Hey Everyone,

Well it's time to throw on your favorite team's NFL jersey and get ready for another fun filled NFL Football season.  I'm loading up my store with great NFL gear.  As you can tell, I'm a Cleveland homer so I'll have plenty of Cleveland Browns Jerseys and Cleveland Browns Gear .  I'm working on lining up a trip to Cleveland Browns Training Camp in Berea, Ohio.  So stay tuned.

I still have to give my thoughts on Brett Farve and who I want to win the World Series.

Hey everyone!

I apologize because it's been a long time since I've written but there are a lot of things going on these days with graduate school ending and the job hunting.  This morning I was very intrigued by the news of Tim Donaghy's confessions of the NBA telling officials to call games certain ways to benefit the league.  Now I do understand that these allegations are just allegations but I believe this information is significantly damaging to the NBA.  I don't know if David Stern will be sleeping well these next few days.

I can remember as far back as when I started to get into the NBA that people talked about how games were fixed.  The officiating is so critical to the outcome of the game and it's magnified in the playoffs.  A foul here or there could signifcantly affect the games final results.  This information will surely prompt the government to look into this matter.  I can see it now David Stern appearing and sweating profusely in front of a congressional hearing. 

As a fan I honestly don't know what to think when I hear this news.  I think that the games will definitely be called better now that there's such a spotlight on the NBA and it's officials.  But what about the past?  I can remember sitting in BW3 watching the Cavs vs Celtics series this past month and being very angry about how a call or non call could have given the Cavs a crucial game 1 win at Boston.  It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

Last weekend I went home and visited Cleveland.  It was nice I caught a Lake Erie Monster's hockey game with my girlfriend and good friend Eric.  Since I was back home, I decided to hit the local thrift store to see what "old school" Cleveland Indians apparel I could find.  I know what you are saying: this guy has a sporting good store yet he shops at a thrift store for sports clothes.   I like to change things up a bit.  There's also nothing like wearing a Sandy Alomar Jersey T-shirt from 1997 around a college campus.  Everyone loves it!   Well everyone except for the Reds fans.

While in the thrift store I came upon two old school indians jerseys.  The two were Albert Belle and Jim Thome.  When you ask most Cleveland fans what they thought of either of these players, the majority would not think very highly of them.  Belle was a feared power hitter that came up with the Indians in the early 90's.  He was my favorite player and a key player that helped turn around the indians.  But he was also a huge jerk.   I'll spare you the off the field stories but let's just say he won't be nominated as the "Steve Olin good guy award" anytime soon.

After hitting 50 home runs and 50 doubles in 1995, Belle signed with the White Sox in the winter of 1996.  I remember picking up the newspaper and seeing him in the Sox jersey.  It was a sad day.   Ironically, Thome is now a White Sox as well.

Anways, I opted to get the Belle jersey.  He was my favorite player back in the day and somehow I've forgiven him for being a jackass.   I haven't worn the jersey yet but we'll see what kind of crap I get from wearing it around campus.  I figured after 12 years why not let things go.

So who would have figured that Jose Canseco's legacy on baseball would be steriods.  It's pretty obvious now but it was very different when I was growing up.  When I was just getting into baseball in 1987-1988, the big thing was "the bash brothers" of Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire.   They were on the cover of those old Panini sticker albums that I tried to fill up.  I found the one I had on ebay here He was baseball's 40-40 man in 1988 with over 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases.

After his time in Oakland he bounced around from team to team.  He will be remembered for the infamous baseball off the head home run (which was against the indians!).  See the Clip below.

But now he's the "Godfather of Steriods" and is releasing his second book about current players taking steriods.  At first I found it hard to believe.  I think this guy has been on every freaking VH1 reality TV show.  I still think he's doing these books to make money but after all of the stuff that has come out when he wrote his first book until now you have to take him a bit more seriously.

It looks as if MLB is as well.  There's an article on espn.com today that discusses MLB investigators secretly meeting with him at a book signing.  It's pretty crazy stuff.  We'll see if there are more suspensions that come out of it.

Hey Everyone!  Opening day 2008 has come and gone and what a day it was.  We saw Santana having a solid outing with the Mets and the Nationals, Devil Rays and Royals came out with a win.  Back when the Indians had really crappy teams in the late 80's and early 90s, this was my favorite time of the year.  The Indians would go 2-0 and be in first place.  It was just fun to see them above the Yankees (days before East, Central, and West divisions).   It's good times for baseball fans!

Most importantly the Indians pulled out a wild one against the White Sox in Cleveland by winning 10-8.  C.C. Sabathia had a sub par outing but the game was very exciting.  I was forced to get in game reports from espn.com and from friends as the game was not shown down here in Athens.  My friend Larry was at the game and took a bunch of pictures. 

