A very rough afternoon for Russell and the Raiders

It’s official Raider Nation: JaMarcus Russell is not only going to be a bust – he’s lost his damn mind.

We’re three years into the Russell experiment, and so far the results are not just bad – they’re damn right Ryan Leaf-ian. To be fair, we can hardly count the first season of Russell’s NFL career since he wasn’t signed until almost October and missed training camp and preseason. But Russell has had nothing but time to learn since then, and instead of getting better, he’s getting much, much worse. But don't tell him that - the quarterback has repeatedly said he's feeling fine about his play so far. At least someone in Oakland is...

Giants fans, this is a season to be proud of

Well, it was fun while it lasted. The San Francisco Giants dropped two of three in Los Angeles with a 6-2 defeat in the series finale on Sunday. The Giants' loss, coupled with Colorado's win, puts the Giants four and a half games back in the Wild Card race.Tim Lincecum didn't see the fifth inning as he struggled with his command and even issued a four-pitch walk to pitcher Randy Wolf in his ineffective outing.

The San Francisco offense is too sporadic, too impatient and too prone to making unproductive outs. There is a gaping hole at the shortstop position and Aaron Rowand has the quietest 15 home runs and 62 r.b.i.'s in baseball.

There are serious issues that need to be addressed. The Giants have no answer at first base. Randy Winn, who before this season was a lock for a solid average and clutch hits, is coming off the books. Their starting rotation will have to cope with the likely departures of Randy Johnson and Brad Penny after this season.

But this is no time to hang your head if you are a Giants fan. This team was predicted to finish near the bottom by most of the experts and armchair analysts across the country. A season above .500 is a huge step forward for a team that hasn't played meaningful games in September since 2004.

Yes. It is disappointing. There was a period of time in August when this team looked like it caught lightning in a bottle and was going to be a force. But the offense is too weak and impatient.

Pablo Sandoval will come back in 2010 and contend for the MVP, provided he stays healthy. Nate Schierholtz will benefit from playing every day and will establish himself as one of the best defensive right fielders in baseball. He will also hit .290 and drive in 85 runs.

Matt Cain and Lincecum will push each other like they did in 2009 and carry this team towards a division title in 2010.

This team will make a splash with a free agent signing, but I am more looking forward to the trade I think should be made. Pair Brian Wilson and John Bowker for a bat. Sergio Romo is ready to close and Bowker has "AL" written all over him. And don't pick up Ryan Garko's option.

There is a lot to be grateful for. I know this day is disappointing, but it will be OK. It's not like one of our top prospects is detained in connection with murder or anything, right?

A's fans - do you know the way to San Jose?

Earlier this month, consulting firm Conventions Sports & Leisure International released an economic impact report for a possible new A’s stadium in San Jose. On Tuesday, the San Jose City Council unanimously approved the report – but what the hell does that mean?

It means we’re one step closer to seeing the San JosA’s, but there’s still a long way to go.

The approval of the economic impact report seemed like a no-brainer: the report found that almost 1,000 jobs would be created by a new ballpark, and it would generate $130 million in benefits (such as tax revenue). The report would make you believe that the city of San Jose would be foolish not to allow the A’s to set up operations there, and apparently the council agrees.

Unlike the A’s previous attempt to build a stadium in Fremont, so far it has been smooth sailing for the San Jose proposal. Mayor Chuck Reed even appeared at a news conference before the meeting, voicing his support of the project.

The biggest hurdle that remains is the territorial rights issue with the San Francisco Giants. The Giants have always considered San Jose to be part of their territory, and MLB would need to approve of the A’s infringing on it. Why the Giants would be opposed to the A’s going from a city that is 10 miles away (Oakland) to one that is 40 miles away (San Jose) is beyond me.

One of the most curious things about the proposed new stadium is its capacity. The proposal calls for a stadium with about 32,000 seats, which would be by far the lowest capacity in the majors (the Florida Marlins’ new stadium, which opens in 2012, is the second-lowest at 37,000). The impact report puts average major league attendance at 31,700 per game, which would make the A’s new stadium a guaranteed sellout every night if that number holds. Combine that with increased revenue for Billy Beane to work his magic with, and I think A’s tickets will actually be hard to come by in 2014 (imagine that!).

