Keefe To The City

Sep 9, 2013

Giants-Cowboys Week 1 Thoughts: ‘Disaster in Dallas’

A Giants letdown should have been somewhat expected on Sunday night given what has happened during the Tom Coughlin era, but it wasn’t and the “Disaster in Dallas” occurred.

I shouldn’t have been surprised that the first play of the Giants season and the first pass of Eli Manning’s season was intercepted. I shouldn’t have been surprised that the Giants turned the ball over on their second possession as well. I shouldn’t have been surprised that the Giants turned the ball over on their third possession as well. I shouldn’t have been surprised that David Wilson didn’t learn his lesson from Week 1 2012 and fumbled twice and then was benched. I shouldn’t have been surprised that Eli Manning threw for 450 yards and four touchdowns and the Giants loss. But I was.

I thought this year would be different the same way I thought 2012 would be after 2011’s Super Bowl run; the same way I thought 2011 would be after 2010’s collapse (it wasn’t until the postseason); the same way I thought 2010 would be after 2009’s collapse; the same way I thought 2009 would be after 2008’s post-Plaxico collapse; the same way I thought 2008 would be after 2007’s Super Bowl run. But Sunday night’s game wasn’t just a look at the 2013 Giants, it was a look at the Tom Coughlin Giants and it was a game that in a few years you won’t remember which season during the Coughlin era it came from because it fits perfectly in any of them.

I should have known better than to think that 252 days off between the Giants’ 2012 season finale and their 2013 Week 1 kickoff against the Cowboys would be enough time to try and correct a team that was 6-2 and headed for a division title before finishing 9-7 and out of the playoffs and unable to defend their status as “champions.” I should have known better than to think that the New York Football Giants would start a season off by playing to their potential and limiting turnovers and mistakes and penalties. I should have known better than to think the Giants would show up in Dallas and win. But what the New York Football Giants are isn’t something that I’m familiar with or something that only Giants fans are familiar with. It’s something that even the players familiar with. Here’s what Victor Cruz said.

“I thought that was the typical Giants story of how we come back. Kind of how we always are. We get down here, and we have to crawl back and fight back. And we make some big plays and the pendulum swings.”

“Typical Giants story?” “Kind of how we always are?” “We have to crawl back and fight back?” It’s probably not good that Cruz knows what the Tom Coughlin Giants are and are about. It’s one thing for me to write and talk about it, but it’s another thing for the players to actually understand that the Giants are always going to be involved in games like they were on Sunday night.

There was the “Miracle at the Meadowlands” and the “Miracle at the New Meadowlands” and now we have the “Disaster in Dallas.” Three interceptions, two fumbles and one effed-up punt return for a 36-31 loss and an 0-1 record. The lasting image from the game won’t be Eli Manning punching the air after Da’Rel Scott gift-wrapped a touchdown for Brandon Carr to end the game. And it won’t be Tom Coughlin looking so infuriated that the only thing to compare his anger to would be a parent who found out that their kid was kicked out of college for academic and substance abuse reasons, got a girl pregnant and racked up $45,000 of credit card debt and found these things out all on the same day. No, the lasting image will be David Wilson standing on the sideline with no one to talk, staring into nothing at AT&T Stadium with his helmet lifted up on his head wondering what the eff happened. Because that what all Giants fans were wondering: What the eff happened? Well, Tom Coughlin summed it up pretty well.

“Six times we gave the ball away. Six times. I’m totally disappointed and embarrassed by that. That’s sloppy football.”

Tom Coughlin hates turnovers more than you hate anything in your life and turnovers were the only reason the Giants lost and are now faced with the Broncos as the only separating them from being 0-2 and then going on the road for back-to-back games. So on that note, let’s get to the Week 1 Thoughts.

– It’s scary that the Giants had six turnovers and lost 36-31 and actually had the ball with 2:41 left and a chance to win the game 31-30. Does that mean A.) The Giants have the best offense in the league? B.) The Cowboys suck? C.) Both teams suck? D.) Nothing, it was just a Week 1 game? I’m hoping it’s A and B and not C, but it’s probably D.

– I have no idea what Eli was doing on the first play of the game. Zero idea. He has thrown 147 interceptions in his career and that was the worst one. For all the wrong-footed, ill-timed, goal-line interceptions he has thrown, that was the worst thing I have ever seen from Number 10.

– The Giants trail 30-24 and have the ball with 2:41 left and two timeouts. It’s third-and-5 from the Giants’ 22 and Eli hits Reuben Randle for 26 yards. The Giants now the ball on their own 48. They come out of the two-minute warning and on the first play Eli throws a pass to Da’Rel Scott that Scott deflects into the hands of Brandon Carr, who returns it for a 49-yard touchdown to end the game.

It doesn’t matter if Eli made a bad pass or that Scott should have had it. What matters is that Nicks, Cruz and Randle all had over 100 yards receiving at that point and the play is to Da’Rel Scott, who barely made the team and was only in the game because David Wilson had the worst game a running back could have. That’s your play? Is this real life? The only thing I hope is that that wasn’t supposed to be the play coming out of the huddle and a TV timeout for the two-minute warning. Please don’t let that be the case.

– Victor Cruz: five catches, 118 yards, three touchdowns. Hakeem Nicks: five catches, 114 yards. Reuben Randle: five catches, 101 yards.

It the Giants don’t turn the ball over six times a game, the Giants offense is going to be the offense everyone around the league gushes about and not the Broncos, 49ers, Falcons or Packers. But I guess that would only create hype and expectations for the Giants and in turn they would fail to live up to them.

– The defensive line was still missing from the end of the 2011 season on Sunday night until the Giants had to get a stop to get the ball back while trailing 30-24 and then Justin Tuck, Linval Joseph and Jason Pierre-Paul showed up. The defensive performance won’t be talked about since Eli’s three picks and David Wilson two fumbles and the overall loss to the Cowboys are the major storylines, but the defense was much better than I thought they would be. They bailed out the turnovers each time, got the biggest stop of the game to give Eli the ball with 2:41 left, held Dez Bryant to four catches for 22 yards and gave up just 331 yards of total offense.

Knowing the Giants, this will be like the 2013 Yankees where they either hit or pitch, but don’t do both together, and the offense will bounce back in Week 2 and limit the turnovers and the defense will get torched by Peyton Manning. If Week 1 retaught me anything I have learned about the Giants in my life, it’s don’t get too down on a big loss or too high on a big win. So I’m just going to say it would be really awesome if the defense would play like that again on Sunday. That’s all.

– I had to save the Man of the Hour for last. The Giants don’t have a choice, but to play David Wilson and fix his fumbling problems. They used their 2012 first-round pick on him, benched him for nearly the entire season after Week 1 a year ago and then he failed to live up to the job of being the No. 1 back with tons of pressure and hype on him entering last night. I didn’t think that not even 12 hours after the first game of the season I would be hearing rumors and reports that Brandon Jacobs could be returning to the Giants. Ladies and gentlemen, the New York Football Giants!

