When watching sports, I do my best to not blame results of games on the officials.  I believe in human error, officials can make mistakes just like every player does on the playing field.  Scott Norwood can push a field goal wide right, Bill Buckner can let a ball slip through his legs, Chris Webber can call a time out despite being out of them.  We accept this as part of sports, and I have incredible respect for the athletes who sit down at a press conference and face the firing squad of reporters peppering them about the mistake with class.  While watching the USA-Brazil Women’s World Cup match today, I again found myself wishing there was more official accountability in sports.  Umpires, Referees, and officials are not required to face the press in any sport I am aware of.  Last season we witnessed Jim Joyce make a poor call that cost Armando Gallaraga a perfect game.  We all respect Jim Joyce rather than rip him because he sought out reporters and publicly apologized for his mistake.  In the NFL, if a referee screws up, the play can be challenged and when deemed to be incorrect, the referee must announce the overturned call over a loud speaker to all of the stadium and the millions at home watching.  There has been plenty of questionable calls recently in Major League Baseball, and people are calling for umpires to be fired.  I don’t believe that should be the case, but demotions should certainly be a part of the umpire by-laws.  If Rick Ankiel develops the yips and shows a consistent inability to throw a strike, he is sent to AAA.   If CB Bucknor shows a consistent inability to have a consistent strikezone, he gets to sit behind the plate for a playoff series.  At the time I am writing this, the first half of extra time is just finishing up in the USA-Brazil match.  There have been an incredible amount of questionable, if not just plain pitiful, calls.  Poor officiating is a part of sports, but sports are always evolving, and we cannot get perfect officiating, but why not make the officials available for questioning after the match?  Why not make the umpires available after a baseball game?  Allow the officials to face the media, maybe then the public can gain a better appreciation for the human element of the game and understand where the officials are coming from.  If the official in today’s World Cup match says she saw a midfielder come forward early and Hope Solo got the card for arguing and the offside on Marta’s goal was just plain missed, it becomes easier to swallow.  But the fact that no officials are ever required to explain what they saw or why they made the call they made hurts sports.  Bill Buckner misses the ball but faces the media in time becomes a sympathetic figure.  Don Denckinger blows the call at first in a nearly identical situation, and Denkinger is still ripped because did not have to face the media until years later.  If the officials in sporting events are held publicly accountable, it can help add closure to mismanaged events and humanize the enemy that is the official.  If we get to know the officials, get to know why they made the poor calls they did, maybe, just maybe, we can lessen the hostility most fans hold toward the anonymous people officiating the game.

Baseballs First Half Awards Podcast

Enclosure

For our loyal readers, we have The Stain t-shirts. We have developed a good base readership, but we want to keep expanding, so, if you are interested in a shirt, email Shaun@Mattryanspoostain.com. We do have a very limited quantity to start, so hurry if you want one.

Keep an eye out next week for another stupidity in sports smear, a list of the 10 worst organizations in professional sports, and a podcast of the baseball first half awards.

In the spirit of the creation of this blog, we will start to post dialogue spawning from email arguments/discussions regarding the world of sports to create more content and get the raw thoughts of opinions of Torsten, Shaun, and friends.  Here is today’s chat regarding the weekend’s Gold Cup final.

Fank – Soccer insider posted the following:

The goal of the year. If there was one reason, just one reason to watch the Gold Cup final between Mexico vs USA, it would have to be Giovani Dos Santos’s other world goal. Unbelievable skill from the Racing Santander midfielder who kept the ball on a rope drawing out half the US defense and Tim Howard off his line and then in an exhibition of delectable control chips the ball perfectly towards the far post and over a leaping Eric Lichaj.

He was brilliant throughout the match. With his jinking runs and tight ball control he reminds one of the earlier Ronaldinho

Shaun – Excellent goal, but far from goal of the year.

 

Frank – Excellent goal, and definitely goal of the year.

 

Torsten– It was a nice goal, for sure.  But goal of the year???  People are always quick to anoint a singular display of skill as the goal of the year, especially if they are partial to the team or player.  It pains me to say it, but nothing this year has compared to Wayne Rooney’s bicycle against Manchester City.  As much skill as Dos Santos’ showed to accurately place the ball where he did, it also required a shambolic display by a hideously disorganized US back four, and a extremely ‘premature’ Howard.