Another interesting fact that came out of the report was the average ticket price data for all 30 major league teams. The A’s rank eighth in average per-game ticket price at $29.20, which is $7 higher than the cross-bay Giants, who play in a fancy new stadium. I would assume that this average is probably inflated by the removal of about 10,000 cheap seats (A’s fans might refer to it as the third deck) for baseball games.

So now we wait on Bud Selig and MLB to issue a ruling on the territorial rights. And guess what? Good ole’ Bud hasn’t set a date for when MLB will issue that ruling. I wonder if the Yankees would have gotten a date…

Are you ready for some football? 2009 NFL Preview

The Autumn wind is upon us – football season is finally here! It’s time for 17 weeks of hard-hitting football, and we’re going to celebrate the kick-off at Unsportsmanlike Conduct by offering a look into our predictions for the NFL season.

AFC WEST: Oakland Raiders (8-8)
AFC NORTH: Pittsburgh Steelers (14-2)
AFC SOUTH: Indianapolis Colts (14-2)
AFC EAST: New England Patriots (12-4)
WILD CARDS: Houston Texans (10-6), Baltimore Ravens (12-4)

Analysis: You read that right – I am calling my shot, Oakland wins the West this year and has a (gasp) home playoff game. Now before you get all out of control, realize two things: First, that the Raiders will finish 8-8, which isn’t that spectacular of a record; and second, that the division is absolutely atrocious. Remember that 8-8 did, in fact, win this division last year. The Broncos are in for a very bad season, and the Chiefs won’t be much better this year. San Diego could still win this division, but even if they do it won’t be at better than 9-7. The Chargers have to deal with an aging LaDainian Tomlinson, and Norv Turner will always cost a team at least a game or two every year. Oakland’s three-headed running back monster of Darren McFadden, Michael Bush and Justin Fargas is going to take a lot of pressure off of JaMarcus Russell, and Richard Seymour is in a contract year - at age 30 he needs the last big score to set up the rest of his career. Expect Seymour to play with a fire in his belly, and immensely improve both the run and pass defense. If the Raiders do play better defense and effectively hand the ball off about 30 times a game, 8-8 is very much within reach. They are going to get stomped on in the first round of the playoffs though, anyway.

As for the others, Pittsburgh has a soft schedule, and the Steelers are a good team that hasn’t gotten any worse – they will have the No. 1 seed in the postseason. The Colts won’t lose much without Marvin Harrison since Anthony Gonzalez has stepped up. As for New England, the Patriots are going to find their defense is not what it used to be now that most of the leaders have left, but they have enough firepower to overwhelm most teams. When New England runs into teams that can pressure Tom Brady, it’ll be in serious trouble. The Ravens also have a favorable schedule, which allows them to use a steady offense and still-great defense on the way to 12 wins. The pieces are all in place for Houston, and now is the time for the Texans to make their first postseason trip in franchise history.

NFC WEST: Arizona Cardinals (10-6)
NFC NORTH: Minnesota Vikings (11-5)
NFC SOUTH: New Orleans Saints (11-5)
NFC EAST: Philadelphia Eagles (13-3)
WILD CARDS: Chicago Bears (11-5), Dallas Cowboys (10-6)

The NFC East gets a huge boost this season because it gets to play all of the AFC West teams, which is almost like guaranteeing three wins a piece. Philly has the defense to stop good offenses, and Donovan McNabb finally has an offense that is stacked with young, explosive weapons. The Eagles were already a conference championship favorite before Michael Vick, but his addition could add a dimension that makes their offense virtually unstoppable. The Vikings are also a team poised for a huge year, because all Brett Favre has to do is complete a few deep passes a game to keep defenses from stacking the line. If Adrian Peterson continues to dominate, Favre is going to be especially deadly with play-action passes to speedsters like Bernard Berrian and Percy Harvin. The Saints haven’t been able to put it together the last couple of seasons, but Tampa Bay is going to struggle and Carolina and Atlanta can’t help but regress a little, so I look for New Orleans to capitalize and win the division. The Cardinals will actually finish with a better record than they did last year, thanks to a favorable schedule and a boost of confidence from their Super Bowl run last season. But if Kurt Warner gets hurt or regresses to his fumble-prone ways, the West is a division that could be stolen by either the San Francisco 49ers or the Seattle Seahawks.

The Bears with Jay Cutler will be successful, but they can’t overcome Minnesota in the division. The Cowboys, like the Eagles, benefit mightily from playing the AFC West, and finally make it back to postseason play. Look for Washington to make noise in this division as well. Jason Campbell has improved steadily every year, and the addition of Albert Haynesworth will be huge. There have been few defensive players that have such an impact as he does – he really is a game changer. I will be shocked if two teams from the NFC East aren’t playing postseason football.