After the game, Wilson said, “I’m at the bottom now. Nowhere to go but up.” Well, that’s not true since you and the Giants could stay at the bottom. And with Peyton and the Broncos coming to the Meadowlands this week, going up might have to wait another Sunday.

Blogs • Email Exchanges • Giants

Sep 6, 2013

Giants-Cowboys Should Provide Usual Drama in Dallas

The New York Football Giants are back and open the season on Sunday night against the Cowboys in Dallas and that calls for an email exchange with Dave Halprin of Blogging the Boys.

The New York Football Giants are back and have the spotlight on them to start the season for the second straight year with a national TV game against the Cowboys in Dallas. It’s a battle between two teams with high expectations and the two teams no one knows what to expect each week. The talent in Sunday night’s game is unquestionable, but the consistent play from the NFC East rivals certainly is.

With the season kicking off in Dallas I did an email exchange with Dave Halprin of Blogging the Boys to talk about the game, how Tony Romo is perceived in Dallas and what the concerns are for both teams in Week 1.

Keefe: The two games the Giants and Cowboys played in 2012 were the two examples of what Giants football is.

In the first game (Week 1), the Giants were opening the NFL season at home after improbably winning the Super Bowl for the second time in four years. Prior to the game, they celebrated what they had done to end the 2011 regular season, their domination of the Falcons, their embarrassment of the Packers, their escape in San Francisco and their final-minute devastation of the Patriots … again. Would the Giants come out and prove to the football world that their playoff performance was who they really were and not what their 9-7 record suggested they were? Of course not. The Giants lost at home to a division rival because that’s what the Giants do. They lose when they’re supposed to win, they lose at home and they lose to the Cowboys at home.

When the Giants went to Dallas on Oct. 28 (Week 8), they had won three straight and five of six since their Opening Night loss to the Cowboys and were looking like the January-February Giants and not the the November-December Giants. When the Giants went up 13-0 in the first quarter and led 23-0 just 1:55 into the second quarter it felt too good to be true. And it was. The Cowboys scored 24 unanswered points to take the lead before two fourth-quarter field goals from Lawrence Tynes gave the Giants a 29-24 lead with 3:55 left. But even that wasn’t enough. An overturned 37-yard-touchdown catch by Dez Bryant nearly gave the Cowboys the lead (and most likely the win) with 10 seconds left. How did the game even get to that point? Because that’s what the Giants do. They never can put teams away and finish off a should-be laugher.

When the Giants last left me off, they routed an Eagles team that had been longing for the clock to run out in Week 17, but it was too little too late. They had blown their postseason chances by destroying their 6-2 record and losing to the Falcons and Ravens by a combined 67-14 in Weeks 15 and 16. So now what? Are the 2013 Giants going to be the 2012 Week 1-8 Giants or the 2012 Week 9-17 Giants. Is the offense going to be the big-play offense we have grown accustomed or the red-zone challenged offense that settles for field goals? (This is mostly because of Kevin Gilbride.) I like to think the Giants are going to be right there for the division and a playoff berth because I don’t want to think otherwise.

But let’s turn this over to you. The 2012 Cowboys left you off with a missed opportunity to control their own playoff destiny at the end of the season once again. So how do you feel about the 2013 Cowboys?

Halprin: By nature I’m an optimist, so I’ll probably always err on that side. But there are reasons to feel good about the 2013 Dallas Cowboys. One of the big things is they have been trying to upgrade the offensive line, a unit that was really holding them back. Besides Tyron Smith at left tackle, nobody was really that good last year, with some of them plain awful. Dallas drafted Travis Frederick to play center, and despite a lot of noise about picking him too high, it might turn out to be a very smart pick. He’s come in and been the starter at center from day one and has looked very good doing it. He’s held up physically in the middle during preseason, he’s handled the snaps with no problems and he’s making the line calls. His intelligence and his determination are often cited as key characteristics. So far, he looks much better than previous center Phil Costa. Ron Leary is slated to take over at left guard for Nate Livings. Leary was an UDFA in 2012 but only because he has a degenerative knee condition. Based on skill level, the Cowboys had him ranked as a third-rounder and other teams also had him ranked high but were scared away by the knee condition. He will probably start on Sunday and the Cowboys coaches are very excited about him. Doug Free returns as right tackle but after a terrible 2012 season he has looked like a different player in 2013 preseason. He’s regained his footwork and technique, hopefully solidifying the edge. And they just signed Brian Waters to take over at right guard. He’ll be a big upgrade from Mackenzy Bernadeau. So if this offensive line can play well, the Cowboys are stocked at skill positions on offense and should do serious damage. Of course, that’s a big IF the o-line plays well.

On defense, they made the switch to Monte Kiffin’s 4-3 Tampa 2. It’s a much simpler scheme to run and is based partly on creating turnovers. The Cowboys defense was terrible in creating turnovers last year but in the preseason this year they did a great job of getting the ball. Can it carryover into the regular season? We’ll see. The defensive line is banged up right now so that could be an issue, and I expect teams will try to isolate mismatches in the passing game against the base 4-3. It’s a gamble changing the scheme and it’s hard to say how it will play out. But overall, I actually liked what I saw in the preseason from most of the team, except special teams. That’s an area that needs to improve.

Keefe: Tony Romo enters the season with a six-year, $108 million contract extension ($55 million in guaranteed money) and now he will be an even bigger target for the media and football fans around the world who take pleasure in watching the Cowboys and their franchise quarterback fail. Romo has a 55-38 record in the regular season, but he’s won just one playoff game in his career (1-4) and is 0-3 when a playoff berth is on the line (even if none of those are wins or losses are solely because of him).

Romo has always been an intriguing athlete and figure and provides an interesting story because of the national divide on whether or not he is an “elite” quarterback and whether or not he is the answer to the future for the Cowboys. He’s the guy who can put up fake life statistics for 55 minutes of a game and then ruin that same game for his team with untimely decisions in the final five minutes. He has always scared me because of his ability to connect on the big play against the Giants, but at the same time I have always welcomed the idea of the Giants facing him in a big game.

I want to know what the perception of Romo in Dallas and what’s your personal take on him?

Halprin: My guess is there is a wide variety of opinions of Tony Romo in Dallas and among the Cowboys fan base, ranging from loving the guy to blaming the guy for everything. So let me only give my personal take.

Tony Romo is not the problem for the Dallas Cowboys, and he is very much part of the solution. I won’t sit here and say that he hasn’t made some big mistakes in crucial situations, everybody has seen that happen (although it’s curious why that seems to stick with him so much when I’ve seen plenty of other big-time quarterbacks make mistakes at crucial moments). The problem is Dallas wouldn’t even be in games with playoff berths on the line if it wasn’t largely through Romo’s efforts. If the Cowboys had a decent offensive line the past few years and a pass defense that didn’t constantly breakdown in scheme and through injuries, they would be fighting for higher seeds instead of just trying to make the playoffs.