 

Then again, maybe I’m biased against Dos Santos.  I loved the kid, and when he went to Tottenham I couldn’t stop singing to my close friend George how his beloved Spurs had just signed the next great World player… and he proceeded to make me look like a fool.  ::sigh::

 

Shaun – Agree about the Rooney bicycle kick.  While grossly over played due to the fact it was Rooney on Manchester United.  It was the game winner between two defenders, placed with even better precision than Santos, and in the Manchester Derby.  Yes, this one was the Gold Cup Final, but a mid-season Wigan-Blackpool match might have more worldwide intrigue than the Gold Cup final.

 

Frank – See now this is the way you rebuttal a comment like “Goal of the Year” with FACTS!

 

Thanks for reminding me of the awesome play Wayne Rooney did in the beginning of this year. I think you might be right. Who else in their career other then a handful of players (Pele, being the king) can say they have scored on a bicycle kick between two defenders. The opposite of that play is Rooney missing the ball, falling flat on his back on being number one on “2011 Blooper Highlight video”

 

What Gio did is unseen before and he completely fooled a whole backside defense, pulled out a VETERAN goalie, and had him crawling on his hands and knees attempting to stop a play he helped create. FYI – if you see the replay again, Jones could have completely stopped the play from happening, if he concentrated on the ball instead of the pass.

 

All in all, this was a really good game.

 

Shaun – Disagree it was a good game.  Howard over-committed multiple times and the defense failed to mark over and over.  It was a fundamental breakdown on the side of the USA and Mexico just kept a controlled attack and allowed the US team to crumble on their own.

 

Torsten – Howard may be a veteran… but has always been mediocre at absolute best, with epically bad position he can occasionally compensate for with supreme athletic ability.  Again, nothing taken away from Gio’s outstanding shot, but the US backline at the time of his goal was an over-the-hill Carlos Bocanegra, inexperienced Clarence Goodson, over matched Eric Lichaj (who looked much better in limited action for Aston Villa last season than he did at any point in Saturday’s game), and Jonathan Bornstein, who may be the worst player in organized soccer history.  One would have to think that if the US played Jay DeMerit and Oguchi Onyewu at center backs, Steve Cherundulo (always underrated) hadn’t gotten hurt, and even if he had, brought in someone better than Bornstein to replace him (my mother for example) that Gio would not have been able to so easily run roughshod in the US 18.  

 

On the bright side, Freddy Adu looked terrific.

It’s fitting, isn’t it, that one of the biggest decisions in baseball history gets made by perhaps the sport’s all time biggest idiots. As we all know, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig vetoed the multi billion dollar television deal between Fox and the LA Dodgers. Before you get the wrong idea, it is probably the right decision. What, Torsten? How can an idiot whose equal you’d struggle find in recorded history make the right call, you ask? The answer is, he can’t.

Dodger “owner” Frank McCourt is his own special kind of excrement, but we know this. The great thing here is that Selig made his decision because he felt it was not best for the Dodgers. The reality is, McCourt should never be trusted with anything resembling money after it has been shown he essentially stole 100 million dollars in Dodger funds for personal use, and easily that much or more of the proposed deal would go into his pockets too (not to mention his ((expletive deleted)) of an ex wife). And the question remains, how could the man who single handedly nearly ruined my beloved game of baseball by turning a blind eye to PED use (if not unequivocally encouraging it), allowing for the destruction of parity by failing to implement a proper luxury tax, among other things, be allowed to judge what is best for ANYTHING?

The irony is saturating, yet it’s somehow appropriate that baseball’s own confederacy of dunces, the used car salesman and the parking lot attendant as the LA Times excellent columnist TJ Simers calls them, are the principles in this mess.

Now, I would never wish anything bad to happen to any two people (three if you include Mrs. McCourt). And I am also a liar.

Bryce Harper – Did you see him blow the pitcher a kiss a couple weeks ago?  Kid is gonna get drilled if he does that in the big leagues, but that is not what qualifies him for my June edition of Stupidity in sports, no, instead it is his failed attempt to earn a spot in the Mustache Ride Through Time.

 

Stanford University – Stanford is actually not the stupid ones here, but instead they have decided to remind their football recruits how stupid it would be to not go there.  They have sent out a letter to all the football recruits that shows the final BCS standings, in which they finished ranked 4th, and included the average annual salary of the graduates of each school.  It shows that the average Stanford grad makes $119,000 a year, the other teams in the top 25 average more than $39,000 less a year.  Bravo Stanford.

