From now on all my sports related posts will be posted on my new, sports exclusive blog here.
peace out, stay sweet
R.L. Judd
Dec
10
Being 20 and still hanging on to that little bit of childish fervor I have left I was trying to figure out how to spent the time now that fall quarter is over. Well other than work… It was this afternoon while playing my Xbox that I figured it out, I’ll blog more haha AND play video games at the same time. How? Another 5 things I like most, video games edition!
5) Pokemon (basically any version as long as its gameboy). These games were everyones pride and joy, whether or not they actually tell you is the kicker. Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, Ruby, etc. it didn’t matter when I was little, I played it. These games were so good that during my senior year of high school our senior guys club did a pokemon tournament!
4) Marvel Ultimate Alliance (and MUA2). I LOVE comic books so this one is a no brainer. A game featuring my favorite comic book heroes? Yes please. Getting to play as them too? Double yes please. Beating Dr. Doom with Deadpool? $60 gone down the drain…
3) Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. This was the first game I bought for my Xbox and it was way worth it. The multiplayer is super sweet, the single player campaign may be short, but it too is super sweet. And did I say the multiplayer is super sweet?
2) Tetris. I’m so hooked on this game that I have it on my cell phone! Which, by the way, I am on level 52 and have over a million points. A tetris war is one of the annual traditions of John Dakin’s birthday party (that and risk). Amazing how such a simple game can be so addicting.
1) Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. See #3, but times it by like 500! Getting 100 points instead of 10 per kill just makes you feel more powerful. And you get to customize you icon thing. Right now my emblem is a bulls eye and my title is bling bling. Oh and my gamertag is Racky J 21, look for me.
Well there it is, my favorite games. I couldn’t pick a favorite sports or baseball game. There were too many that I liked over the years and couldn’t narrow it. Until next time,
Peace out, Stay sweet.
R.L. Judd
Dec
10
Today is the final day of MLB’s Winter Meetings. The past 3 days have been spent by baseball’s general managers in Indianapolis, IN with hopes of making some offseason transactions. The meetings are famous for big free agent singings and blockbuster trades. So far Jack Zduriencik and the Seattle Mariners have signed free agent infielder Chone Figgins to fill in the duties of 3b for Adrian Beltre. The M’s have signed a few minor league free agents as well, but there are still needs that need to be taken care of.
Felix Hernandez is reportedly asking for around 6 years and $100 million contract. Well with Beltre declining arbitration the M’s have some $12 million extra to work with. I say sign Felix no matter what. Maybe see what other teams might offer, but definitely get him what he wants, or close enough for him to sign. Finishing 2nd in the Cy Young race this year is not going to be a fluke.
We still need at least one big starting pitching signing. With Rich Harden reportedly signing with Texas, that means two things. 1) The M’s failed at getting him to bite, and 2) We’re screwed cause that means he’s back in the AL West and he has always dominated the Mariners. Many people are calling for the Mariners to start talks with former Angels pitcher John Lackey, and I am one of them. He has had 10 win seasons every year since 2003, and ERAs under 4 since 05. He’s a great pitcher and picking him up would only continue the dent being put into the Angels. The rest of the SP field is pretty shallow. The only other pitcher I feel worth looking at are Joel Pineiro, Jarrod Washburn, Jason Marquis, Vincente Padilla, Kelvim Escobar, or Noah Lowry. (the last two are both coming off injuries) I still think we should look into trying to acquire Ubaldo Jiménez from Colorado.
Left Field still needs to be helped as well. Reports about Jason Bay have said that he is very interested in playing in Seattle. He lives in Kirkland and is a native Canadian. I would absolutely love seeing him try to hit one out onto Royal Brougham! If signing Bay were to fall out, finding another signee would be a lot easier than finding a starting pitcher. I still like Rocco Baldelli. He’d be relatively cheap, a great field, quick, and his muscle stress channelopathy would make it easy to platoon a few players out there with him as well, and we all know the Mariners are no strangers to platooning players. I would also consider Jermaine Dye. He would give those solid offensive numbers. Bringing back Randy Winn or Scott Podsednik could also be options.