Last year Romo spent a lot of time avoiding the rush, especially through the middle of the line, while also dealing with a non-existent running game. The Cowboys defense went through so many injuries last year that by the end of the season half of the lineup consisted of backups or street free agents. Yet through all of that Romo put up spectacular stats (except for INTs) and almost had the Cowboys winning the NFC East. Of course everybody will remember the bad game he put up against the Redskins in Week 17, but Dallas isn’t even in contention if not for Romo all year. Dallas’ defense fell apart in 2012, they were awful running the ball, Romo spent a ton of time avoiding the rush, yet he almost got the team in the playoffs. I’ll take that quarterback any day.

Keefe: Hey, it’s not like Eli Manning or Peyton Manning has ever made a big mistake in a crucial situation!

Earlier in the Romo era it seemed like the media was all about the Cowboys with their preseason predictions and this season the Cowboys are garnering some of that same attention they used to get. Meanwhile the Giants are sort of flying under the radar again, especially now with their injuries, which is the way I like it to be for the Giants since they never seem to play well when the spotlight is on them or hype surrounds them.

The biggest concern for me with the Giants is their defense and their depth given their injuries and the lack of talent and experience in the secondary, which leaves Prince Amukamara as the only reliable piece, which isn’t saying a lot. There is a good chance we could see Romo connecting with Dez Bryant and Miles Austin for big plays all night long and turning the game into the game we saw in Week 1 in 2007.

What are you most concerned about in the matchup against the Giants and what do you like for the Cowboys this week?

Halprin: One quick thing about the Romo question from before, I wouldn’t want to leave the impression that I don’t recognize Romo’s faults. The biggest is he can get loose with the football at times and sometimes he presses to make a play when he should just throw it away or take the sack. He’s still got some gunslinger in him which can backfire. Plus, he’s yet to win the big one, which allows you forthwith to make mistakes without heavy recriminations. So there’s that.

What concerns me most about this game is the Cowboys defensive line being ravaged by injury. Dallas will be without starters Jay Ratliff and probably without Anthony Spencer, they also lost a key backup early in camp (Tyrone Crawford) and they just lost Ben Bass, another key backup. They’ll be starting a player at defensive end who wasn’t even with them at the start of training camp (George Selvie). Besides DeMarcus Ware and Jason Hatcher, this is a patchwork defensive line. Also, Ron Leary will probably start at guard but is just coming back from a knee injury, so his play may be a little rusty. And at the other guard we’re likely to see Mackenzy Bernadeau, who is sketchy at best. Maybe Dallas will decide to play Brian Waters after all.

What I like is the Cowboys passing game versus the Giants back seven. There are a lot of question marks in coverage for New York, and Dez Bryant, Miles Austin and Jason Witten should be ready for big games as long as the line can protect Romo. We’ve seen Dan Connor play in Dallas and he struggles mightily in pass coverage, Dallas will look to exploit that if he’s in the game. And any corner not named Prince will surely be a prime target. The Cowboys passing game should be able to put points on the board if Romo stays upright.

Keefe: Since the start of the 2009 season, six of the eight games have been decided by seven points or less with the four games in Dallas being decided by 2, 6, 3, 5 points and the Giants have won all four of those games. The Giants have been a terrible home team during the entire Eli Manning era (they have one home playoff win during his career) and have played better on the road pretty much anywhere not named New Orleans, so it’s not just a Dallas thing, but I do like the success they had had in the Big D.

I have no idea how Sunday night will play out, mainly because if I did I would be living in a penthouse on the strip in Las Vegas making a living with my ability to correctly predict football games. Forget that it’s Week 1 and a new team and a new season, but the inconsistencies of the Giants complicate things the most when trying to visualize the game and what might happen.

It wouldn’t surprise me if the Giants came out and aired it out all game and let Eli, Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz play the type of game the Giants should be playing without Kevin Gilbride getting his hands on it and incorporating too much of a running game. But it also wouldn’t surprise me if the Giants come out and play the way they did in Weeks 15 and 16 last year against the Falcons and Ravens and lay an egg to stat their season.

The highs and lows of emotions as a Giants fan during a single game is something I wish every fan could experience (and maybe they already do) and I’m sure that my feeling of ecstasy for football being back will carry me until kickoff and I’m also sure the Giants will have me questioning whether or not I even like football at some point during the game (probably on the first drive).

What do you expect to happen Sunday night?

Halprin: As you mentioned, in recent games between these two teams the scored has usually remained close. Cowboys fans are pretty bitter about the Giants winning at JerryWorld so regularly, I imagine the players are kind of tired of it, too. I guess I expect another hard-fought NFC East divisional clash, but I also think this game could get sloppy at points. Dallas is dealing with injuries and change in a lot of areas which can be problematic, and combined with this being the first game of the season, perfect execution is doubtful. The Giants are also dealing with significant injuries on the O-line and in a couple of other spots, so overall it could be a matter of which backups who are forced into action make fewer mistakes.

I do think the Cowboys will win, but that’s just me being an optimist. I fully realize they could just as easily lose, so I’m not over-confident, but I predict a Cowboys victory, maybe 27-21 or something along those lines.

Blogs • Giants • NFL

Sep 5, 2013

NFL Week 1 Picks

The NFL is back and so are the weekly picks. Let’s get the 2013 season started off on the right foot with the Week 1 picks.

Labor Day is the ultimate Catch-22. The summer is over and the days get shorter as baseball starts to come to an end. But the temperatures get more reasonable, baseball pennant races pick up with hockey just around the corner and it’s the start of football season. The last thing there, “the start of football season,” is the one thing that keeps me from staying in bed, putting my Cliff Lee Sad Song Playlist on repeat and just waiting for the first nice day of spring, especially after a summer in which the Yankees have put themselves in a position where they have to win nearly every game in September.

The first day of football season means the first day of picks, doing longhand addition on the back of bills to create wild parlays, figuring out how to track four fantasy teams without getting the “Stop running this script?” message on a computer, freaking out over a suicide pool in the fourth quarter of the first week, searching for some overseas site that has every NFL game available to watch if you just answer some survey questions, drinking excessive amounts of beer and eating foods that contain little to no nutritional value.

Football is back in my life and so are the New York Football Giants.

When I last left off with the Giants, they decided to try and save their season in Week 17 against the Eagles when their season was already over. The embarrassment of another second-half collapse and destruction of a 6-2 record completed by the blowouts at the hands of the Falcons and Ravens in Weeks 15 and 16 made me happy that football was going away for eight months. But it’s been a long eight months of wondering “What could have been?” had the Giants not gone into the same freefall they have gone into every season during the Tom Coughlin era with the exception of the two Super Bowl winning seasons. But when Carrie Underwood leads us into Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth and the Giants and Cowboys kick off in the Big D on Sunday night, the bad memories of how the 2012 season ended will be erased (but not forgotten) and the hopes of playing in the last game of the football season will begin.

Football is back and that means so are the weekly picks.

Week 1 … let’s go!