Texas Fisherman – If you have ever been fishing, you have lied about the size and how many fish you caught.  Well, don’t do it anymore in Texas, it can get you arrested!  That is right, Texas recently passed a bill that makes it as big a deal as a potential felony to “misrepresent the size, weight, or provenance of a fish in a fishing tournament”.  Fisherman have been guilty of cutting off the tail of a fish in order to make it fit into a category that betters the chance to win a tournament and stuffing lead weights into the stomachs of of bass to win tournaments.  They say everything is bigger in Texas, including the repercussions of your fishing stories.

Kyle Busch – He has been in the news quite a bit lately for his fueds with fellow NASCAR drivers, but one thing you may have missed was his recent speeding ticket.  Now, it is no surprise that a race car driver would get caught speeding from time to time, but Busch managed to get clocked at 128 mph in a 45 mph zone.  Pretty sure he set the high score on that rode.

Nicolas Leoz – The FIFA representative from Paraguay, was cleared of the report that he had demanded knighthood in exchange for his vote for England as host of the 2018 World Cup, but it has now been reported he has suggested England rename their FA Cup after him.  What happened to the good old days when corruption was simply leaving a duffle bag full of fresh cash would do the trick?

There are just some things that I honestly never thought I would be doing. Not the least of which is saying that I watched a Chinese woman who I’ve never heard of win the French Open of tennis… Then again, I only know Maria Sharapova and that other chick who’s banging Enrique Iglesias. And then there’s that other one with all the substance abuse issues in the 90s… And that one who got stabbed… But that’s not even the point. Point is, I’m now sitting on the couch watching Baylor and Missouri battle it out in the women’s college softball World Series and it’s scoreless through 12. Each starting pitcher is STILL IN, each has made more than 160 pitches, they’ve combined for nearly 30 strikeouts, given up a combined 7 hits, and are still hitting 70 on the speed gun… which is about the MLB equivalent of 98. Oh, and the pitcher from Missouri made 90+ pitches in another game this afternoon for a healthy total of about 250 for the day. Eat your heart out, Nolan Ryan.

Watching Jonathan Papelbon and Jason Varitek get tossed by Tony Randazzo in the Red Sox A’s game today for arguing balls and strikes warmed my heart a little today. Nothing like blowing a lead in the ninth and blaming the ump for it, when it was former AL MVP Dustin Pedroia who let a game ending grounder go through his legs.

Did I miss something? Specifically, where was I when Christina Aguilera got a boob job? Holy hell, they’re huge! Beautifully huge… but geez, girl, do some cardio. Those wiggle woggle arms gotta go. What’s that? She had a kid??? Sigh… I’ve been under a rock…

Top 13, and the Baylor pitcher, some chick named Canion, is visibly tiring… after a beautiful TWELVE scoreless innings!!! Every major league pitcher, listen up. You’re a gigantic wussy. Take it from this tough guy here. HONEY! THERES NOT ENOUGH OJ IN MY MIMOSA!!!

Ok, maybe a bit of an over-reaction, but seriously, did you watch racing on Sunday?  JR Hildebrand has a huge lead in the Indy 500 and inexplicably slams into the wall on the final turn.  Then in the Coca-Cola 600, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has a decisive lead and runs out of gas on the final lap.  At first glance, this may be just an odd coincidence, but I say nay….I blame the terrorists.

Why the terrorists?  Did anyone notice what Earnhardt and Hildebrand had in common, other than the letter “d” placed in odd spots in their name and could be called JR (or Jr.)?  How about the fact that both cars were sponsored by the US National Guard, and on Memorial Day weekend when we honor those that have fallen fighting for this country, the two cars sponsored by a branch of our military fail to complete seemingly simple victories.  And is it not a subtle sign that the Earnhardt’s failure was due to the fact he ran out of gas?

Seriously, if both had won the races, you know the opening to Sportscenter on Memorial day would be a proud patriotic tribute to these two cars.  So, in a joking, conspiracy theorist sort of way, I blame the demise of the cars on who else, but terrorists. 

Thank you and happy belated Memorial Day.