I say we ship out Jose Lopez somewhere, pick up a pitcher or pitching prospect and look into moving Figgins to 2nd base and looking for a 3rd baseman again. Or keep Figgins at 3rd and look for a new 2nd baseman. If we keep Figgins at 3b, then I would pursue either Felipe Lopez or Orlando Hudson who are actually the only ones worth looking at. But if we move Figgins to 2b there is more to invest in in the market. Mark DeRosa is still the best choice. Behind him would be Melvin Mora or Joe Crede or we could even try to resign Beltre again and somehow get him to lower his cost.
At first base we have two choices. 1) bring Russell Branyan back or 2) sign someone older and platoon him with one of our younger guys. Someone like Jim Thome or Carlos Delgado, both of which could also fill our DH spot.
I’m excited to see how Jackie Z shows his expertise the rest of the offseason.
Peace out, Stay sweet
R.L. Judd
Dec
10
I was reading the paper this morning, and by paper I mean exclusively the sports section. Because that’s the only news that should be in the paper, am I right? haha Well the front page had a big picture of John Carlson and I thought “hey, it’s the golden boy of the Seattle Seahawks. He’s really good.” However, the joke’s on me; The headline for this article was “Sophomore Slump?”
Now granted, Carlson isn’t quite having the same season as he did last year. Last year he had 55 receptions, 627 yards and 5 TDs. All of this coming in just 9 starts. So far through 12 starts Carlson has 37 catches for 426 yards and 3 TDs. Yes the numbers are down, but it is not, again NOT, because of a sophomore slump. There are a few reasons to why he isn’t the Tight End target he was last year.
Number one is that we have healthy receivers. Nate Burleson played just one game before going on the Injured Reserve last year. through 12 games he has 60 catches for 762 yards and 3 TDs. Burleson has been getting a lot of attention from Matt Hasselbeck. Also Branch is playing again. Although his numbers are not quite as significant as Burleson’s; 27/246/2. The final WR reason comes with $40 million. T.J. Houshmandzadeh demands a lot of attention, and so far this year he has 61/669/3. Last year Carlson had significantly less competition on the field, and now that WRs are staying healthy they are getting the ball more.
But wait, that’s not it. The Seahawks offensive line has been a mess. They are suffering injury after injury and going through players like crazy. This means that the TE Carlson is being forced to stay with the line and block more instead of going downfield for passes. Carlson weighs 250(ish) pounds, which is a good deal lower than most NFL linemen.
So is it a sophomore slump? I say no. I say it’s a change of roles for the young TE. I would like to see him get to catch more passes and get into the end zone, but if we can’t give Hasselbeck time to throw, then no one is going to get their shot…
Peace out, Stay sweet
R.L. Judd
Dec
04
The 2010 South Africa World Cup draw (groupings) were announced today. I’m stoked. I decided to share with you the results and my predictions. Here is a link to the World FIFA Rankings (FIFA used the October rankings for the draw process). First, the draw results:
Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France
Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, Korea Republic, Greece
Group C: England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia
Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana,
Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon
Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia
Group G: Brazil, Korea DPR, Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Portugal (‘Group of Death‘ aka hardest group)
Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile
Now the results from the first round. Top Two in each group advance.
Group A: 1) France 2) Uruguay
Group B: 1) Argentina 2) Nigeria
Group C: 1) England 2) USA
Group D: 1) Germany 2) Ghana
Group E: 1) Netherlands 2) Cameroon
Group F: 1) Italy 2) Paraguay
Group G: 1) Brazil 2) Ivory Coast
Group H: 1) Spain 2) Chile
Round of 16 match ups (winner in bold):
1C V 2D. England v Ghana
1A V 2B. France v Nigeria
1G V 2H. Brazil v Chile
1E V 2F. Netherlands v Paraguay
1B V 2A. Argentina v Uruguay
1D V 2C. Germany v USA
1H V 2G. Spain v Ivory Coast
1F V 2E. Italy v Cameroon
Quarters Match ups:
England v France
Brazil v Netherlands (yes. It will be an upset talked about for a long, long time!)