(Home team in caps)

Baltimore +7.5 over DENVER
Week 1 is so hard to pick because there is nothing to go off of except what you remember from last season and everything you have been told and force fed in the offseason and possibly some preseason action if you actually watch preseason football. The only thing harder than Week 1 is Week 2 when all you have to go off is what you saw in Week 1, which could be completely off.

The defending Super Bowl champions are on the road to open the season because the Orioles are hosting the White Sox across the street from M&T Bank Stadium. That’s right, the fading Orioles are playing the 56-82 White Sox, so Ravens fans will have to celebrate their championship for the last time by watching on NBC or by spending thousands of dollars to travel to Denver for the game.

Last season the Ravens lost to the Broncos, 34-17, in Week 15 before beating them in two overtimes in the divisional round of the playoffs thanks to a 70-yard touchdown with 31 seconds left in the game and some terrible coaching and decision making form the Broncos.

So why are the Broncos giving over a touchdown at home on Opening Night to the defending champions? I’m not sure.

New England -10.5 over BUFFALO
Just for fun I took a look at the Bills depth chart to see what their working with in 2013 and it’s not pretty. Bills fans don’t like when anyone talks poorly about them or picks against them (even when a spread is involved), but even a Bills fan with the Bills logo tattooed on his neck (someone like this has to exist) or a Bills fan with the Bills logo tattooed on his bald head (someone like this also has to exist) would tell you that the 2013 season is going to be fine.

Pittsburgh -7 over TENNESSEE
I really, really, really don’t want to pick the Steelers at seven-point favorites, but then again, how can I pick the Titan to cover? I can’t.

NEW ORLEANS -3 over Atlanta
Last year the Saints season was over at 0-4 then revitalized at 5-5 then destroyed with a three-game losing streak. They were coming off the punishments from their bounty program and Sean Payton was suspended for the season. Saints fans haven’t had a chance to go crazy since their playoff game against the Lions on Jan. 7, 2012 and that was a long time ago. The Superdome is going to be a scary effing place on Sunday and it’s the last place the Falcons defense wants to be to open the season.

Tampa Bay -4.5 over NEW YORK JETS
With the start of football season comes “fan denial.” Every fan thinks their team is going to have a great year and no one wants to hear about the possibility of a lost season or being out of it before the end of September. “Fan denial” is prevalent around the entire NFL, but when it comes to the New York Jets and their fans it’s scary how out of touch with reality people can be.

The Jets are going to suck. They are going to suck in a way that when Rex Ryan is finally showed the door, the Butt Fumble might not be the most embarrassing moment that happened under his watch. But don’t tell Jets fans this. I have had some Jets fan friends tell me the team has a shot at the postseason if everything falls right and I have had others tell me at worst the Jets will finish 8-8. There’s no way to respond to anyone who could make themselves believe that, so I have just to nod my hod in agreement or say things like “Oh yeah, I could see that.” The key to handling Jets fans is to just wait them out. By Week 6 their season will be mathematically destroyed and they won’t be able to use overconfidence as a personality. Just wait them out.

Kansas City -4.5 over JACKSONVILLE
Somewhere someone who isn’t a Chiefs fan or a Jaguars fan is going to bet on this game and watch it in its entirety. Think about that.

CHICAGO -3 over Cincinnati
The Bears are the closest things to the Giants in the NFL when you look at their talent and ability to completely destroy a playoff-bound season. But when it comes to the Bengals there isn’t a team that has gotten as much positive attention and has had as many preseason predictions in their favor since the 2013 Toronto Blue Jays, the 2012 Kansas City Royals, the 2011 Boston Red Sox and every Cowboys team during the Tony Romo era. Nothing says “Letdown season” more than the 2013 Cincinnati Bengals if only because they are being picked to go play at MetLife Stadium in February.

CLEVELAND -1 over Miami
I keep hearing about how the Browns weren’t as bad as their record says they were last season and how close they were to being 8-8. The only problem is they weren’t. And because I initially picked the Dolphins to cover here and then switch my pick to the Browns like a ninth-grade U.S. History Scantron test, I know the Browns are going to lose and their offseason hype bandwagon is going to stall.

Seattle -4.5 over CAROLINA
Somewhere someone who isn’t a Seahawks fan or a Panthers fan is going to bet on this game and watch it in its entirety. Think about that.

Minnesota +6 over DETROIT
The way everyone says each season that three playoff teams could come from the NFC East can now also be said about the NFC North. And it’s time I think everyone needs to look at NFC North games the way they look at NFC East games (before the Eagles fell apart) in that every spread should be three points and any spread over that, you have to take the points.

INDIANAPOLIS -10 over Oakland
Remember when Matt Flynn was highly coveted because of one game (the final game of the 2011 season)? Remember when the Seahawks gave him $10 million of guaranteed money off that game and then made Russell Wilson their starting quarterback over him? And then remember when Flynn was traded to the Raiders two be their starting quarterback and lost out on the job to Terrelle Pryor? I always thought Matt Cassel being coached by Bill Belichick and getting to play with the Patriots offense in 2008 and then cashing in would always be the easiest way any NFL quarterback not named JaMarcus Russell would get rich. But then Matt Flynn came along and totally changed the game by having one good game.

It’s the Everyone Who Is In A Suicide Pool Is Picking This Game of the Week. And I guess it also should be the Anyone Who Is Doing A 10-Point Teaser Is Picking This Game of the Week.

ST. LOUIS -4.5 over Arizona
Somewhere someone who isn’t a Rams fan or a Cardinals fan is going to bet on this game and watch it in its entirety. Think about that.

Green Bay +5 over SAN FRANCISCO
I thought this line was high when I first looked at it in the middle of the summer long before the NFL season was in sight because why wouldn’t I check out Week 1 lines with the season months away? And I still think it’s too high especially with the entire world that isn’t all over the Broncos, Seahawks and Bengals being all over the 49ers when the Packers have the “best” quarterback in the league.

New York Giants +3.5 over DALLAS
The Giants have never lost in Cowboys/AT&T Stadium. (And did you think I would pick against the Giants playing the Cowboys in Week 1?)

WASHINGTON -4.5 over Philadelphia
After beating the Giants in Week 4, the Eagles were 3-1. After losing to the Giants in Week 17, the Eagles finished the season 4-12. A 1-11 stretch was enough for the Eagles to finally fire Andy Reid and try to give their team a much-needed facelift. The common theme this offseason has been that the Eagles won’t be good, but that Chip Kelly might be able to revitalize the team in his first year. Even if he can, it won’t happen in Week 1.

Houston -5.5 over SAN DIEGO
It’s disappointing that Norv Turner is no longer the Chargers head coach because I liked free wins with my picks. But I’m also happy that Norv is gone because this line would have been higher and more challenging had he still been the coach. I have been anti-Philip Rivers and anti-Chargers all along, so I’m not about to turn my back on my beliefs now even if Norv isn’t there.

Blogs • Email Exchanges • Yankees

Sep 5, 2013

The Yankees’ Last Chance to Make a Run at the Red Sox

The Red Sox are in New York for the last time this season unless the Yankees can continue their winning ways to set up a postseason series against their rival. It’s time for an email exchange with Mike Hurley.