PLAYOFFS

AFC
Wild Card
Baltimore over Oakland
New England over Houston

Divisional
Indianapolis over New England
Pittsburgh over Baltimore

Conference
Pittsburgh over Indianapolis

NFC

Wild Card
Dallas over Arizona
New Orleans over Chicago

Divisional
Minnesota over Dallas
Philadelphia over New Orleans

Conference
Philadelphia over Minnesota

SUPER BOWL XLIV
Pittsburgh over Philadelphia

Are the Silver and Black on Crack?

By Fernando Gallo

In the words of Vince Lombardi: What the hell is going on here?

The Raiders have traded for defensive end Richard Seymour, giving up a first-round pick in 2011 in the process. That the Raiders made a move from completely out of left field is not really a story these days. But this trade? Oy vey...

For the Patriots, I completely understand why they made this deal. Seymour is in the last year of his contract and they don’t like to pay anybody. He’s got three rings already, so he’ll likely want to set up the rest of his life with one last fat contract. The Pats certainly weren’t going to give him that, so they trade him for a possible top-ten pick. Makes sense.

As for the Al Davis All-stars - what are you guys thinking? This move makes sense for a team that really is one piece away from Super Bowl contention, but not for the bumbling Raiders. Seymour is a former Pro Bowler, and certainly talented, but is his addition going to shore up a run defense that got gashed by three of four opponents this preseason? Doubtful.

This solidifies the fact that Davis is simply too stubborn to succeed in today’s NFL. He refuses to flat-out rebuild, and this latest reach might be one of the most painful. Based on the fact that Oakland hasn’t won more than six games since 2002, the pick they just gave up is likely to be a good one. And if Seymour leaves for free agency after this year, this is one of the dumbest trades in NFL history.

On a slightly different note, is there some sort of secret, under-the-table deal between Davis and Patriots owner Robert Kraft? These two teams just can’t seem to get enough of each other. The Raiders hired former defensive coordinator Rob Ryan from the Patriots in 2004, gave away Randy Moss to them in 2007 in a deal that still gives me nightmares, and sent disgruntled defensive lineman Derrick Burgess there earlier this year. Oakland seems to be doing New England a lot of favors - how about a little reciprocation one of these days?

Recession Claims Another Job - Anyone Need a Super Bowl Hero?

By Jordan Guinn

Wide receiver David Tyree, who became famous in Super Bowl for his miraculous catch during the winning drive of Super Bowl 42, has been cut from the New York Giants.

The sixth round pick out of Syracuse in 2003, he missed last season because of knee trouble. Health was an issue this year as well. Plus, reports say he was having a hard time holding onto the ball.

Tyree, if healthy, should bounce back with another team. By no means should his career be over. No one is saying Tyree will have a plaque in the football hall of fame, but he deserves a shot as a second or third option somewhere.

He will always be fondly remembered by me and fellow New England-area sports haters. His ball-pressed-to-helmet catch helped wipe the cocky grin off the Patriots' faces.

Seeing Bill Belichick scurry off the field with time on the clock and leave his team to deal with the shame and embarrassment on their own is one of the greatest sports moments of all time.

But professional sports is a business, and feelings and nostalgia have no place in it. It doesn't matter that Eli Manning and Tyree paired to created a phenomenal memory and historic sports moment; he was dragging down the squad's chances for 2009.

The lesson is simple: Business is down; the recession claimed another job. Teams can't afford to keep a memory.

The Present ain’t Pretty, but the Future is Bright in Oakland

By Fernando Gallo

To the casual fan, the Oakland Athletics are pathetic: They trail the AL West-leading Angels by nearly 20 games, and their offense ranks near the bottom of the league in home runs (27th), batting average (24th), slugging (28th), and even Billy Beane’s beloved on-base percentage (22nd). For many A’s fans, this has been a season to forget, and we all know that the Eastern Seaboard Propaganda Network (also known as ESPN) never has a problem ignoring West Coast teams.