Argentina v Germany (Messi WILL be stopped)
Spain v Italy (no head butt, no win…)
Semis:
England v Netherlands
Germany v Spain
3rd place game:
Netherlands v Germany
Final!!!:
England v Spain
This World Cup is one of the biggest things I’m looking forward to in 2010. Oh and Iron man 2.
Peace out, Stay sweet.
R.L. Judd
Nov
24
By the way, anyone who watched the MLS Cup on Sunday hopefully was as shocked as I was when Landon Donovan missed his PK. Not got it blocked, missed! You are 8 yards away, if you can’t hit the goalmouth on a PK you have no right to be taking them anymore… I was never beyond a JV high school soccer player and never once missed the goalmouth(yeah, i had some blocked, but that’s way different). You’re getting paid to play soccer Mr. Donovan… the least you could do is put it between the posts from a hop skip and a jump away. Nay, even less than that…
Congrats to Real Salt Lake. Adding the first star above the logo is always the best.
P.S. Ljungberg and Schelotto are both big name international soccer stars and have both missed PKs (against each others’ team in fact) and its equally disturbing…
Peace out, Stay sweet.
R.L. Judd
Nov
24
The MLS expansion draft is tomorrow. So for fun, I thought I would post how I would go about the draft if I were in charge.
Player Taken- Gino Padula Position- Def Former Team- Columbus Crew. Padula would give them a very solid and veteren defender to begin their franchise with.
Player Taken- Robbie Russell Position-Def-Mid Former Team- Real Salt Lake. Russell can give you that D-M combo that gives some versatility to work with when constructing a line up, plus what better way to stick it to the MLS champs then to grab the guy who won it for them?
Player Taken- Eduardo Lillingston Position-F Former Team- Chivas USA Lillingston scored 8 goals last year for Chivas. Having an international striker would bode well for the Union.
Player Taken- Bobby Convey Position- Mid Former Team- San Jose Earthquakes. Convey is a good player who spend almost 5 years with Reading F.C. in England and is still only in his mid 20s. Unfortunately he didn’t play as well as San Jose would have liked, but I don’t think Philadelphia should rule him out…
Player Taken- Josh Wicks Position- G Former Team- D.C. United. Wicks didn’t play well against the Sounders whenever I saw him play, but still maintained a 1.40 GAA (goals against average) in 19 games. I almost went with Pat Onstad as keeper, but he’s like 5,000 years old and is probably part of the reason why he isn’t protected by Houston. (he’s really only 41, but thats still the oldest in the league.)
Player Taken- Sebastian Le Toux Position- M-F Former Team- Seattle Sounders F.C. I think it is super stupid for the Sounders not to protect Le Toux. He is a fast, agile M-F combo who shows full hustle the full 90. It would be a shame to watch him go, but frankly, the Sounders deserve for not protecting him…
Player Taken- Alan Gordon Position- F Former Team- Los Angeles Galaxy. Gordon has been their ’super sub’ in a sense of terms. He can come on and make an instant mark on the game. Put him on a team without a Beckham and Donavan to steal playing time, and I think he can really shine.
Player Taken- Austin Washington Position- D Former Team- Chicago Fire. Washington is in a class of many young players in the league; they are waiting for their shot. He played well during his time at Gonzaga in college, but he only accumulated 420 minutes in two years with the Fire, but I think given the chance, he can play well on the back line.
Player Taken-Mehdi Ballouchy Position- M Former Team- Colorado Rapids. He is what you want in a midfielder. He makes plays and sets them up. He had 7 assists last year and 15 in 105 career games. (Freddie Ljungberg had 9 and was awarded to the Best XI squad.) He is could be a key figure in many goals to come for the Union in Philadelphia.
Player Taken- Mike Chabala Position- Def Former Team- Houston Dynamo. Chabala is a good young back. He’s not afraid to play physical and can get the job done on the back line.