The Yankees are 18-8 since they played the Tigers at home starting on Aug. 9. But even with a .692 winning percentage for nearly a month, the Yankees are still 2 1/2 games out for the second wild card and eight games out in the division. Their last chance to make a run at the division starts on Thursday night in the Bronx against the Red Sox. You know what that means. An email exchange with Mike Hurley.

Keefe: It seems like we don’t do one of these for months and then all of a sudden we are doing one a week since here I am talking to you just 19 days since our last one. I guess that’s a good job by Bud Selig and the MLB schedulers for stacking Yankees-Red Sox games and not spreading them out over the six-month season. Between the scheduling, the wild-card format and the replay system, which will put more value on innings 7-9 over 1-6 because that’s logical, well I would say that Bud’s legacy will be about being an innovator and genius and not the man who watched the PED era grow and blossom under his watch. I don’t think we have to worry about him reading this though since it’s an “email exchange” and contains the word “email” and Bud has never sent an email in his life. If there’s one thing I have learned in life it’s that you can’t trust a man who’s never sent an email. And since he’s never sent an email, he’s probably never been on YouTube either since he doesn’t allow MLB videos on YouTube and if we can’t trust someone who’s never sent an email, I don’t even want to know that a grown man that has never been on YouTube exists.

Somewhere in that last paragraph I mentioned the wild-card format. The decision to have two wild cards and a one-game playoff to advance to the division series was a decision made by MLB that I was strongly against and spent thousands of words destroying in a way that I have only ever destroyed A.J. Burnett, John Tortorella, Joe Girardi, Boone Logan, Nick Johnson and Brian Cashman. But here are the Yankees just 2 1/2 games out of playing in the wild-card game in a season that had it been pre-2012 they would be five games out of the only wild-card spot. So guess what, Michael Hurley … I love the wild-card format! I love it so much that I wish there was a third wild-card team. Can we get a third wild-card team? That way the Yankees make the playoffs and the top wild-card team could play the second and third wild-card teams in a one-game playoff before the one-game playoff. More one-game playoffs! Are you with me? Who doesn’t love one-game playoffs? I know Bud does. It’s too bad he can’t remember his AOL password to sign on and read this exchange.

Hurley: The funny part about Bud (just kidding, there’s nothing funny about Bud except for his Google image results page) is that prior to last year, I’m sure adding the wild card back in ’95 would have been near the top of the list of his proudest achievements. But now he’s completely thrown that system in the garbage, even though he used to think it was great, only to force some team that otherwise would have been in the ALDS to participate in a one-game playoff against a team that otherwise would be golfing.

For comparison with other sports, a one-game playoff in MLB accounts for a 0.6 percent representation of the regular season determining a playoff series. You may say, “Well, football has one-game playoffs, and that league is pretty good,” but one NFL game accounts for a 6.25 percent representation of the regular season. That would be a 10-game series in baseball. And in hockey and basketball, a playoff series lasts between four and seven games, which is between 4.9 percent and 8.5 percent of the regular season.

And the “just win your division!” argument is for dopes. The Braves could literally play the rest of the season with each player tying one hand behind his own back and still cruise to an NL East title, while the Cubs, Cardinals and Pirates will battle like crazy to avoid the stupid one-game playoff. All three of those teams could end up winning around 93 games, which could end up being enough to win the NL East and maybe even the AL West, but JUST WIN YOUR DIVISION! Even if the schedules are imbalanced and you play 90-win teams 36 times while another division leader gets to play four of the worst teams in baseball 72 times, I don’t care, just win your division!

So, sorry about that. Did you ask me a question?

Keefe: The last time we did this was on Aug. 16 and you said this regarding the Yankees’ playoff chances:

Do I think the Yankees can outplay the Royals, Indians and Orioles from now until Sept. 29? Absolutely. The Yankees have some soft opponents on the schedule, and they’re destined by a higher power to always split their season series with the Red Sox, so it won’t take an otherworldly effort for them to gain 5 1/2 games in a month and a half.

Since then the Yankees jumped the Royals, Indians and Orioles in the standings and the only thing that is between them and a playoff game is the Rays, who have lost seven of their last 10 games and still have five games left on the West Coast before returning home to host the Red Sox. Everything is falling in to place just like you had predicted and I want to thank you for that.

But before I buy a respirator, a defibrillator, steal someone inhaler, pick up two handles of Jack Daniels and a case of Bud Heavy for a potential one-game playoff involving the Yankees, the Yankees have to do some work against the Red Sox during this four-game series at the Stadium this week. And by work I mean they need to do what they did in August 2009 in the Bronx when they swept the Red Sox and put away the AL East and changed the way that season had been going. OK, so they don’t need to sweep, but they do need to win at least three games here at home in order to keep up with the wild-card race and even slowly drag the division back in the picture.

With the Red Sox holding a 5 1/2-game lead in the division over the Rays are you at all nervous about their postseason chances or can we put the clinched “x” next to them in the standings?

Hurley: To answer your question, yes I am very smart and yes I did nail that and yes I rule.

If 2011 taught me anything, it’s that nothing’s ever clinched. Those Red Sox had a much more daunting lineup than this year’s edition, and the ’11 Sox were 1.5 games up on the Yankees and nine games up on the Rays when September began. On Sept. 6, even after the Red Sox started the month 2-4, they still had an eight-game lead over the Rays for the wild card. Obviously you know that things didn’t turn out too well for the 2011 Red Sox, so no I don’t think anything’s clinched.

Where I do think the 2013 Red Sox are worlds apart from the ’11 version is just in guts. I’m sure the real stat-driven baseball analysts would laugh if they heard that, but I didn’t see any of them calling for this team to be a World Series contender when they assembled in Fort Myers in March. It’s a team that just has guts. They never feel like they’re out of a game, they fight and claw for wins, they pull for each other and they care about winning. Obviously they still need to hit and field the ball, but that type of effort is why I don’t anticipate they find themselves in another 2011 nightmare collapse.

I do see that the Red Sox are 7-5 against the Yankees though, so Boston is due to go either 3-4 or 2-5 against the Yankees the rest of the way. That’s just fact.

Keefe: That is just fact. The season series will end 10-9 one way whether one of the two teams only plays three fielders for the rest of the games against each other.

The last time we talked we also talked about how the rivalry had grown quiet because of the turnover on the rosters and because the Red Sox had been bad for the last few seasons. Then Ryan Dempster goes and throws at A-Rod three times before finally hitting him on the fourth try. The benches cleared, but unfortunately no punches were thrown because either A-Rod knew he might be 1-on-25 or because he realized that he’s appealing a 211-game suspension and he doesn’t need to give MLB any other reason to try and keep him off the field.

A lot was made about the incident since Dempster isn’t exactly Mr. Baseball with a career of mediocrity and A-Rod’s PED use and suspension appeal didn’t have any impact on Dempster’s career or life. On top of that, Dempster plays with David Ortiz, Boston’s own PED user, and I don’t think he threw at Ortiz in any simulated games or live BP in Fort Myers. But even though Dempster didn’t display his hatred for PED users against Ortiz, that didn’t stop Ortiz from taking A-Rod’s side in the incident and saying that Dempster was out of line.

