Not in Georgia

I'm out of town, in Charleston, SC. Of course I leave when "Tornado Outbreak, 2011" hits. Too bad I'm here, and the Missus and Kid are still back "home". The Missus hates thunderstorms, so she's not a happy camper. But, keeping things in perspective, this has been a terrible storm, killing many in Alabama and Georgia.

I was going to post my NFL draft picks, but have been too busy the past few days and am pooped from working and driving 300 miles today. But here are my thoughts:

• Cam Newton is overrated. No doubt he has talent, but he has proven that talent for a single, albeit great, year. Character issues, no doubt. He just feels slimy to me. He knew about the "pay-for-play" scheme his dad took the fall for, because if he didn't, its just another strike against him, this time for being stupid or oblivious. He needs to go to a team with an established QB, but will likely go 1st overall to Carolina. Haha, Jimmy Clausen. 
• Ryan Mallett will be a better NFL QB. Character issues? Less than Newton. 
• The Patriots will make a trade, shocking statement, I know. They could use a good DE. I like J.J. Watt from Wisconsin. They should also get QB Greg McElroy from Alabama. He could be Tom Brady, part two. 
• Mark Ingram will be the first RB off the board, late in the first. I could see the Pats trading back to pick him up...he'll be an excellent pro. 
• I can see as many as 7 QBs going in the first two rounds (Newton, Gabbert, Mallett, Locker, Dalton, Kaepernick, and Ponder. Each of these guys is better than Jimmy Clausen, a second-rounder in 2010, but I still don't think this will be known as a great QB class. Ponder, Dalton, Gabbert, and Mallett have the best chances to excel. 

Oh, and President Obama was born in Hawaii. Another shocking development.

Saturday Night, er, Sunday Morning Special

It was a good day yesterday in west Georgia. Took the kid to an Easter egg hunt, then ran some errands before coming home to work a little on the house and yard. My neighbors will be coming over this afternoon for the Easter Lunch the missus will make. So, Happy Easter to you.

The powers that be in Major League Baseball are proposing shifting from a 8 team playoffs to 10 teams. Not that any of us will have a say in the matter, but I'm not totally opposed to adding one additional team from each league to earn a trip to the World Series. 10 spots in the playoffs will certainly add intrigue, but I'm curious as to how the new wild card round will be played out.

MLB started this season in March to prevent the World Series from possibly being played in November. An extended playoffs would seem to inevitably push the playoffs into the next-to-last month of the year, making for highly unpredictable weather for about 80% of the cities that are home to MLB teams. The weather would be generally nice enough here in the Atlanta area, but for Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, Cleveland, New York, Boston, Baltimore, etc...not so much. So, what are the proposals?

1) A one game "winner-take-all" between the two teams that aren't the division winners. Looking at the 2010 AL final standings, the Yankees would take on the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium before travelling to Tampa Bay for the next round. In the NL, the Padres would travel to Atlanta.

2) Logistical issues complicate anything more than a single "play-in" game. If it was a 3 game series, the Padres would have to fly cross country 4 times in a 4 to 5 day span assuming the series went 3 games and they had to play the San Francisco Giants in the next round.

3) One idea that was proposed that I like (but it'll never fly) would be to have the "play-in" round played at host stadium of the next round. This takes away true home field advantage from the wild card teams and eliminates many of the logistical concerns.

It will be interesting to see how Bud Selig and crew determine what system to use. There were a lot of doubters when the wild card round was added in the 90s, but I was not one of them. The wild card has been very beneficial to the playoffs, heck, my Angels were a wild card team that unexpectedly beat the Yankees, Twins, and Giants on the way to the 2002 World Series.

Other thoughts:

The Red Sox are in the Angels' collective heads. Daisuke Matsuzaka one-hit the Halos over 8 innings, leading to a 5-0 Red Sox victory. Ervin Santana has been underwhelming thus far, a stark contrast to the way Jered Weaver and Dan Haren have been pitching. The goodwill from winning the previous series in Texas certainly has faded fast. Here's hoping they bounce back to take a game from Boston today.

Well, gotta mow before it gets too hot out.