I got a good response to my Stupidity in Sports Smear about 6 weeks ago, and so long as sports keep supplying it, I will attempt to post a new version every month or so.  Now without further ado, time for the April/early May edition. 

Mike Leake – I know this is an old story, but still, the guy was busted for shoplifting 6 shirts under $10 a piece.  His base salary is in the $400,000 range.  I am excited when I can find shirts under $10 that I like, and I make a small fraction of Mike Leake’s salary…but apparently $60 is too much for a big leaguer to pay for a weeks worth of wardrobe.

Cal State Long Beach Cheerleaders – No, cheer leading is not a sport, but this story is just too good.  The Cal State Long Beach Cheer coach was fired and the school gave up their national title when it was discovered one of the male members of the squad was in fact a former student who no longer attended the school and was ineligible. 

Carl Lewis – He recently attempted to run for the New Jersey state Senate.  Problem, New Jersey has a four-year residency requirement to be eligible to run for Senate.  Carl Lewis “did not yet own his home in New Jersey, did not otherwise live in New Jersey, did not file his taxes in New Jersey, was not registered to vote in New Jersey and did not have his business in New Jersey” until the past year.  And while he won the first law suit, he lost the second and was determined he is not allowed to run for Senate in New Jersey.  Maybe in a few years Carl.

Jonathon Broxton – Broxton recently went on the DL with soreness in his elbow.  As of my last check, they had not figured out what is wrong with it.  Why you ask?  Simple, the bum that lost me a bet with Torsten is too friggin fat to fit in the MRI machine.  Hey Broxton, eat a salad, throw a strike, and stop sucking.  I owe Torsten a lunch because of your fat ass.

Paul Pierce – In game one of the Boston Celtics-Miami Heat series, Pierce was tossed due to his second technical foul, which was a bit questionable at the time, but when reading his text after the game, not only was it reasonable, but it made for my favorite trash talk ever.  You may remember in game 6 of the Eastern Conference final when Le’Bron James basically quit on his team.  Then there were rumors of Delonte West having…how shall we say…relations with James’ mom.  Well, West is now with the Celtics, James is with the Heat, and when the hard screen was set by Pierce and there was a bit of an altercation between Wade and Pierce, he simply said he would do the same to Wade’s mom as his buddy Delonte did to James’ mom.  A well earned technical in my book.

Tenby AFC – A very small football club in West Wales knows how to party.  During a season ending banquet, after a few beers and games of pool, one of the members of the team thought it would be fun to moon his teammates, one of his teammates too exception, shoved a pool cue in the direction of the mooning player, and firmly impaled the cue into the players…again choosing words carefully…rectum.  That is right, one guy shoved a pool cue up his teammates ass….ok, so I allowed one less than PC word slip but in a completely worthy scenario.  The Premiership players may enjoy throwing darts at kids, but in the small town clubs, it is all about sodomizing your buddies with pool cues.

And now for an attempt at creating a sign off for myself….Smear ya later.

Eh…worth a shot.

This time of year, you get a lot of sites grading drafts with A, B+, C-, etc. grades.  I don’t believe in that.  In 2007, most people would have given the Raiders an A because of their pick of big armed QB Jamarcus Russell and a RB who simply fell because of a broken leg in Michael Bush.  How does that draft look now?  In this Smear, I will simply rank the teams based on how I felt after pick 254 on Saturday evening.  May not be accurate a few years from now, but based on the guys picked, this is how I set the “power rankings” from the draft today.

1) Tampa Bay Buccaneers – This is a team that could easily have near zero productive guys out of the draft, but the potential upside and that roster makes this draft potentially epic.  Adrian Clayborn and Da’Quan Bowers are both top 10 talent with potential injury risks.  If they stay healthy, these two guys alone could make a draft.  Add Mason Foster and Ahmad Black, and you get two servicable guys at positions of need.  Allen Bradford runs too much like Blount, but RB depth was also a need.

2) Baltimore Ravens – Jimmy Smith might be the best corner in the draft if it wasn’t for his character concerns.  Torrey Smith reminds me too much of DHB, but his speed will stretch a defense opening up the veteran savy receiving corp.  Jah Reid can step in at right tackle today, making The Blindside, Michael Oher, protect Flacco’s blindside.  He is better on the right, but a quality left tackle none the less.  Add Chykie Brown and Pernell McPhee in the 5th are both late round steals and Tyrod Taylor brings an athletic back-up QB into the mix.