Did Dempster drilling A-Rod lead the Yankees’ comeback in the game (they were down 2-0 when he got hit)? Probably not. Dempster not being a very good pitcher was really the reason for the Yankees’ comeback, but don’t you think Dempster ended up being a joke following the whole thing when you know that going into the game he thought he was going to be a hero?

And how about Ortiz? Why say anything about what happened? And if you’re going to, why go against your teammate? Is it because Ortiz is friends with A-Rod (because he is)? Or is it because Ortiz doesn’t give an eff about what he says since he did call Boston a “sh-thole” last season, which Boston has forgotten about along with his PED use.

Hurley: Good to know the tears still haven’t dried from your face since A-Rod got hit. Wah. Ever think Dempster wasn’t taking some stand against PED users and instead just thinks, like the rest of the world, that Alex Rodriguez is a dink? I honestly don’t know how or why more pitchers don’t throw at A-Rod more often. The man essentially is involved in litigation against the league and the team that pays him $30 million per year and is on his way to becoming the biggest sociopath in sports history. I’d put one in his back every chance I got if I could throw 90 mph. (I can throw about 60 mph.)

As for Ortiz saying something stupid, that’s what he does every year. Sometimes he calls Boston a “shit hole” even though he’s never once been booed at Fenway, even when he was hitting .050 for a couple of Aprils. Sometimes in July he complains about his contract negotiations from the previous winter. Even though he ended up getting more than he wanted, he claims the process was “embarrassing.” Now, he doesn’t agree with what his teammate did, probably because he likes A-Rod as a friend but more so because he hadn’t said anything stupid this year. But because the Red Sox kept winning, and because Dempster essentially received double his suspension because the Red Sox didn’t want him to pitch, it didn’t really blow up into a huge story this year.

You sound like such a sad loser, by the way. Go back and read what you wrote. It has “sad loser” written all over it.

Keefe: I don’t care that people throw at A-Rod, I care that Dempster did for no reason and you made my point. What does A-Rod making $29 million and suing the Yankees have to do with Dempster? Is Dempster’s aunt a member of the Yankees’ legal team and has to work late now to research and go over paperwork because of A-Rod’s lawsuit? Is Ryan Dempster suddenly baseball’s sheriff for no real reason other than that he wants to be?

Before we go on … Koji Uehara hasn’t given up a run since June 30, has retired 73 of his last 80 batters, throws a splitter basically every pitch and is 38 years old. Is Koji Uehara real life?

Hurley: You continue to cry like a school child. That’s weird to me.

I don’t understand the Koji thing. I mean, I understand it, but when you watch him pitch, he hardly looks like a dominant closer might look in your mind. What’s gotten it done for him is his splitter. Jarrod Saltalamacchia was saying last week that he doesn’t even know what the splitter is going to do. It’s got a lot of movement, and it’s not always the same, so hitters have just been baffled. I don’t know how someone hasn’t gotten into one over the past few months, and I don’t know how much longer it can continue, but to answer your question, no, he’s not real life. He was the team’s fourth choice at closer, behind Joel Hanrahan, Andrew Bailey and Junichi Tazawa. I don’t think a team has ever lucked into a dominant closer quite like this before.

Keefe: Ah, the Red Sox just lucking in to more things like going to Los Angeles for a three-game series and not facing Clayton Kershaw or Zack Greinke or getting Rick Porcello in the series finale against the Tigers or even getting the Dodgers to bail them out and stopping what looked like five-plus years of more bad baseball in Boston. And now a dominant closer down the stretch that they didn’t even consider for the role earlier this season?

On Thursday night the Yankees will face Jake Peavy for the first time with the Red Sox. Peavy has been very good in five of his six starts with Boston with the exception of one clunker against the Royals on Aug. 9. The Red Sox will face Ivan Nova 2.0 who has been dominant since returning from Triple-A and was just named AL Pitcher of the Month after going 4-0 in six August starts with a 2.08 ERA. On Friday we get Andy Pettitte and Felix Doubront, on Saturday we get David Huff in what would have been Phil Hughes’ spot and John Lackey and on Sunday we get Hiroki Kuroda and Jon Lester. Sadly, CC Sabathia will miss out on the chance to put the Yankees in an early hole and blow a lead and there won’t be a Ryan Dempster reunion.

When it comes to these two teams the pitching matchups never seem to matter. The Pettitte-Doubront game will end up being the 1-0 affair and the Kuroda-Lester game will turn in a 12-10 gongshow. But even knowing that the starters don’t matter since long gone are the days of Roger Clemens-Pedro Martinez games, which matchup or matchups intrigue you this weekend?

Hurley: You’re leaving out the fact that Miguel Cabrera missed two of the three games against Boston this week. That was pretty lucky too.

I don’t know which game will be best, but what is up with Sunday’s game being at 1 p.m.? I believe there is a sport called football on at that time. I wish that game was at 4 p.m., when there’s only one good football game on, but such is life.

I’m looking forward to seeing Jake Peavy pitch in Yankee Stadium. That dude gets charged up and drops F-bombs on the mound for throwing one ball. It’s nuts. I guess I like watching guys who look like Mutant Jeremy Renners curse angrily on live TV.

Keefe: Speaking of guys you like watching, I have somehow never ask you what your obsession with Cliff Pennington is. So what is it?

Like you said, the Yankees are due to win at least four of the last seven games of the season series because that’s just how it goes. When these two teams meet for important four-game series (or five in the case of 2005), crazy things tend to happen. And with the Rays playing the Angels on Thursday and then the Mariners over the weekend, the Yankees need to win this series or even do what they did in August 2009 in the four-game series in the Bronx that changed the division and the season.

The Yankees need three or four of these games this week to keep the pressure on the Rays and to even put some pressure on the Red Sox. And if that happens I will see you (well, your inbox) next week for the final three game of the season series.

Hurley: Cliff Pennington has a rocket arm. You should see that guy throw. Best player ever. No competition. He hasn’t figured out hitting yet, but maybe in his 30s he’ll get there.

I’m rooting hard for the Red Sox because if they win three of four and send the Yankees onto a slide, that means you won’t be invading my city next weekend. And any time you can stay away from me, I’m happy.

Blogs • MLB

Aug 23, 2013

Ryan Braun Deserves the A-Rod Treatment for Fake Apology

A-Rod has been the focal point of performance-enhancing drug users while Ryan Braun has quietly been forgotten. But after Braun’s fake apology, that should change.

I don’t have a problem with Alex Rodriguez for using performance-enhancing drugs. Sure, he cheated the rules put in place by Major League Baseball and his own union, but he didn’t hurt me.

Overall, I don’t have a problem with PED users and I’m certainly not losing sleep over the Steroid Era. I’m not a player on the bubble of either playing in the majors or the minors, who lost out on a job to Antonio Bastardo like Dan Meyer did, and I’m not some journeyman pitcher who gave up a bomb to an admitted PED user and was sent down and never made it back to the majors.

