To watch Michael Beasley play is amazing. I raved similarly last year about Kevin Durant, and that’s turned out pretty well. Beasley is incredible to watch; he’s the nation’s leading rebounder who, oh by the way, also happened to go 4-for-4 from long distance Wednesday night against Kansas. This guy is awesome. If you haven’t seen the double-double machine play, you must. And best part of all, not only is he cocky and confident, but he also delivers. Prior to Wednesday night’s clash between K-State and KU (comments made in the pre-season I believe), Beasley had this to say:

“We’re going to beat Kansas at home. We’re going to beat them their house. We’re going to beat them in Africa. Wherever we play, we’re going to beat them,” he has said.

Well, one up and one down so far. Now he needs to win at KU as well. If that happens, I say we get a movement going to ship these fools out to Africa for a freaking game. The Rumble in the Jungle, baby. But getting back to it, you have to watch Beasley play if you haven’t yet — he’s awesome and he’s earned the right to talk.

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Wednesday it was announced that LaDainian Tomlinson was pulling out of the Pro Bowl because of his knee injury. Later in an interview with ESPNews Tomlinson said the severity of his knee injury should have been explained more to the public so that he wouldn’t have been criticized by analysts the way he was. Turns out Tomlinson has a sprained MCL — not that we’re doctors here. The point, as I discussed with my pops the other day, is that Norv Turner actually is one deceptive mofo. Follow me for a second.

For two weeks in a row, All-Pro tight end Antonio Gates was listed as doubtful with a toe injury. Both against the Colts and Patriots, Gates was doubtful after hurting his toe against the Titans. Doubtful means just that — doubtful to play, like 25% chance. Most guys who are listed as doubtful during the regular season don’t wind up playing. About half of questionable guys play, and most guys who are probable play — just as the words would indicate. Moreover, Philip Rivers was doubtful as well for the Patriots game with a partially torn ACL. Both Gates and Rivers played. Now LaDainian Tomlinson, despite his knee injury, wasn’t even on the official injury report for the Patriots game. He lasted what, three plays? So get this — Gates and Rivers are doubtful, but they play the entire game. Tomlinson isn’t even listed as being injured, yet he gets replaced in the 1st quarter. What does that tell you?

If you put this all together, you come to realize that Norv Turner totally played the fans, the media, and pretty much everyone else except the Patriots. He absolutely manipulated the injury report. He got everyone to believe that Rivers and Gates were the problems and that Tomlinson was OK. He made everyone think the running game would be the focus and that the passing game wouldn’t be working. Au contraire, mon frere. It was actually just the opposite. Instead, Rivers came out looking like a hero, and Tomlinson an absolute dud. Norv Turner is indeed a master manipulator. And yes, he’s a heck of a lot smarter than we all thought.

Injury reports courtesy of Rotoworld:
LT’s recent injury report
Philip Rivers’ recent injury report
Antonio Gates’ recent injury report

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A few days ago I passed along the news that some of Vick’s pit bulls had been rescued and were up for adoption. (I’m still interested in putting together an LBS fundraiser to snag one as the site’s official mascot, fyi). Anyway, pressing along, apparently these dogs are heading to Hollywood for the big time, as WSBTV reports:

Pit bulls that once belonged to Michael Vick will be featured in a reality show this summer about an animal sanctuary.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 22 of Vick’s dogs are now at Dogtown. The National Geographic Channel began a series about Dogtown, an animal sanctuary in Utah, in January.

In an episode airing this summer will focus on four of the toughest cases and the staff’s efforts to resocialize the aggressive pit bulls, according to the National Geographic Channel.

My goodness, people actually watch this stuff? Now, I wouldn’t mind watching a show to see Vick adjusting to life in prison — that would be tight. You know, footage of him getting Bubba’d in the shower with soap suds seeping down … never mind. But a reality show about the dogs trying to resocialize? That’s incredible. Who would’ve guessed that these dogs would be playing on Sundays on TV before their owner was!

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Sorry to deflate the balloon of all you Mets fans out there — and I know there are many of you — but I don’t think this trade (if it goes through) will mean a ring for your team. By acquiring the top pitcher in the game, you have become even more of a contender than you were before. But even with Johan Santana, do you still give the edge to the Mets over the Diamondbacks in the playoffs? That would be hard for me to do. Furthermore, the seminal Johan Santana moment for me — and this coming from one of his top fans going back many years — is when he got out-pitched by Barry Zito Game 1 of the ALDS at home, getting bombed on by the Big Hurt. I know Johan’s beaten the Yankees at Yankee Stadium in the playoffs, but I haven’t seen him rise his game in the post-season the way Josh Beckett has. And the Red Sox have Beckett, making them my favorite to win it all almost every year.