There you go, my results from tomorrows expansion draft. I’m sure those guys who are getting paid to make decisions have their own plans and minds made up, but this was fun. We’ll see how it turns out. FINGERS CROSSED that we don’t lose Le Toux or any other important Sounders player….
Peace out, Stay sweet!
R.L. Judd
Nov
05
Currently on my tv right now is the MLS Cup playoffs. Columbus vs Real Salt Lake (that’s Re-al, not real). It got me thinking about how 1 year ago many many seattle people were eagerly waiting the Seattle Sounders FC. On November 25 this years expansion draft will occur, allowing the new team, the Philadelphia Union, to grab one player from 10 of the 15 teams in the MLS. Last year the Sounders picked up starters Nate Jaqua, James Riley, and Brad Evans. Its surprisingly a difficult decision for each team going into the expansion draft, they have to decide who to “protect” meaning they cannot be drafted. Teams are only allowed to protect 11 players, and the rosters are about 20-ish. Now I am not exactly sure on the guidelines for exemption, but for now I’ll just pretend there aren’t any. So there will be two groups, Available and Protected. So here is what I think…
PROTECTED: Freddie Ljungberg, Osvaldo Alonso, Steve Zakuani, Brad Evans, Nate Jaqua, Sebastian Le Toux, Leo Gonzalez, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Kasey Keller, James Riley, Roger Levesque.
AVAILABLE: Chris Eylander, Michael Fucito, Patrick Ianni, Tyson Wahl, Peter Vagenas, Nathan Sturgis, Tyrone Marhsall, Stephen King, Evan Brown, Fredy Montero, Zach Scott, Sanna Nyassi, Taylor Graham, Lamar Neagle, Terry Boss.
Okay, so you may be screaming right now wondering why I didn’t protect Montero. Well protecting him would be wasting a spot. I think there is little chance Montero is going to be a Sounder next year. He will sign with a team in europe I think. He did the MLS thing, he got his name out there, now he’ll go on to bigger and better things. Almost the same thing with Hurtado, but I think he will stay another year (although he did work out with AC Milan in Italy). If Keller comes back for another year, we need to have zero chance of him leaving, so protect him. Marshall is old and is probably considering retirement so I wouldn’t bother using a spot for him. Levesque showed that he can be Mr. Super Sub down the stretch of the season so I protect him as means of saying we really don’t want you doing that for someone else and also as a if Montero leaves, you’ll play more.
Most likely to get picked: Ianni, Sturgis, King. These three are the young, but also have experience guys. Maybe add Scott to that too. I’d almost go as to say if we don’t protect Keller, protect Ianni. He has played well when he does (the game winning bicycle kick speaks for itself).
The saddest part about this season won’t be if the Sounders lose in the playoffs, it will be that someone most likely won’t come back next year. This team did a lot in fixing the empty place in many hearts after the Sonics leaving, and each of the players was truly a part of something special this season.
Oh, and the SuperDraft (the regular draft) would be a soon after. I say we go for a striker, anticipating the departure of Monteo.
Peace out, stay sweet!
R.L. Judd
Oct
12
So the Mariners season is over. While I sit watching the remaining teams duke it out in the always awesome postseason, I continue to work my little sports mind on what needs/should be done for next year for the Mariners. I’m sure Jackie Z has better and more professional plans, but I like to vent my thoughts anyways.
Priority number one needs to be to lock up Felix Hernandez. Not to just sign him either, we have to put our offer out there right away before he can think about the money Boston or New York would be willing to give him. He had a great year, one to put him on the national map, so now we have to ensure he stays a Mariner for a long time. Other pitching needs are to let Erik Bedard go. He didn’t like it here and couldn’t stay healthy. He did pitch well when he pitched. We get a compensation pick for him leaving. Give arbitration to Ian Snell, David Aardsma, and Mark Lowe. We had a great young bullpen and we should keep that in tact. Snell desperately needed out of Pittsburgh and showed that he can pitch well for us. If Bedard goes, we should look for maybe picking up a pitcher to replace or to help Felix with the young pitchers slotted to take rotation spots next season. If it’s possible, maybe look into eating the rest of Carlos Silva’s contract. He hasn’t been good since the first 2 months of last season. But I understand that 2o something million dollars is a lot of money to just toss away.