3) Detroit Lions – Early on, Nick Fairley was being argued as the top pick of the draft, but he slipped to 13 overall and will line up next to Ndamukong Suh making what may be the best middle of a defensive line this generation will see.  Then you look at Titus Young to be the possesion guy opposite Megatron and Mikel Leshoure to help accent Javhid Best make the Lions weapons even more lethal.

4) Cincinnati Bengals – A.J. Green is my favorite receiver out of the draft since Calvin Johnson.  I didn’t fully expect the Bengals to go in the second based on ownership, but Dalton as the fifth QB off the board is a potential steal.  I also really like Moch and Clint Bolint, both guys that can make immediate impacts in Cincy.

5) Dallas Cowboys – Tyron Smith was by far the best offensive line fit in the draft for the Cowboys.  Doug Free can now focus on being left tackle, and the Cowboys can move forward knowing they have a guy that could potentially become the best right tackle in the league.  David Arkin can start right away at the right guard, giving the Cowboys great protection for Tony Romo, but also potentially adding to one of the most versatile running games in the NFL, including the addition of DeMarco Murray.  Opposite DeMarcus Ware they will now have an excellent second round pick in Bruce Carter.  May just be a Cowboy homer here, but I really think this is a great draft for a team I usually hate after draft day.

6) Pittsburgh Steelers – Cameron Heyward in the first round…yeah, cause the Steelers need more pass rushers.  I really liked the fit of each of the first 5 picks for the Steelers.  After Heyward, they added a big offensive lineman to improve a line that was suspect in Marcus Gilbert, then added Curtis Brown to be a Nickel corner who could easily become a solid number two corner.  Then in rounds 4 and 5 they add guys who could be overlooked in this draft with Cortez Allen who will work against spread sets and could develop into the Nickel corner, and an outide linebacker in Chris Carter who I had as a third round talent.

7) Buffalo Bills – Pretty easy when you can just sit there and have Marcel Dareus fall to you in the third pick of the draft.  He will cause problems for every offense in the league this year.  Add a potential first round corner in Aaron Williams, a solid linebacker in Kelvin Sheppard, and another impact corner with Da’Norris Searcy.  Add the depth of 5 more selections, and you have a draft that could easily move this organization in the right direction.

8) Washington Redskins – I knew I would give the ‘Skins a good grade on Thursday, regardless of what they did the rest of the way when I saw them actually add draft picks through this year, and next year’s drafts.  Especially Friday when they traded back 3 times adding picks from the second round and getting Leonard Hankerson in the third round.  They let Jacksonville jump up in the first to get Gabbert, while moving back and still getting Ryan Kerrigan.  Then early in the second, to get the next nose tackle to replace the worst free agent signing in history, with Jarvis Jenkins to likely take the spot from Fat Albert.  Then take into account they added 9 more players in rounds 4-7, and the Redskins are creating competitiveness and depth to their roster.

9) Arizona Cardinals – First thing anyone says is “they didn’t get a quarterback”.  Well, they feel they can get a veteran this offseason, if there is one, and didn’t like any of the QB’s available, so they went with a guy that many feel is the best player in the draft in Patrick Peterson.  Then, one of the worst running teams in the NFL, added a talented running back in Ryan Williams to battle with Hightower and Beanie Wells, which can only improve that running game.  I also loved the Sam Acho pick in the 4th to add a pass rusher, and Quan Sturdivant, a 3rd round grade by me, in the sixth round to man the inside of the linebacking corp.

10) New England Patriots – I would have preferred they go Cameron Jordan in the first round, but I like Solder.  They have two guys that can start the season at tackle, and while you usually expect a first rounder to start right away, by mid season, Solder could very well be a franchise left tackle.  Then in the first pick of the second round, the Pats picked a guy that I absolutely love.  Ras-I Dowling is a true shut down corner, and had it not been for an injury, he would have been a first rounder.  Then at the end of the second round, Shane Vereen was picked.  If you watch the tape from two years ago, you will see a junior running back from Cal out play Javhid Best, and that guy is Shane Vereen.  He can catch, and is a big play threat, which is just what the Patriots need, plus I have known the kid since he was about 10, so I have a personal rooting interest in him.  I didn’t like the Ridley pick, but love the Mallett selection.  Mallett might be the most physically gifted QB in this years draft, but had questions about work ethic and character, what better place to turn that around than New England?  Worst case he becomes a second or third round trade piece that the Patriots use to improve the team in a few years.