I’m not saying Johan Santana isn’t a great pitcher, and I don’t want to knock him down. I just have a really bad feeling about him leaving Minnesota. The four-year $80 million offer the Twins made seemed pretty good to me. I know Johan will probably bag $150-160 million guaranteed and be set for life (not to mention be on a well-funded, more competitive team), but I have a really bad feeling about him playing somewhere else. I don’t think he’ll be the same; I can see the extra media attention, pressure, or even injuries plaguing him. I really think staying in Minnesota for the four years and $80 million, plus another 3-4 year deal after that for an additional $75 million or so was probably the way to go rather than what he’ll likely get from the Mets. It’s not often that stars from small-market teams work out well when they sign monster deals with New York teams. I just hope Johan does well enough to the point where he’s going to Cooperstown wearing a Mets jersey.

And as far as the trade on the Twins’ side goes, it’s far too early to tell how this will pan out (if it goes down). You need at least five years to see what becomes of the four prospects they’re receiving. I’m being told Minnesota didn’t even get the Mets’ top prospects, but nobody can really comment until we see how they all pan out. What I do believe is that the Twins could have received a few major-league ready players from either the Red Sox or Yankees, but they didn’t pull the trigger. If you believe those reports (which nobody outside the actual negotiations really knows), then I think Aaron Gleeman summed it up best saying Smith slow-played a monster hand and didn’t get paid off. That seems about right to me. Oh yeah, and check out Johan’s Baseball-Reference page while you’re at it to see his post-season stats. Gleeman also sponsors the page and his comment there is hilarious.

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Jayson Stark has sources saying the reason the Erik Bedard to the Mariners deal for Adam Jones hasn’t gone down just yet is because the big boss — owner Peter Angelos — has yet to approve the deal. Now there’s a rumor floating around that Jones failed his physical with the Orioles and that’s why the trade hasn’t been completed. I’m going to pay that story no mind for the time being. Degenerative hip or not, I just can’t see how trading away Erik Bedard can fit in with the mission of the Orioles.

The Orioles have essentially struck gold by developing a lefty with dominant stuff who’s a legitimate Cy Young candidate. Rather than try and market the entire appeal of the team around this guy, they’re acting like they’re stuck in an inverse universe, eagerly and capriciously trying to get rid of the guy. What the heck for? Do they know something we don’t know? Are they trying to sell high? This is a team that’s flushed money on free agents like Albert Belle and David Segui recently. How can you tell me that signing Bedard to a long-term deal would not be within their best interest?

I’ve heard Arte Moreno mention on the radio in the past when defending Bill Stoneman that the Angels had a deal in place to acquire Miguel Tejada for Ervin Santana (and maybe someone else). When that deal got to Angelos’ desk for approval, it got the veto. (the fact that you’ve never seen Tejada where an Angels jersey probably tipped you off to that tidbit). Now I don’t know what’s going on here, but something tells me that Angelos is probably applying a little bit of common sense and wondering why his people are so eager to get rid of the best thing they have going for them — Erik Bedard. Trading him makes no sense; what they receive in return won’t be as good or valuable as what they have now.

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That’s what you get when you leave Antonio Pierce in charge of the dresscode — players wearing all-black. So, as Tom Coughlin instructed Pierce to choose the wardrobe, New York arrived in Arizona looking like a bunch of secret service men. Pierce said black suits are what you wear for business — I guess he’s never been to a funeral. Perhaps his choice of garb is only underscoring the fact that the Giants will be buried on Sunday.

It’s nice to see that the Giants are attempting to be all about the business, assuming the role typically reserved for New England. Only problem is that you can’t out-Patriot the Patriots; they practically invented the team unity, humble pie, business-like approach to big games. Though this type of focus is right on for the Giants, unfortunately it’s coming at the wrong time. Doesn’t seem to be bothering Plaxico Burress however, as he’s predicting a 23-17 Giants win. Yeah, I’d like to see the Pats held to 17 points in warm weather. Now that would truly be deserving of a championship. But getting back to those black suits, it could be worse; you could’ve had Rex Grossman wearing purple — now that’s bad.

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