Kolb in da house!

The only thing better than football being back in our lives is having a QB back in our team. As a closet Arizona Cardinals fan, I am used to mediocrity and failure more than success and excellence. Kurt Warner changed all that for a couple of years, but then the Cards went back to where they belong once Warner retired. As bad as Matt Leinart was and as much as I hated him, it still was a bad idea to let him go last year just because they had no other option. As soon as the lockout was lifted this week, there was a flurry of activity around the league and I was glad the Cardinals triggered one of the bigger moves right away. They traded Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and a second-round pick to the Eagles for Kevin Kolb. They then signed him to a 5 year 63 million dollar deal. Big money for a new QB.

Did they pay too much for Kolb? Probably. Is Kolb still unproven for the most part? You bet! But you are nothing without a QB in this league. You might as well stay locked out. And the QBs don't come cheap. You either pay for promise or pay a rookie similar money and wait for a year or two hoping he turns out to be a Sam Bradford and not Alex Smith or Matt Leinart. I would rather pay for promise and somewhat of a known entity like Kolb instead of gambling on a rookie in the draft who has taken just as many NFL snaps as me. It was also important they did this now because Larry Fitzgerald is a free agent next season and there is no way he resigns without a good QB. So I am perfectly fine with this trade and this is one more reason I am looking forward to this NFL season.

The Eagles were involved in the other big splash too. They signed Nnamdi Asomugha as if DRC and Asante Samuel were not enough in that secondary. They now have 3 stud corners and given all that talent on offense, they are now promoted to a title contender status - may be even ahead of the Packers. They just need to take care of DeSean Jackson and they will be a great team this season for sure. The Raiders, the other team I like, are a losers here but they never had a realistic shot at retaining Asomugha anyways. The Patriots are working the phones as always. They got themselves 2 huge gambles and if it works out, watch out for the hoodie. Lets hope Chad Ochocinco and Albert Haynesworth are not a "programmatic non-fits". I absolutely love all this NFL chatter.

Locked out!

It's been more than a month since I blogged. This should be the longest break I have taken in a long time. If you were wondering why, it's because I have been locked out by the NFL and the NBA. Just kidding! But I do have less to talk about like most sports fans these days because of the dual lockout. All we have is baseball right now. The NL beat the AL in the all-star game and it was good to see a bunch of new faces. MLB is going through a changing of guard as well with some of the stars getting older and of course with the steroids removed from the system for the most part, a few stars have disappeared from the horizon as well over the last few years. Now, the second half of the season starts and as always, the playoffs will be fun.

My rooting interests these days are confined to rooting against the Yankees, RedSox and the Giants. Looks like all the teams I like are all doing bad and all the teams I don't are doing good. So I am reduced to a little bit of sadistic hatred. Baseball is interesting, but some divisions are too predictable. It really heats up towards the playoffs and then they get our attention for a month or so. Given the situation now with the NFL, they may even get our undivided attention. While speculation is rife that NFL is close to a resolution, the reality is, it aint over until the fat lady sings. The new CBA should be in place soon, very soon, but the average fan is not too bothered right now. They have no interest in getting into a dispute between millionaire players and billionaire owners.

Fans will be bothered if and only if NFL starts to miss games. Hopefully, it will not happen and this lockout will be a distant memory soon. Fans care even less about the NBA's lockout. NBA is just coming off a great playoffs featuring a great villain in LeBron James. All that goodwill will be lost in no time if the NBA loses games next season. Fans will cut some slack for football because it's so much more part of their lives, but they won't for NBA. The sad part is, the NFL owners are just posturing, but most of the NBA's problems are real. They may have a protracted fight and a real lockout in-season. Thats just all bad news if you are a NBA fans. Let's hope it doesn't happen. But first things first. Lets hope NFL gets unlocked soon.