Tag: Percy Harvin

In Case You missed It

~ Dave Ettinger ~ Leave a comment

While everyone has been gearing up for the most exciting tournament of the year, there have been some other sporting events that you may have missed. I missed them as well, for good reason, but let me fill you in just in case you haven’t heard about them. Let me start with the most insignificant of them all. Did you guys really just storm the court for an NIT victory? I get it, Robert Morris probably isn’t supposed to beat anybody so beating Kentucky is a big deal, but it is the NIT. Who wants to watch the leftover scraps play basketball? This tournament isn’t meaningful, and I don’t know why we even have it. Most teams, like Kentucky, are so disappointed that they didn’t make it into the real tournament that they mail in an effort in the NIT. Congratulations Robert Morris, you beat a team that didn’t even want to be there.

Something else you definitely missed was the finals of the World Baseball Classic. Man is this tournament a bad idea. ALL PLAYERS should be with their respective REAL teams in March. You know, since they are holding this little thing called spring training right now. If you wanted to watch baseball’s watered down version of the ‘World Cup’, then I guess you were 1 of the 14 people who watched the World Baseball Classic. The Dominican Republic dominated the World Baseball Classic going 8-0 in the tournament. They capped off their run though the Classic with a 3-0 victory over Puerto Rico.

Also, over the past week we have seen a handful of free agent signings in the NFL. Steven Jackson signed with the Atlanta Falcons, bringing the size and strength their running game has been missing. Sure you can say, well what about Michael Turner wasn’t he a good strong back? No, no he wasn’t. The guy looked like he was running in quicksand. Jackson entering his 10th NFL season will be a better fit for the Falcons then Turner ever was. Greg Jennings has signed with the enemy; the Minnesota Vikings. There used to be a day when people would cringe when players signed with their rival, but the game has changed. In today’s NFL, there is no such thing is loyalty. It’s all about the Benjamin’s baby! Jennings should be a nice addition for the Vikings who traded Percy Harvin to the Seattle Seahawks prior to free agency. The New York Jets are still holding Darrelle Revis in limbo with his playing career. The Jets obviously aren’t pleased with the offers they are getting for Revis, or else he’d be gone by now. This begs the question, will Darrelle Revis be traded before this season or will the Jets get stuck with him? Ed Reed is a big name that has yet to sign on a dotted line, however Baltimore is showing interest in re-signing him and the Houston Texans have shown some interest as well. Lastly, you had one of the weirdest situations in the history of the NFL happen last week. Elvis Dumervil, the outstanding defender for the Denver Broncos, had until 4 p.m. on March 15th to decide whether he would restructure his contract or be released by the Broncos. He had decided to restructure, however his decision which was sent via fax was received by the Broncos just minutes after the deadline. This snafu could cost either Dumervil millions of dollars or the Broncos one of their best players. Either way it is definitely one of the most interesting situations in NFL history.

In basketball news, the Miami Heat still haven’t lost a basketball game in a little over 23 years. Oh my bad, I meant 23 games, they’ve extended their streak to 23 straight wins and they haven’t lost since January. Also flying under the radar are the Denver Nuggets. They beat the Oklahoma City Thunder Tuesday night to extend their winning streak to 13 games. In other mega-important news Tiger Woods is dating….ah who cares, just win golf tournaments buddy. And that about raps this past week in sports. It has been mostly irrelevant, but it was enough to hold us over until the main course; the NCAA tournament.

If you enjoy my writing, follow me over to intheneutralzone.com where I am a contributing author there as well. Also you can follow me on twitter @DaveEttinger2 or like me on Facebook athttp://www.Facebook.com/DaveTalksSports. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!

Let The Madness Begin!!

~ Dave Ettinger ~ Leave a comment

Gotcha!! You all thought this was a college basketball story didn’t you? Well, sorry to get your hopes up but it’s not. This article is all about NFL’s Free Agency, which begins today at 4:00 P.M. Come 4 O’ Clock teams will begin signing free agents in hopes to build a championship contender for the future. Some NFL teams couldn’t wait and started making moves Monday afternoon. Most notably, Anquan Boldin and Percy Harvin were both traded. Anquan Boldin was traded from the Baltimore Ravens to the San Francisco 49ers for a 6th round draft pick. Percy Harvin was traded from the Minnesota Vikings to the Seattle Seahawks for a 1st round draft pick this year as well as 2 other draft picks. If you ask me, I don’t really understand the Ravens’ thought process here. Why in the world would you trade the guy who just helped you win a Super Bowl for a 6th round pick? To save yourself 2 million dollars a year? If that’s the case, solid move Baltimore. You’ll see just how good Joe Flacco is without his most dependable wide receiver. The big winner in this situation is the San Francisco 49ers. They pick up a big physical receiver to play on the opposite side of the field as Vernon Davis and Michael Crabtree. Happy Birthday Colin Kaepernick. Ahhhh I get it. It has nothing to do with the fact that Boldin refused to take a pay cut (rightfully so). It’s because John Harbaugh won a Super Bowl, and now he wants to make sure his little brother Jim wins one next year. Now, I’m sure that the Seattle Seahawks will have something to say about that next year. With these two trades, the NFC West has become the best division in football. The Seahawks gave up an arm and a leg for Percy Harvin, but this trade is clearly a perfect fit for them if he stays healthy. Think about it, all they are missing is a big play receiver. Last season prior to his injury, Harvin had 62 receptions for 677 yards (in only 9 games) on a team with a less than stellar quarterback. I’d say that’s exactly the type of production the Seahawks need to get over the hump. Harvin’s not too shabby in the kick return game either.

The New York Jets certainly made the biggest move of the day. Hell, this might be the move of the year! The Jets signed David Garrard as their backup quarterback. Their hope is that he can compete with Mark Sanchez for the starting job. To this I say nothing. I say nothing because it doesn’t matter. Garrard is not going to push Sanchez to another level, and if Sanchez falters Garrard is not going to come in and set the world on fire. I am pretty indifferent on the move, but I’m sure that Rex Ryan is sending save the dates to all his friends for the day after the Super Bowl. Oh yeah, they think they’ll be in Disney World, but actually they’ll be on their couch just like the rest of us. The actual news regarding the Jets is the status of Darrelle Revis. Revis must be traded, it is as simple as that. The question is what can they get for him in return? Due to the ACL injury he is coming off of they won’t get top value for him right now. The Jets would be taking a huge risk though if they hold on to him for this season. They would end up paying him plus they wouldn’t get anything in return in this years draft. Plus, he could play poorly due to the injury or even worse he could re-injure himself (then they would really be screwed). I think the Jets should get as much as possible for Revis before this years draft and before they are obligated to pay him another penny.

No matter what the Jets decide to do with Darrelle Revis, today should be a busy and fun filled day around the NFL. Buckle up your seat belts and let’s go for a ride. Check back tomorrow to see the grades I dish out for each teams major free agent signings.

If you enjoy my writing, follow me over to intheneutralzone.com where I am a contributing author there as well. Also you can follow me on twitter @DaveEttinger2 or like me on Facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/DaveTalksSports. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!