money as possible. I blame the front offices, for actually allowing this to happen, and the league office, for not regulating it at all.

The worst part about all of this is it affects the fans have to endure. Yes, more times than not signing a big free agent helps your team win. But it also often means ticket prices go up, which means especially in the economic times we're in now to go to a game means savin up for more than a week if you want to go and just see. Now if you want to buy anything it's gona take that much longer. the perfect example is again the Yankees, to see a game from the box seats at the new stadium will cost $2500 but the great part is that you cant buy one you have to buy four so that becomes $10000 to go see one game from box seats. How is the average person supposed to afford that?

-Daemon

The Beginning

2008-12-26T00:25:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, this is the beginning of something I've been thinking of doing for a long time. I'll be talking about many various topics from a variety of sports, however I will be focusing on baseball more than the others, only because it is what I know best. I've been known to talk about sports for long periods at a time, often unprovoked, and when I get going it's usually difficult to get me stopped. Hopefully you enjoy reading what I have to say as much as i enjoy writing it.

-Daemon