11) Tennessee Titans – Most people will look at Jake Locker at 8 overall and disagree with it.  I don’t.  I really like Locker, I do feel he needs time to learn the system behind a veteran QB, but he has the ability to be a franchise QB.  They really needed an outside linebacker, and they got the second best true backer with Akeem Ayers in the second round, a guy I liked in the middle of the first round just a few months ago.  They then solidified their defensive front with Jurrell Casy in the third round and Karl Klug in the 5th. 

12) New York Giants – They went with the best available players, and it worked, although they didn’t really fill any needs.  Prince Amukamara is an absolute steal, as was Marvin Austin.  Their biggest problem in the draft is they did not come away with an impact offensive lineman which they despersately needed.

13) Cleveland Brown – Phil Taylor and Jabaal Sheard in the first two rounds will make a huge impact on that defensive front.  They really needed a WR to help stretch the field, and I don’t think Greg Little will be that.  But, the Browns did set themselves up to win the draft next year as they got the first and fourth round picks from Atlanta.  Two solid first round picks will be huge for this team in a very good AFC North.

14) Miami Dolphins – Mike Pounces was certainly a bit of a reach, and when they traded up in the second round, you had to think it was for Ryan Mallett, but instead it was for a running back in Daniel Thomas.  While I like Thomas, and he was certainly the last potential impact back left in the draft, I don’t think he is a great fit for Miami.  I did love their fourth round pick in Edmond Gates though.  He was a mid-round guy I really liked and I think can have a very good career.

15) Houston Texans – J.J. Watt will take over as a defensive end allowing Mario Williams to play standing up and be an incredible pass rusher very much the way the Cowboys use DeMarcus Ware.  Brooks Reid can rush the passer from the other side, and suddenly the worst passing team in the league will have 3 guys in the backfield on every play.  To improve the back end of the defense, they added Brandon Harris, who will certainly improve their secondary.  On Saturday of the draft, I was really focused on one QB who I feel has the skills to be a starter some day, and they got him in T.J. Yates.  Sitting behind Shaub will be incredibly beneficial, and Schaub is not exactly the most durable guy, so Yates just may make an impact in just a year or two.

16) Denver Broncos – Von Miller is a game changer, I liked Dareus better here, but Miller will be a huge help for this team.  Then in the second round they got a guy who is an absolute ball hawk of a safety in Rahim Moore.  My main concern for the Broncos after this draft, is where the defensive line help is gonna come from.  There were plenty of mid round LB talent, but very shallow on the line, which is why I think passing on Dareus was a huge mistake.

17) Chicago Bears – Gabe Carimi was a great pick and a huge steal for the Bears at what was certainly their biggest need.  Second biggest need after cutting ties with Tommy Harris is a defensive tackle, which they got in a guy who will be a poor man’s Haloti Ngata.  They didn’t have many picks late in the draft, but they did add depth at a couple postitions of need.

18) Indianapolis Colts – Anthony Castanzo and Benjamin Ijalana instantly improve the poor offensive line of the Colts.  These two guys alone make for an incredibly good and useful draft.  Most people will hardly notice this draft though, as the late round picks I don’t see making much of an impact, if any, and Peyton has never really had a good offensive line.  This draft will give Peyton more time and extend his career, but in order to make another deep playoff run, I think they needed to add depth to their thin defense.

19) San Francisco 49ers – Aldon Smith was a bit of an odd pick as he doesn’t seem to fit that system, but you have to think they have a plan for that.  Colin Kaepernick could be a really good QB.  I think the 49ers need to keep/bring in some quarterbacks to keep a real competition, and make Kaepernick earn the job, as he will have a very steep learning curve.

20) New Orleans Saints – Most have them much higher than this, and I absolutely love Cameron Jordan, but I am happy as a New England fan to trade back and allow the Saints to get Mark Ingram.  He will give the Saints a downhill running game, but I don’t feel he was a true first round value with the running backs you could get in the second round of this draft.  I don’t see anyone else in this draft having much of an impact for them.