No one is sure of the exact impact and benefits of PEDs, how much they improve or inflate stats and if they are even worth risk. Yes, we hear about the doubles hitters that became home run hitters, oft-injured players who suddenly were indestructible and pitchers whose arms felt better than ever and found a few extra MPH on their fastball, but for the most part these stories we hear are about players with household names and stars who used some drug or supplement to try get better when they were already the best. But those aren’t all the cases. They are just the ones we hear about. What about all the players who used PEDs and didn’t make millions of dollars as a result or didn’t the make the majors at all? Why don’t we hate the guy (who definitely exists) that used PEDs because he was stuck in Double-A, got a cup of coffee in Triple-A, but has been watching his career pass him by in the Independent League? What about the guy who was never going to make the majors without PEDs, used them and still never made the majors? Why don’t we hate him? Probably because we don’t know about him.

If MLB’s “huge” investigation this past year landed us A-Rod (a previously known PED user), Ryan Braun (another previously known PED user), Nelson Cruz, Jhonny Peralta, Everth Cabrera, Jesus Montero, Francisco Cervelli, Antonio Bastardo, Jordany Valdespin, three minor leaguers and two no-name free agents then I would think there are way more of those last two examples I gave than everyday major leaguers who are using PEDs to try to get to The Show. We just don’t know about them and likely never will.

Since A-Rod’s 211-game suspension and return to the Yankees, he has become the face of PEDs and treated like the person responsible for creating and selling banned substances rather than one of hundreds or even thousands of players that have used them. The New York Daily News has treated A-Rod (who is a baseball player and plays a sport professionally) worse than any politician (someone who heavily impacts and controls things in real life and not on a baseball field) involved in a real scandal. They have an entire section of their sports page on their site dedicated to him called “The A-Rod Scandal Rewind.”

The normal booing for A-Rod on the road has grown tenfold and players around the league have spoken out against him, while forgetting to mention Cruz or Peralta. Jason Giambi is still hitting home runs for the Indians at age 42 and is viewed as a great guy and teammate, awesome clubhouse presence and an excellent choice to be a future manager in the league. I guess when he admitted his PED use in 2007 by saying, “I was wrong for doing that stuff,” it erased his PED use from his record.

Last Sunday, Ryan Dempster decided he would throw fastballs at A-Rod until he finally hit him and some people thought this was justified because “Hey, it’s A-Rod! Eff him!” But did Dempster also try to pick a fight with David Ortiz in the clubhouse for his past PED use? Did he tie Ortiz’s clothes together and put them in the shower? Why didn’t he throw at Ortiz during spring training in Fort Myers during live batting practice? Oh, that’s right, Ortiz never used PEDs because he said he didn’t at a press conference in 2009 even though he was on the same leaked list that A-Rod was a part of. So we’ll just pretend like that never happened the way Fenway Park did last weekend.

Why is MLB viewed differently than the NFL, NHL or NBA? Why is A-Rod the worst person in the world, but when Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller returns in Week 7 no one will remember he was suspended for six games for a failed PED test? Everyone cares about A-Rod and no one cares about Miller because baseball records are “sacred” and baseball beat writers and reporters feel like they’re responsible for protecting these records. And it’s baseball reporters who think players personally lie and cheat them when they use PEDs because they think their daily interactions in the clubhouse are real and anything more than them watching other men get dressed while they hold microphones in their faces. It’s because of these writers and reporters that we are made to believe that A-Rod is a terrible person for using PEDs and lying to people he’s doesn’t know, has never met and doesn’t care about when really there are 93 other reasons to not like A-Rod over the last 10 years.

I have my reasons for liking and disliking A-Rod dating back to his arrival in New York in 2004 and for having a love-hate relationship with him ever since the Yankees traded Alfonso Soriano for him. But I’m not upset with A-Rod for his PED use because I don’t feel like he lied to me, mainly because I don’t know him and I’m certainly not his friend (at least I don’t think), or a relative (at least I don’t think) or a teammate.

The same goes for someone like Ryan Braun. The only attachment I have ever had to the Brewers in my life was watching the 18 starts CC Sabathia made for them at the end of the 2008 season and hoping that his left arm didn’t fall off or explode before the Yankees could sign him that offseason. Other than that, the only time I watch the Brewers is if they are playing the Yankees, playing a team I need to lose to help the Yankees, are in the playoffs or part of a parlay. I don’t feel lied to or cheated by Ryan Braun since he is part of the Brewers, plays in the NL Central and really doesn’t impact the Yankees at all. And I don’t dislike him because he used a supplement or supplements that a group of people deemed illegal or unfair. I don’t like him for the way he has handled getting caught cheating the system and continues to handle it.

Even as Braun comes out looking worse and worse in the Biogenesis scandal, it’s still A-Rod that everyone wants to talk about. But hopefully, Braun’s fake apology statement that he released on Thursday will get people to start recognizing that Braun deserves the treatment A-Rod has been given.

Let’s go through Ryan Braun’s “apology” and see what he really said because he certainly didn’t say he was sorry.

Now that the initial MLB investigation is over, I want to apologize for my actions and provide a more specific account of what I did and why I deserved to be suspended. I have no one to blame but myself.

I’m glad there’s no one else to blame for YOUR use of performance-enhancing drugs other than YOURSELF. I can’t wait to see how specific you get.

I know that over the last year and a half I made some serious mistakes, both in the information I failed to share during my arbitration hearing and the comments I made to the press afterwards.

“Mistake” is a good word to use when you don’t want to say exactly what you did because you know how bad it was. So let’s get the Mistake Counter going. Mistake Counter: 1.

I have disappointed the people closest to me — the ones who fought for me because they truly believed me all along. I kept the truth from everyone. For a long time, I was in denial and convinced myself that I had not done anything wrong.

So far we know that Ryan Braun is responsible for Ryan Braun using PEDs, Ryan Braun is very good at keeping secrets and that if Ryan Braun thinks something is fine then it’s fine.

It is important that people understand that I did not share details of what happened with anyone until recently. My family, my teammates, the Brewers organization, my friends, agents, and advisors had no knowledge of these facts, and no one should be blamed but me.

History shows that Ryan Braun is a liar and when you’re pegged as a liar, especially one who lies to the public, you’re branded for life as a liar. And that’s why I find it hard to believe that no one, including Braun’s family, his teammates, the Brewers, his friends, his agents or advisors knew that he was using PEDs.

Brian “Smash” Williams used PEDs in Friday Night Lights and only his mom and Coach Taylor found out and having only them find out was over the top even for a TV show trying to create a storyline. You’re telling me that Braun’s real-life PED use was a better kept secret than Smash Williams’ TV PED use? Get the eff out of here.

Those who put their necks out for me have been embarrassed by my behavior. I don’t have the words to express how sorry I am for that.

Finally some truth. You “don’t have the words to express how sorry you are” is the only truthful thing you have said so far since you still haven’t said you’re sorry.