This is one of CC Sabathia starting off the season.  You can see the rest of them here at Burgoon Photography

Hey Everyone!  I'm sorry for not getting up the spring training stuff sooner.  I've been lazy lately but I promise to have it up by Sunday night.  I'm really excited as baseball season is upon us.  Technically it's already started with the A's and Red Sox spliting a series in Japan just a few days ago.  However, my favorite team, the Cleveland Indians, open Monday vs the White Sox.  Given the season is about to begin, I thought I would throw out my predictions for the season.  Here they are:

Sammon's AL Prediction

East Champs - Boston Red Sox - pick the Yankees??  Never!

Central Champs - Cleveland Indians - There's no way Detroit's pitching and bullpen hold up the whole season

West Champs - Los Angeles Anges - Tori Hunter leads the Angels to another Division win

Wild Card - Detroit Tigers - It will be interesting to see how Dontrelle Willis does this season.

Sammon's NL Prediction

East - New York Mets - Two words: Johan Santana

Central - Chicago Cubs - This was a tough pick but I think the Cubs pull this one out

West -  Arizona Diamondbacks - Close pick because I think the Rockies will put up a good fight

Wild Card - Saint Louis Cardinals - Albert Pujols will rebound to have a good year

NL Champs - New York Mets

AL Champs - Cleveland Indians

World Series Champs - Cleveland Indians - Call me a homer.  If they win, I'll cry like a little kid.

Let the season begin!  Let's have good old Frank Drebin start off the season with his version of the National Anthem:

Well folks after a solid last year of picks for the NCAA tournament, I got a little cocky.   That's right I talked some serious shit when filling out my bracket for the tournament.  You have to...that's half the fun.  I figured I had a good shot considering there are 7 total people in my pool and most of them are T-com majors (not sports people). 

So I picked Georgetown to win the tourney.  I figured their Center, Hibbert would lead them to a big tourney win.  But I was wrong.  Davidison, a small liberal arts school in North Carolina beat them yesterday to advance to the sweet 16.  I had  good friend go to Davidson and ironically enough spent my first spring break there back in 1998.

Oh well I guess I'll just have to hear it for the next few weeks and plot a comeback for next year.

Today I'm heading to Winter Haven Florida with a few buddies to catch the Indians/Braves spring training game.  We are going to try and be as interactive as possible with the game and hopefully the players.  So look out for some fun ahead!

Well I'm proudly saying that i'm getting ready to go down to Daytona Beach for 5 days as part of my college spring break.  Hey I'm in grad school...I've earned it.  I'll be heading down to Winter haven, Florida to watch the Indians play a spring training game.

I've gone down to Winter Haven twice before and am sad to say that this is the last year the Indians play in Florida.  They are moving to a new complex next year in Arizona and it just won't be the same. 

I'm heading down with some friends from a student produced tv show that I work on for school called Fridays Live.  The guys I'm heading down with are pretty funny and I plan to change things up a bit and take some video of the game and maybe have a taped broadcast for the blog.

Stay tuned for some fun from Florida in the next few days!

I was raised to hate the Yankees.  I think that's every baseball fans right is to hate the New York Yankees.  And of course there's nothing more delightful than enjoying reading about a George Steinbrunner rant or two (his son's esp Hank are keeping that tradition as well). 

However, this morning I watched Sportscenter and heard about how the Yankee's played a spring training game at Va. Tech.  When George Steinbrunner heard about the shootings, he called up VT and asked if they could play a spring training game there and gave the school a million dollars.  As much as I think he's crazy, that was a stand up and very classy act.

The players visited the shooting memorial and also took time to meet with the VT bastball team and also with the families of the victims.  I remember that day very well and with everything that went on with the shooting.  I really think that this classy act really made me think different about the yanks.  I mean where were the other teams? 

This kind act is enough to make me warm up to them today.  But tomorrow I will return to hating them.  I mean baseball season is less than a month away!

Hey Everyone.  Sorry it's been so long since I've posted but grad school has kept me busy.  What's hot in sports there days?  The Houston Rockets.  Defying the odds since losing star Center Yao Ming, the Rockets have gone on a winning rampage.   The streak has even out done my back to back weekend streak of beer pong wins.  Sad I know.  Never the less it's impressive to see what the Rockets have done.  What's even more impressive is that they've done it without Ming and have surged to the top of the Western Conference.

Since trading for McGrady, I always wondered what was up with the Rockets.  I mean with Ming and McGrady you would think they would be capable of making a deep post season run.  But that has not been the case to this point (and won't be until after this season since Ming is out for surgery for the year).

But the key to their success has been that a different teammate has stepped up every night to give a lift.  Key players that fit this category are Rafer Alston, Shane Battier, and PG Rajon Rondo. 

I think that their magic will run out soon.  One could only think that a long win streak like this would be followed by a losing streak.  Tonight they play the Celtics with Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce.  I think that the streak ends at 22 and the Rockets come back to earth.