I'm BACK!!!!!!

As many of you may have noticed I have not blogged since this cruel moment in my life:

We will not talk about that, but I do want to catch you up on things that have happened in the 145 days since that moment.

BASEBALL:
*Pittsburgh Pirates became the Pittsburgh prospects by trading away nearly their entire starting lineup from the 2008 season. They have taken their beatings and will continue to the rest of this season and next, but in the long run this was the right move to make by the organization. They have stocked piled their farm system with players (whether they have any talent we will soon find out) and are finally moving in the right direction on building a competitive team. Notice I said competitive and not winning. Baby steps here! One of the new guys who is super fu to watch is the new CF Andrew McCutchens who I mention simply so I can show this video!

*The Washington Nationals incredibly overpaid the #1 overall pick in the draft Stephen Strasburg, agreeing to a $15M contract just 77 seconds before the deadline. This guy is supposed to be a can’t miss type of players, but take this into consideration, no pitcher selected #1 overall in the 45 year history of the MLB Entry Draft has ever won a Cy Young. I know he could become this first, but something interesting to think about.

BASKETBALL:
*North Carolina went on to defeat that Scottie Reynolds Villanova team in the Final 4, then mopped the floor with Michigan State (what would you expect from a Big Ten team?) to win the National Championship. They were the best team with the most talent; they deserved to win it all.
*The NBA had a season and I am nearly certain that at the end someone won a title, but I don’t care one way or the other.
*Memphis had to vacate the 38 wins from the 2007-08 season when Derrick Rose (no relation to Jalen that I know of, just coincidence that they both made it to the Final 4 only to have their appearances there wiped from all NCAA record books due to recruiting violations.) had a stand in take his SAT’s for him to become eligible. So for the second time in his career John Calipari has had Final 4 appearance wiped away for recruiting violations (the first was with Marcus Camby at UMASS). I wonder if Kentucky has a special place ready to hang and then take down a National Championship banner?

FOOTBALL:
*Brett Favre, who retired at the end of last season AGAIN, then assured everyone at the end of July that he was not going to play football ever again, signed with the Vikings and will start tomorrow in their preseason game. I can’t stand this guy. This is how I like my Brett Farve and this is the only way I want to see him on TV.

This reminds me; let’s NEVER talk about preseason sports, EVER! They are meaningless and just waste time. If it were up to me they wouldn’t even have preseason games. College sports don’t have them, why do pro sports need them? Oh, yes, I forgot, the revenue! How stupid of me!

GOLF:
*I tied Tiger Woods this year in Majors won. The four guys that did win Majors are four guys you won’t remember next year when The Masters comes around and someone asks you, “Who won the Majors last year?”

HOCKEY:
*A little team known as the Pittsburgh Penguins won a big silver cup this June. They upset the defending big silver cup winners the Detroit Red Wings and did so by winning the final two games in the series including the last won in Detroit. The final game was won despite Sidney Crosby missing the final half of the game with a knee injury. Pens goalie Marc-Andre Fluery made what I like to call the “Secret Service” save as time expired to hold on to the win.

Considering I have been away from The Rant for as long as I have I am sure I missed more, but this is the only stuff I feel was important enough to note.

I will be starting my College Football Preview on Monday and will update it everyday until kickoff September 5th!