Wait...The Red Sox Lowered Prices?

Just for the month of April!...But seriously, I never thought I'd see the day where the Red Sox actually lowered the price of anything.  $5 beers for the entire month of April? Two for one hot dogs? $2 hot chocolates? Yes please.  Fenway hasn't seen prices this low since Ted Williams was dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  But there is reason to be atleast a little skeptical.  The beer will most likely be 75% water.  News will break in mid-July that the hot dogs served in April were made of horse meat, and the hot chocolate was sewage.  But hey, the kids eat free!

March Madness: Skinny Sports Edition

As all of you probably remember, I absolutely destroyed last year's NCAA tournament.  Won $1000 like it was nothing.  This year should be no different.  I turned on Sportcenter the other day to maybe get some advice before making my picks, and this is what I see:

I shouldn't have been surprised that ESPN would allow this type of stupidity, but I was.  So, with no help at all I just said "fuck it, I'm gonna put my Phd in bracketology to good use".  And after taking 5 minutes to fill my bracket out, I was left with this motherfucking marvel:

I know it's sort of blurry and not aligned on the page correctly, but I'm a bracketologist, not some computer whiz.  But nonetheless, this bracket is blazing hot.  Got Davidson over Marquette. Butler in the Elite 8.  Montana upsetting Syracuse? Yup! Sure, I got a Final Four with solid teams, but atleast I didn't take all the 1 seeds like a wimp.

Thank me later.

Pats Sign Danny Amendola to 5 Years $31 Million.

Well that was fast.  Wes Welker signs with Denver and an hour later the Patriots replace him with Danny Amendola.  This signing goes to show the Patriots never had any intention on signing Welker back.  They moved on and went with a younger option.  There's still spots to fill on this offense but atleast Amendola gives them flexibility and has a lot of potential to make an impact, especially with Brady throwing him the ball.

It's been one hell of a day.  Between Welker leaving, Amendola signing, and a new Pope being elected I'm surprised the internet still works.

Welker Signs With Denver. Now What?

Wow. This all feels so incredibly wrong and dirty.  The Patriots will no longer have #83 lining up in the slot next season.  Before I get into it I just want to congratulate Wes on getting paid.  He deserved it.  He deserves nothing short of a standing ovation in his return to New England.  With that being said, what the fuck is up with the Pats?  Welker's contract with Denver is for 2 years 12 million.  So you're telling me the Pats weren't willing to match that?  Pathetic. This is Wes Welker we're talking about. Outside of Brady, this guy has been the staple of the franchise. I know the Pats are conservative in terms of paying players but this just seems like they're being unreasonably cheap.

Obviously, I'm not happy about this news.  But I don't think the Pats are screwed.  Aaron Hernandez is being paid wide receiver money and you can expect him to become the "slot receiver".  We still have Gronk, Brady, and Ridley.  The real question marks come on the outside.  Earlier reports had Lloyd being cut, but with Welker leaving it could make the Pats rethink bringing Brandon back.  If they don't bring him back they'd have to fill the void.  Could it be the draft? Greg Jennings is still available but he's gonna probably demand more money than what Welker got.  For Julian Edelman, I think its fair to assume he'll be back, especially with Welker leaving.  I've heard some people say Edelman could play opposite another outside receiver, but I just don't see that working.  He seems more like a slot guy to compliment Hernandez.

Danny Amendola is the hot name being thrown around.  Again, he's the same size as Edelman, so playing on the outside probably wouldn't be the best spot for him.  The team needs atleast one outside receiver with size and physicality.  It's gonna be exciting and stressful to watch what the Patriots do these next few days and weeks.  If it were up to me, I'd focus on getting that outside WR threat.  Whatever they do, I hope it isn't to bring in the Reche Caldwell's and Doug Gabriels of the world like they did in 2006.  Tom Brady can't afford that at this stage of his career.

The Problem with Sportscenter Top 10 Plays

I'm sick and tired of seeing Sportscenter get the number one top play wrong.  It's always the same.  Take todays top play as an example.  Deandre Jordan dunked an alley oop against the Detroit Pistons point guard.  Please, explain to me how it's exciting to see a giant dunk over a smurf.  C'mon people!  I mean, I don't even like hockey much, but did you see Patrick Kane's shootout goal the other night?  It was way more impressive than watching Lebron James throw down a fast break dunk or seeing anyone on the Los Angeles Clippers complete an alley oop.  ESPN is just the absolute worst.  They can't even get the "Not Top 10" right.  Take for instance a few weeks ago when that snow mobiler in the X-games tried to pull off a double backflip and killed himself.  Obviously the first thing you think when it happens is "Damn, automatic number one Not Top Play" but no.  It didn't even crack the top 10.  I think it was beat out by an Italian Sausage beating a Kielbasa in a race at a Milwaukee Brewers spring training game.  Sportscenter really needs to get their priorities straight.  Or else Skinny Sports just might replace them as "the worldwide leader in sports."

Patriots Draft Option: Darius Slay (CB- Miss St.)

Drafting cornerbacks hasn't exactly worked out well for the Pats recently, but it's definitely a possible position of need in this years draft.  If Talib leaves via free agency and Dennard ends up having to miss time, there are going to be huge holes to fill at the position.  Darius Slay has been rising on draft boards and has had a great combine thus far.  If you haven't heard of him you've probably heard of his college teammate Johnathan Banks.  Banks played opposite of Slay at cornerback for Mississippi State and had the better college career and is the sexier name.  But a poor combine and doubt as to whether he could be a good pro player has caused his stock to fall.  Scouts have said they believe Slay has more pro potential but Banks would be the safe pick.  Also, recent rumors have stated that the Pats have expressed interest in drafting Johnathan Banks in the first round.

Well guess what...Skinny Sports doesn't fall for these typical Patriots booby traps.  The Patriots publicly expressing interest in Banks is nothing more than a smokescreen.  Belichick wants the attention off of Darius Slay so that he can draft him.  Slay, who stands at 6'0 192 has good size to be physical in the pros, and has exceptional speed as he ran a 4.3 40.  If cornerback is the direction the Pats want to go in the first or second rounds, I see Slay as being a very likely candidate to be taken, as he is still being projected to be in the 25-50 pick area.

Two other cornerbacks to keep on your radar: Xavier Rhodes (Florida St.), Blidi Wreh-Wilson (UConn)

Should We Be Worried About Tyler Seguin?

Everybody relax!  I'm not trying to rile up the Pink Hats or create any controversy.  But as an extremely casual Bruins fan, I have to ask...What's the deal with Seguin?  I still think the Bruins are arguably the best team in the East and I think they're gonna be in the Eastern Conference Finals, but it's mostly because of how talented the team is.  Tyler Seguin is in his third year.  He was drafted second overall in the draft.  So, wouldn't you think he would be developed into the prolific scorer that the team expects him to be?  You see how talented he is when the B's go to shootouts, but it doesn't seem to translate in regulation.  I personally feel like he needs to show more competitiveness and grit.  How many times do we need to see him pass the puck away?  Why doesn't he battle for the puck along the boards and show that he has some fight in him?  Is Claude Juilen's system holding him back?  I honestly don't know, but I think these questions are legit. I will say, however, that I like the Bruins with Seguin more than I like them without Seguin.  But can we just admit that so far Tyler Seguin's play hasn't justified all of the love and admiration that a lot of fans give him?