Thoughts along the way

Should I stay or should I go?

The lockout is keeping many NFL players in the dark about their future. It appears that Arizona has a deal in waiting when the lockout is officially over for a quarterback (but with and for who?), Reggie Bush doesn’t know if his future is in New Orleans or not, and Carolina Panther’s second year quarterback, Jimmy Clausen, doesn’t know if he should give up his #2 jersey to this year’s #1 overall pick, Cam Newton.

This scenario is not a new one. A new player comes to a team and wants to keep the same stupid jersey number he’s had since he was in Pop Warner. Typically when this happens the new player on the team will ask the current player wearing that jersey if he will part with the jersey #. The “owner” of the jersey # are normally paid for giving up the #. How much “quan” will Newton give Clausen for the #? Who knows? But I say to Jimmy, “Keep it”!

Clausen already had to go through the bumps and bruises of an entire NFL season and has earned the privilege to keep his number. Plus he played poorly enough to put the Panthers in that draft position. Newton should be passing the “quan” over to Clausen for his efforts, or lack there of, anyway.

I wonder how long either one of those guys will be in the league anyway. Clausen may benefit monetarily and with NFL longevity by being Newton’s backup. It’s hard to blame all of those losses on the backup quarterback.

What up, Hollar Back Girl?

Doug Flutie’s daughter, Alexa, has become a member of the New England Patriots’ cheerleading team. The reigning 23 year old Miss Massachusetts will join fellow daughter of a famous dad, Bianca LaRussa (Oakland Raiders), on the sidelines this upcoming season; whenever that may happen.

As the rule of threes go, a third famous daughter will make a cheerleading squad somewhere this year. Let’s hope Rex Ryan’s daughter doesn’t look like him!

A No-No that was a no-no!

Francisco Liriano threw a no-hitter last night against the struggling (wait, struggling is too nice… a downward spiraling team that was on 3 win 18 loss streak at one point this season, with a skipper that needs to go) Chicago White Sox. A no-no against the White Sox is not surprising; an event waiting to happen. The surprising part is the worst pitcher in the American League statistically (9.13 ERA), Liriano, was the one to do it… and he needed a bad call from the first base umpire to make it happen.

Early in Liriano’s career, he was a player with a lot of talent and a promising career. He tore ligaments in his pitching arm which has derailed his career over the past few years but had his first complete season since the injury, including a playoff win last year. Before he took the mound Tuesday night, he had never thrown a complete game or a thrown a shutout, and the Twins were contemplating sending him down to the minors to work on his command. Somehow he managed to throw a no-no while only striking out 2 hitters.

A controversial double play in the 8^th inning got Liriano out of the inning. Twins first baseman, Justin Morneau, was pulled off the bag and made an effort to tag the batter running to first. He missed. He missed badly. But if you’ve been following my writing online for any length of time, you know that this is one of those luck plays I keep saying a player or team needs to be successful and make it into the record books.