21) San Diego Chargers – Another team I am much lower on than most, and that is mostly because I don’t see Corey Liuget fitting into this defense.  Jonas Mouton and Marcus Gilchrist in the second are both guys I am not sold on, and while I think Vincent Brown is decent, he probably could have been there in the fourth but they selected him in the third.

22) Jacksonville Jaguars – I really liked the idea to move up and get Blaine Gabbert.  I think it will prove to be one of the best moves in this draft a few years from now, and I really wanted to put them higher on my rankings,  but they didn’t get anything else of note.  Rackley is ok, and the other three picks won’t make an impact.  This draft will basically be a wash this year, but next year it will look good.

23) Green Bay Packers – Derek Sherrod is a great pick for the reigning Super Bowl champions and Randall Cobb will fit in well in that receiving corp.  My biggest issue with their draft was passing on Akeem Ayers to play opposite Clay Mathews.  They clearly needed help on the other side of their linebackers and Ayers would have been an amazing fit at the end of the first round.

24) New York Jets – Muhammad Wilkerson and Kendrick Ellis will be two massive bodies on the defensive front, but they didn’t do anything to improve their team.  They essentially replaced veterans with rookies whose ceiling are even with those veterans.  Greg McElroy will be interesting, he is a very smart QB and can serve as a quality backup to Mark Sanchez.

25) Kansas City Chiefs – Jonathan Baldwin in the first round was arguably the worst pick of the draft.  He is a mid-second to early third round wide receiver but was taken in round one.  The saving grace for this team is the fact I really like Rodney Hudson in the second, love Justin Houston in the third, and think Allen Bailey is another steal in the third round.

26) St. Louis Rams – Torsten may hate this draft, but I really like Robert Quinn, and I think he will be a huge impact guy on this team.  I was baffled by the second round pick of Lance Kendricks, but I do like both Austin Pettis and Gregory Salas.  Neither WR will be game changers, but are certainly upgrades to the cluster of below average receivers Bradford had last year.

27) Atlanta Falcons – I actually really liked the Julio Jones pick.  They gave up too much, but Jones will be a huge impact on the Falcons.  My concern is the fact it looks like this team thinks they were just one guy away from a Super Bowl, which is never a good way to look at it.  This draft will likely handcuff this organization for years to come.  They did surprise me though by getting talent despite giving away half their draft.  Akeem Dent is a really good player, Jacquzz Rodgers in the fifth round will be a Darren Sproles type guy to change the pace of Michael Turner, and Cliff Mathews was a guy I thought would come off the board in the fourth round, but they got him in the seventh.

28) Carolina Panthers – When you have the first overall pick and there is a guy there at the quarterback postion who will put butts in the seats and could be the face of a franchise, you pick him.  Time will tell if it is a decent pick or not, but that is not why they are ranked 28th in my draft rankings, it is because I did’t like a single other guy they drafted.  I want to like McClain or Fua for the Panthers sake, but I don’t, I just really don’t like what they did after their first pick.

29) Philadelphia Eagles -Danny Watkins is a good player at a position of need, but I don’t see him being an impact guy.  They made headlines by drafting Casey Mathews, but he is a homeless man’s version of his brother.  They guy will be Chris Gocong level at best.  I did like a steal in the fifth round with Dion Lewis though.

30) Minnesota Vikings – I actually won’t rip the Vikings for the Christian Ponder pick.  I think he can be a really good QB, they needed one, and he was the best available in their eys.  I will rip them for the Kyle Rudolph pick.  You already have a great tight end, and you picked the best in a horrible tight end draft in the second round?  Christian Ballard in the fourth is a steal since I had him in my second round, but that defensive liine could have used even more help, the secondary needs help, and Ponder is gonna need more depth at Offensive Tackle to keep him upright.

31) Oakland Raiders – Shocker, they went Wisniewski whose father was a Raider legend, then picked the fastest player available for the rest of the draft.  They needed corners, and got a couple, but they are speed guys, not cover guys.  They didn’t really need an offensive lineman, but I do actually like the Wisniewski selection.  I would have liked to see them add a posession receiver and a linebacker.

32) Seattle Seahawks – I had James Carpenter in the middle of the second round, Gabe Carimi and Derek Sherrod were available, but the Seahawks went Carpenter instead which I believe was the reach of the draft behind the Chiefs selection of Baldwin.  John Moffit was a decent third round pick, but I was not a fan of any of their other selection.