But the truth of the matter is that Beane has done it again - he has worked some magic and amassed a wealth of young talent. The writing was on the wall after the A’s last postseason run to the ALCS in 2006. Even though they finally got over the first-round hump that had dogged Beane’s celebrated tenure as general manager, that team was not built for the long hall: Barry Zito was in the last year of his deal, and his numbers were already on a downswing that would continue in San Francisco (ha ha); Esteban Loaiza’s career was winding down (it ended in 2008); despite his MVP-caliber season, at 38, Frank Thomas didn’t have many homers left in him; and Eric Chavez and Rich Harden were showing signs of the injury-plagued years that were to come. All of these pieces were key to Oakland’s rise, and their shelf life was dwindling fast.

So Beane did what Beane does best: He sold high and got some great young prospects in return. Despite the fact that he was becoming a dominant pitcher, Danny Haren was dealt for a cavalcade of minor leaguers. Many other veterans soon followed, and Oakland would rightfully earn the moniker of the Triple A’s as the prospects rolled in.

Now fast forward to 2009: The last three seasons have helped to develop some fantastic arms, including starting pitchers Brett Anderson (21-years-old), Trevor Cahill (21), Gio Gonzalez (23), and closer Andrew Bailey (25). Among those pitchers, both Anderson and Gonzalez appear to have ace-quality talent: After struggling mightily with control issues, Gonzalez has surrendered less than three runs in five of his last eight starts and is averaging better than 9.5 strikeouts per nine innings. Anderson appears to be hitting the proverbial wall, struggling in his last few starts, but he has had some brilliant outings this season, including a 2-hit shutout in his first career start at Fenway Park against the Red Sox. Cahill has also strung a few good starts together, and the flame-throwing Bailey was the A’s lone All-star representative in July - he currently has 21 saves in 25 chances.

Overall, the A’s have four rookie pitchers and 12 players on the everyday roster with three years of big league experience or less. Catcher Kurt Suzuki has proven himself to be a very dependable hitter (.271 career average and .405 career slugging percentage), as well as a strong leader among the pitching staff. And outfielder Rajai Davis has been a classic Beane diamond in the rough: After being cut by the rival San Francisco Giants two years ago, Davis has claimed the starting spot in centerfield with a .298 average and 30 stolen bases.

One of the most interesting developments for the A’s has been the evolution of their enigmatic general manager. Loved by stat geeks and hated by old-schoolers, Beane has been told that his vaunted “Moneyball” methods have failed in the long haul, but that is definitely not the case. Howard Bryant of ESPN wrote an article that was surprisingly even-keel by ESPN standards (but way too long), and he explains what many A’s fans have known for a long time: It’s not that Beane’s methods didn’t work - it’s that they worked too well. The Red Sox figured out that Beane’s ideas were worth copying, and their payroll dwarfs Oakland’s. The result? Two championships in four years.

“Moneyball” was never about on-base percentage; it was about exploiting the inefficiencies in the market. Home runs and .300 batting averages will always be expensive, but Beane tried to find the things that helped win games and were much cheaper than the conventional stats. In 2002, it was on-base percentage. Now that everyone has caught up to the on-base revolution, Beane has been forced to find new inefficiencies and change his methods.

So what is undervalued right now? Speed and defense. Beane was a fervent hater of the stolen base, as reflected by his team’s stats: The A’s haven‘t finished better than 14th in the majors in stolen bases since 2002, and have finished dead last in that category three times in that span. Beane felt that the risk of losing a base runner outweighed the benefit of a possible stolen base, so he never acquired speedsters and the A’s never ran. But this year, the A’s are fifth overall in steals, and Davis has been allowed to run hog wild on the base paths.

Defense has always been a hard quality to measure statistically, so Beane ignored it for the most part. He opted to try to hide bad defenders in the corner outfield spots or at first base, but lately defense has made a comeback. The re-signing of Mark Ellis proves that point: Beane doesn’t find .267 career hitters that appealing, but he gave Ellis a two-year deal in 2008 because of his great defense at second base.

So what does this all mean? It means fear not, A’s fans - your team is still in good hands. The young pitchers have gained valuable on the job training this season, and the team has switched to a six-man rotation for the rest of the year to allow the kids to rest. Beane still has to prove that he can develop a power hitter (he hasn’t had much success in doing so since Eric Chavez), but there are many viable candidates for that role in the minor leagues. All of the trades have always been part of a long-term plan, with the one-year veteran deals just there to ensure the team stays competitive. The A’s will soon be just a veteran or two away from the postseason (like they were in 2006), and a long playoff run is on the horizon. In the meantime… there’s always football!