In the field its a bit more tricky. Many people are calling for Adrian Beltre’s departure. But until this year he put up his career average numbers of (about) .270 batting average, 20-25 home runs, and 80-90 RBIs. Having that reliable bat and outstanding glove could very much be missed, but he will cost a lot of money. Jack Wilson has an option for the ‘10 season. Take it. He may not be a stand out offensively, but his mastery of the glove and his veteran presence will be contagious to the rest of the team. I think that if he’s up to it, bring Mike Sweeney back. He was one of the driving forces to bringing the clubhouse together that lacked the camaraderie needed to be an actual “team.” The Griffey debate should be closed with his carrying off of the field. He wore sunglasses for a reason in the post game celebrations, and I think it’s because he knows that was his last game. If Junior (and/or Beltre) leave, the front office should take the Branyan road. Which by the way, Russell Branyan deserves a second year in Seattle. Give him another year, 2 max, to play and have Dustin Ackley ready for some major league playing time by next september. Find a middle of the road free agent and give him a shot, I don’t think we should cough up ridiculous amounts of money for a “Richie Sexson” type of player just to watch him underperform.
Players to let go: Bedard, Ryan Langerhans, Endy Chavez, Ken Griffey Jr., Josh Wilson, Beltre, Miguel Batista, Silva?
Players to look at: Jarrod Washburn (bring him back!), Ubaldo Jimenez (possibly look for a trade), Rocco Baldelli (could be a great left fielder sharing time with Michael Saunders), Mark DeRosa (Beltre replacement), Felipe Lopez.
Lets see what happens!
Peace out
R.L. Judd
Sep
30
5: Yellowstone National Park. I made the trek to Yellowstone with my cousins some years ago. It was a unique trip, I really enjoyed swimming in the “fire hole river” that was warm water from the hot springs, did NOT like waiting for 90 minutes for some dinky geyser. Old Faithful was super sweet too. And my and my cousin nick lost RPS three times to my other cousin ashley and her friend. we always had to share a room with my aunt and uncle…
4: Hawaii. Every 5 or 6 years my family takes a big full family trip. the only places we’ve ever gone are Disneyland and Hawaii. Hawaii is super awesome. I’ve parasailed, scuba dived, biked a volcano, surfed and spent a lot of money in that state. It is always fun and ALWAYS an adventure when our family goes places together and add in Hawaii’s super nice weather and awesome activities and you have number 4 on this list.
3: Arizona ([1]lifeboat trip [2] spring training trip). So this is a two-fer. I went to Arizona when i was in 5th grade with my family to go to the Seattle Mariners Spring training in 2001. Anyone who knows me knows that I was in my element. the best part of that was when went to the Oakland A’s stadium and they didnt play louie-louie after the 7th inning stretch and everyone got mad cause thats what the mariners have been doing since forever. the second part is when my bible study when for our last hoorah. we stayed in a SUPER nice house. we had lots of hangout time and good fellowship and bible study times. funny thing i found out there was that most of my friends weren’t very found of me when they first met me.
2: New York. I my trip for graduating high school all planned out by the time i was 12. I wanted to see the baseball hall of fame! so spetember of 08 my mom and i trekked across the country to go visit new york. oddly enough one of my best friends tyler was going the same time for the same trip. We got to hangout all over times square and manhattan and the rest of the city. then my mom and i took the ridiculously long bus ride to Cooperstown in upstate new york. I couldnt tell you how long it was because i slept for pretty much the whole entire ride. But the HOF was pretty much my dream come true. saw all the greats, all my favorites, and even saw Dave neihaus’ plaque too!
1: Balck Lake Bible Camp. does this count? I dont care. I dont live there so i’m going to make it count. I’ve been to BLBC for 10 straight years. 6 as a camper and 4 as a staff member. this is my home away from home. Summer feels empty when i’m not down in Olympia, WA and I see more summers in my future being spent there hanging with campers =)
