Football season, Baseball Races, and Domestic Leagues Oh MY!

Well, the fantasy drafts are up and running, and it just smells like football season. The season seems to bring about many unanswered questions to say the least. How long before the injury bug really digs into a team? The Redskins already look to not have their new prized possession for the first week. MoJo is secretly hiding a knee injury and the best wide out in the game, Larry Fitz, doesn't look close to his true form, let alone the fact he doesn't have a qb anymore.

The AFC looks like the American League with all of the talented teams only getting better over the offseason. The Ravens addition of Anquain Boldin only makes their team stronger with an actual threat outside of Derrick Mason. Ray Rice looks ready to take over the starting job with full force ahead(FF #4 pick rating). The Dolphins addition of Brandon Marshall means that they have a wide receiver for the first time since 1980. This might be the best addition of all. And then you have the Jets who seemed to think money has no object and buy fathers who don't remember who their kids are(Cromartie). Lump the Colts, Chargers, Patriots, Texans, Bengals, Steelers, and Titans into the mix and you're looking at 9 real quality teams for 6 spots. Oh the joys of someone getting screwed?

The NFC? Sweet, Cowboys, 49ers, Vikes, Packers and the Super Bowl Champs, the Saints. Wahoo. Look for these teams to run away with their divisions early. It's like little league for these teams

Baseball, for all of the fun that seemed to be shaping up at the beginning of August, a lot of it has fallen flat. Rays/Yanks are running away with the east, Twins are not faultering, Rangers are still flying high, Reds are playing well taking the central from the Cardinals, and the Padres continue to pitch well. The only race that looks up in the air is the National League wild card with 3 teams within four games. Sad to say that the Nation's 74 wins would only be winning that instead of seven back. Just one of those years.

Lastly, the domestic leagues are all off in the soccer world. The 7:45/10:00 games are back and alive with Chelsea and Barcelona showing how dominant they could be this year. It's amazing how they make goal scoring look so easy. Considering there's two things that happen in soccer: scoring and defending. These teams are just that good at it and it's tough to envision a lot of losses happening.

Btw, signing Bob Bradley for another 4 years will cause the US to fall back. More on that.

Til next time, you have to play it back to play it forward.

Division Races and the Trade Deadline

Every year at the end of July, teams across MLB are looking to position themselves for the last stretch of season with that last piece or the basement dwellers are always looking to dump salary. This year, it seemed like outside of the Dodgers and Phillies, the only major players were the first place teams. No team really greatly improved that was outside of 5 games from a playoff berth even though there is still enough time.

The Yanks put together a series of moves that will just continue to put them ahead of everyone else. As a Nationer, the addition of Berkman alone scares me. The line-up is deadly, and the role players off the bench fit even better. However, pitching and defense are always the keys in the playoffs and their failure to find a 4th or 5th starter for the time being while Pettitte is out will be glaring until the postseason. However, get CC, Andy Dandy, and whoever you want to put in (Hughes or Burnett) and you're looking at a deadly 5 game series especially with that offense.

The Rays did nothing. Good move? We will see with waivers. Really surprising to be honest.

The Nation did little to nothing. Good move? Yup. The machine, Jacoby, a healthy Victor, and Beckett are on the way. Don't mention the fact Epstein got his full time love affair settled with Saltalamacchia and the catcher of the future. He made a move just to make a move in essence. The AL East will be a hot topic for August and September into October, but the race that is getting interesting is the NL West.

San Diego has been atop most major pitching categories, but have been falling back down to earth as of late. Real surprising that Ludwick was their only serious pickup with the team struggling to make contact. I'd lump San Fran in the same category as their offense is nothing to write home about either.

All in all, the summer brings about important series for division, wild card, and spoilers. Teams are bringing up the youngins looking towards next year. Always nice to just sit down and watch a weekend series, that's for sure.