Weekend Observations

A few quick notes and observations in the sports world, heading into the week leading up to Turkey Day.


LSU Basketball

Hey, it is my blog. I can be a homer every now and then! LSU laid an egg so large that, upon first glance, scientists could hold out hope that the dinosaur is not extinct. The Tigers dropped one to Nicholls State University by 9 points at home in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Tuesday night. REALLY?

REALLY?

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LSU had not lost a home game to an in-state opponent in the PMAC since 1988. Ronald Reagan was president and gasoline was less than a dollar. The Cosby Show was usually the highest rated show on television. Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy and the Lakers were en route to repeating as NBA Champions and Danny Manning led the Kansas Jayhawks to an NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament title. If you are not old enough to remember any of that, the clarity of your memory of the aforementioned occurrences matches the level of acceptability of the performance of Coach Trent Johnson's 2010-2011 LSU team. LSU should not be a powerhouse, but they have talent and Trent Johnson is too good of a coach to tolerate the folly that was LSU basketball earlier this week. 

I mean...Nicholls? REALLY?


The New Orleans Saints

New Orleans Saints running back Pierre Thomas is not a $6 million man. But, given his role, prior productivity and the market rate for starters one would expect his market value to be in the neighborhood of $3 to $4 million for 2-3 years. He is currently earning $1.7 million in 2010, far below comparable starting running backs, even those who do not run the ball 20 times per game. 2 Even backup quarterbacks, who almost could potentially never play a down in an entire season, earn just south of $2 million per season.

Thomas is (or was) the starting RB. In my opinion, the Saints hardballed him because of his restricted free agent status, meaning the Saints controlled his rights exclusively at the time of the contract negotiations this past summer. That does not build good will between the Saints and Thomas. Thomas earned the league minimum of $435,000 in the Saints Super Bowl championship season of 2009, in spite of leading the team in rushing for the second consecutive season.  Thomas delivered far above what would be expected of a league minimum salary player and if I were Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis, I would have taken the past production at the discounted cost into account.

The National Football League IS a business, but failing to take care of those who have taken care of you while you expect, in the future, those same people to take care of you is not smart business. In general the Saints have made smart, tough personnel decisions and not allowed emotions to cloud good business judgment. The club released Saints all-time greats like Joe Horn, Deuce McAllister, and John Carney when the productivity had dropped to a point that could not justify those players taking up a precious roster spot. However, the Pierre Thomas negotiations became F.U.B.A.R. and the Saints are in real danger of losing a valuable asset in the 2011 offseason. That is not good business and it is a shame.

Do you really want to lose THIS guy?

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The San Antonio Spurs

Tony Parker is getting divorced from Eva Longoria. The first thought that popped into my head was, "WHAT IN THE WORLD was he thinking!?!?!?" Many of the celebrity gossip sites like TMZ are reporting that Tony Parker hid text messages with and contact information of Erin Barry (former Spur Brent Barry's ex wife) and suggested that Parker and Barry were having an affair. I thought, "Was a dumb way to lose one of the most smoking hot independently wealthy women on the planet!" Then I looked up a picture of Ms. Barry. Now it makes sense.

In the words of the hip-hop poet, Hurricane Chris, "Erin Bar-ryyyy! Erin Barry!!!" 4

Right now, there are men mentioning @tp9network on Twitter (Parker's ID) saying, "Teach me, bro! Teach ME!!!"

The Philadelphia Eagles


Michael Vick's performance at the quarterback position has been jaw dropping in 2010 and is, far and away, the most interesting football related story of any NFL player this season. You you may have heard of the expression "touchdown vultures", especially in fantasy football? An example is when former Tampa Bay Buccaneers fullback Mike Alstott, true to his trademark, would ram it in from 3 yards out after a long pass or run by a teammate. It seems to me that the Philadelphia Eagles have won the "production vulture" lottery.

The Atlanta Falcons used the first pick in the 2001 NFL draft to acquire Vick and paid him a fortune (in the neighborhood of $40 to $50 million, by my estimates) during his 6 seasons in Atlanta. Granted, the Falcons won some games and made the playoffs a few times (including an NFC Championship Game appearance in the 2004 season), but Vick was a super athlete with limits as a passer. Now he is Superman. This is what Atlanta thought they were getting and paying for. And it cost the Eagles what? Six or seven million over two seasons? How can Philadelphia Eagles General Manager Howie Roseman sleep at night? Quite well, I would imagine....

All he is missing is the cape with the letter "S" on it.

1) Image from statesman.com 
2) Source: www.pierrethomas23.com
3) Image from nola.com
4) Image from adannews.com