Here is what happened. During the latter part of the 2011 season, I was dealing with a nagging injury and I turned to products for a short period of time that I shouldn’t have used. The products were a cream and a lozenge which I was told could help expedite my rehabilitation.

A cream! It’s always a cream! No PED user who comes clean ever says, “I had a trainer inject me and I took a bunch of pills.” It’s always “a cream” that was used. So now we’re supposed to visualize Braun rubbing Vaseline on his leg and think “Oh, that’s not a big deal!”

But this time, not only was it “a cream,” it was also “a lozenge!” The only time I have ever heard the term “lozenge” used was when a school nurse would try to be fancy when someone had a sore throat and would offer a “lozenge” rather than a “cough drop.” So either Braun is trying to say he popped pills or he used lotion and Halls Triple Soothing Action Honey-Lemon Cough Drops to cheat the game?

It was a huge mistake for which I am deeply ashamed and I compounded the situation by not admitting my mistakes immediately.

This is what I don’t get about PED users. If you get caught, just admit it. The groundwork has already been laid out for you by past cheaters and there is a big enough sample size now to know that if you cheat the game and admit it immediately, you will be forgiven.

The first night A-Rod came back this season, Andy Pettitte faced Jose Quintana in Chicago. The entire country was focused on A-Rod and his return to the league and no one cared to mention, because everyone likely forgot, that both starting pitchers in the game were former PED users. Why? Because Andy Pettitte admitted to using PEDs. So instead of being Andy “HGH” Pettitte, he’s still Andy “All-Time Winningest Postseason Pitcher” Pettitte. (As for Quintana, no one really cares that he used PEDs.)

Mistake Counter: 3.

I deeply regret many of the things I said at the press conference after the arbitrator’s decision in February 2012. At that time, I still didn’t want to believe that I had used a banned substance. I think a combination of feeling self righteous and having a lot of unjustified anger led me to react the way I did. I felt wronged and attacked, but looking back now, I was the one who was wrong.

I am beyond embarrassed that I said what I thought I needed to say to defend my clouded vision of reality. I am just starting the process of trying to understand why I responded the way I did, which I continue to regret. There is no excuse for any of this.

Is Ryan Braun trying to turn lying about PED use into the same type of thing as being a sex addict? He’s “just staring the process of trying to understand he responded the way he did?” You responded the way you did because you’re a scummy person, who didn’t care about the lives of others, mainly Dino Laurenzi Jr. (who reports say Braun tried to say was an anti-Semitic Cubs fan), and all you cared about was clearing your name at all costs even if it ruined the names of others.

There’s no reason or process for figuring out why you responded the way you did the same way there isn’t a process for people like Tiger Woods, Michael Douglas and Steve Phillips to figure out why they cheated on their on wives. You’re scum, that’s why.

For too long during this process, I convinced myself that I had not done anything wrong. After my interview with MLB in late June of this year, I came to the realization that it was time to come to grips with the truth. I was never presented with baseball’s evidence against me, but I didn’t need to be, because I knew what I had done. I realized the magnitude of my poor decisions and finally focused on dealing with the realities of-and the punishment for-my actions.

There’s a 100 percent chance Braun has seen the evidence presented against him.

I requested a second meeting with Baseball to acknowledge my violation of the drug policy and to engage in discussions about appropriate punishment for my actions. By coming forward when I did and waiving my right to appeal any sanctions that were going to be imposed, I knew I was making the correct decision and taking the first step in the right direction.

Did you just pat yourself on the back for admitting to cheating after lying about it before and damaging Dino Laurenzi Jr.’s reputation? Yes, yes you did. And are you ever going to mention Dino Laurenzi Jr. by name or are we just going to pretend like the time you questioned his integrity, professionalism and reputation never happened?

It was important to me to begin my suspension immediately to minimize the burden on everyone I had so negatively affected — my teammates, the entire Brewers organization, the fans and all of MLB. There has been plenty of rumor and speculation about my situation, and I am aware that my admission may result in additional attacks and accusations from others.

I haven’t hard any rumors or speculation about your situation because everyone is so focused on A-Rod because he is the only player that has ever used PEDs.

I love the great game of baseball and I am very sorry for any damage done to the game. I have privately expressed my apologies to Commissioner Selig and Rob Manfred of MLB and to Michael Weiner and his staff at the Players’ Association. I’m very grateful for the support I’ve received from them.

The only person that should support you out of those three is Michael Weiner because he technically has to as the executive director of the MLBPA. As for Selig and Manfred, it’s disgusting that they support you since you tried to lie and deceiver the system that have tried to create. Here was Manfred’s statement after Braun was suspended:

“We commend Ryan Braun for taking responsibility for his past actions. We all agree that it is in the best interests of the game to resolve this matter. When Ryan returns, we look forward to him making positive contributions to Major League Baseball, both on and off the field.”

That’s just as bad as this “apology.”

I sincerely apologize to everybody involved in the arbitration process, including the collector, Dino Laurenzi, Jr.

Heyyyooooo! We have our first mention of Dino Laurenzi, Jr., the collector whose name Braun dragged through the mud and destroyed when it was first announced that the former MVP had failed a drug test. I thought we were going to make it through the entire thing without referencing his name.

I feel terrible that I put my teammates in a position where they were asked some very difficult and uncomfortable questions. One of my primary goals is to make amends with them.

I understand it’s a blessing and a tremendous honor to play this game at the Major League level. I also understand the intensity of the disappointment from teammates, fans, and other players. When it comes to both my actions and my words, I made some very serious mistakes and I can only ask for the forgiveness of everyone I let down. I will never make the same errors again and I intend to share the lessons I learned with others so they don’t repeat my mistakes. Moving forward, I want to be part of the solution and no longer part of the problem.

If Ryan Braun were to get suspended next year after all of this would anyone be surprised? If you would then you’re clearly not paying attention because if you told Braun today that he could take PEDs that would improve his game and they would go undetected and he would never fail a test or get caught, he would take them. He already used banned substances despite knowing that the possible risks and repercussions of using them, so of course he would take more banned substances if he would get away with it. So it’s hard to believe that Braun is going to be part of the solution and not part of the problem.

Mistake Counter: 5.

I support baseball’s Joint Drug Treatment and Prevention Program and the importance of cleaning up the game. What I did goes against everything I have always valued — achieving through hard work and dedication, and being honest both on and off the field. I also understand that I will now have to work very, very hard to begin to earn back people’s trust and support.

You support baseball’s Joint Drug Treamtent and Prevention Program? The same program you tried to lie and cheat around? That’s a weird way to support something.

I am dedicated to making amends and to earning back the trust of my teammates, the fans, the entire Brewers’ organization, my sponsors, advisors and from MLB. I am hopeful that I can earn back the trust from those who I have disappointed and those who are willing to give me the opportunity. I am deeply sorry for my actions, and I apologize to everyone who has been adversely affected by them.

The Mistake Counter ended with five, but here’s a sixth. It was a mistake to give a statement until you were ready to apologize.