Song Of The Day- Dan Auerback- My Last Mistake

This is a gem off of Dan Auerbach's (Black Keys) solo effort Keep It Hid.

Defensive Line Help

With Rob Ryan now in the fold, taking over a defense in disarray, we have to start wondering what free agents are going to come in and help fill the holes in this porous defense. One big hole filler could be DT Shaun Rodgers. He played under Ryan with the Browns and despite his age (31) and his susceptibility to injuries, he could be a cheap and effective remedy for the defensive line. The 3-4 requires a huge run stuffer to clog up the middle that allows the linebackers to make plays. When healthy, Rodgers is one of the best in the biz at doing this. This would also allow the under-sized Jay Ratliff to move to defensive end and be a more effective pass rusher.

The Cowboys defensive line is one of their red areas. It needs a serious kick in the ass and I think it's worth rolling the dice on someone like Shaun Rodgers. As long as the price isn't too high it makes more sense to fill this defensive hole via free agency. Unless they take a defensive lineman high in the draft, I'd rather have a proven commodity helping the defense than a potential 5th round swing and miss.

Melo-Price?

If you ask most New Yorkers...they would say, without pause, yes. Then they would wonder who the Knicks would have to give up to get him. Every day that passes now, it seems as if the price for Carmelo is going down as the Denver Nuggets try to salvage anything from this potential deal. Deep down they know Melo will never re-sign with them. Everyone knows he wants to be in NY but now LA has jumped into the mix and I'm sure Melo is fantasizing about life in Los Angeles with Kobe. The LA business is most likely a scare tactic though. Denver is desperate not to come out of this looking like the Cavaliers.

I wouldn't mind if the Knicks sat back and waited until the off-season to sign Carmelo. It will save the Knicks money and some of their prized players that they may have to give up if a trade does go through. I would be stunned if, as a free-agent, Melo doesn't come sprinting to NY. If we do end up trading for him, hopefully it's at a minimum cost. Get Curry's fat ass out of here, give them the pick and Wilson Chandler too. That would be perfect for the Knicks. Chandler is a very good player who has finally started to come into his own but it's not even worth comparing him and Melo.

What I don't want is to have to give up Landry Fields and Gallinari. After years of not having picks or drafting players barely worthy of the D-League (i.e. Michael Sweetney) the Knicks have finally gotten two draft picks right. Landry Fields is one of the greatest hustlers in the game. He brings a tenacity that has come to define these revitalized Knicks. He is the type of role player that every great championship team has.

I'm not keen on trading Galo either. I know people have a bias against European players, and Galo comes across as

Sesame Street

goofy but he is going to be a down right star. The casual viewer may laugh at this prediction but if you watch, when the Knicks go to Galo (which too often they get away from doing) he can be at times un-guardable. He is an excellent (though sometimes streaky) shooter but he also has an unorthodox but effective way of putting the ball on the floor and finding the rim. It took Nowitzki a few years to truly blossom and I think we are seeing the Galo pedals unfold right before our eyes. He is also a very underrated defender. He leads the leagues in charges taken and consistently does a decent job on the opponents best player, night in and night out.

So I am all for Melo coming to the Garden, but I do not want the Knicks brass to brake up this already talented team. If anything, the Knicks need some bruisers who can help them out defensively. The only defense that Carmelo is known for is Matador D. I am always for bringing in a special talent and offensively Carmelo is as special as they get but I don't think he is as necessary as everyone thinks. This team is still growing and with a few more pieces they can be a contender with or without Melo. I will cheer just as loudly for him as every other Knicks fan if he comes to the Garden but I would hate to see the Knicks give away two of their most talented in the process.

SUMMER IN NEW YIDDY

Song Of The Day

Since it's the off-season and my blogs about the incompetancy of the Mets will get redundant after about a week of spring training I thought I'd throw a curveball into this floundering blog and put some tunes on your face. My disclaimer is that I am much more of a rock guy than a Rap/Hip-Hop guy but I can bring some of that too and if I can't I'll get at J-Tunes for the beats. Also, These songs of the day are not necessarily new. Some may be old songs that you haven't heard in awhile or bands you might not have heard of. Or they could just be classic songs that I can't stop listening to no matter how many times I've heard them...

Today I have two...




Temple of the Dog-"Say Hello To Heaven" off of Temple of the Dog. This masterpiece from Chris Cornell's early 90's side project showcases one of rocks greatest voices.

KW Dallas Cowboys Blog: Steelers/ Packers game

KW Dallas Cowboys Blog: Steelers/ Packers game: "All the NFL analysts can breathe a deep sigh of relief. They won't have to scramble around for adjectives like tough, gritty, big, large, ra..."

Steelers/ Packers game

All the NFL analysts can breathe a deep sigh of relief. They won't have to scramble around for adjectives like tough, gritty, big, large, rapist...no wait... well you know what I mean. All of those words they use to describe Big Ben's game. Basically they are all afraid to say that Big Ben is an overrated quarterback who is helped out by the fact that he happens to have a first class seat on the Dynasty airline that is the Pittsburgh Steelers. Seriously, without the best defense of the past decade we are never discussing Big Ben and the Super Bowl, let alone the Hall of Fame. Now that he has mailed in 2 poor performances in his 3 Super Bowl appearances, the NFL pundits won't have to worry about justifying Ben Rapelisberger's worthiness of the Hall.

What this game has proven is that it really does not matter where you finish in the NFL at the end of the season. No matter your ranking, if you’re hot at the right time you are unstoppable. The Packers defense came together at the right time this year and Aaron Rodgers elevated his play to levels we have only seen with legends. Brett Favre must have been steaming hot mad down there in Mississippi. No sex from Jen Sterger, no sex from his wife and Aaron Rodgers took a dump on his legacy. Everyone is already forgetting about Brett and all that he did in Green Bay. If Aaron Rodgers demanded to wear # 4 next year the Packers wouldn't be able to stitch on his name over Favre's any faster.

The game went somewhat as expected. In the end it was close and the Steelers, ever resilient, almost pulled off a great come back. It's so cliché but turn-over’s are really the cards that do the tricks. You can't win games when you're giving the other team the ball. Ben Roethlisberger threw 2 picks...one was downright abominable and Big Ben paid for his terrible throw by having it taken back to the house.

Mendenhall rushed very well for the Steelers, scoring on a nice touchdown run, but he coughed it up when it mattered the most. Defensive POY snub Clay Matthews buried him and stripped the ball late in the game, during a pivotal Steelers drive. The actual POY award winner, Troy Polamalu, was terrible the entire game. The only time we ever saw him was when he was getting his cookies baked by Greg Jennings in the corner of the end zone.

I think what we can ultimately take from this game is that A: Big Ben is terribly over rated. (Actually people just pretend he's a really good quarterback because he wins...but remember it’s a team sport.)  and B: Aaron Rodgers is well on his way to being the cream of the league in terms of quarterbacking. He dismantled the best defense in the league with ease. He made 4th receiver Jordi Nelson look like an All-Pro against the Steelers. The Pack is young and next year you will most definitely see the championship belt being rocked in the end zone on a regular basis.