Thoughts From My Desk April 3rd Edition

• First off I’ll express my feelings toward the Jay Cutler trade. It really hurts the Lions that we probably could have gotten him. The Bears gave up the 18th pick, Kyle Orton and next year’s first rounder. In return they get Jay Cutler and a 5th round pick. The Lions could at least have matched that. The 20th overall pick is not much worse than the 18th, and the Broncos are almost guaranteed a better pick than what Chicago could have offered next year because even with Cutler the Lions wouldn’t have matched what Chicago will do this season. Culpepper or Stanton would be equivalent to Orton and the Lions could have not taken the 5th rounder Chicago received. This either show the Lions belief that Stafford is the real deal and want fill the other needs with more picks, or that the new regime isn’t much different than the old one. For the Broncos, Kyle Orton could step in a flourish in McDaniel’s system. I think the Broncos are more into Simms winning the starting job, but the open competition should show if he is capable of playing at a NFL level. In addition to that, the Bears sign Orlando Pace to shore up their offensive line. He is only 33 and besides last year, he started 154 out of 158 games in his career. He still has a world of talent and will protect Cutler. Do the Bears go after Torry Holt now and get a real number one option at wide receiver? That could propel the Bears into Super Bowl Contenders.
• For my picks in the Final Four, I have to go with MSU in a physical battle over UConn and UNC over Villanova for a Ford Field rematch in the National Championship game.
• Plaxico Burress got released by New York and Michael Vick could be back in the NFL this season. Adam Jones is still unsigned. Wouldn’t that make an amazing Prison League team?
• Washington beat Cleveland to snap a 13 game winning streak. LeBron played well but wasn’t enough to stop the resurgent (and healthy) Wizards.
•The Pittsburgh Pirates lost to Manatee Community College in a Spring Training game. Ouch. I usually pity-root for the Pirates because they are hopeless like the Lions. I do root hard for the Chicago Cubs, but the Pirates are harmless. Are any of the guys going to transfer to App St?
•In the Jayne “J-Money” Corbitt’s segment in today’s blog talks about the modern athlete. “I am sick of athletes nowadays screwing up and getting second and third and twentieth chances.” She follows up with, “People know the rules when they go into the sport, the same way Pete Rose knew that betting on baseball would keep him out of the Hall of Fame. Michael Vick knew that dog fighting was illegal and could go to jail. Some of the Sports figures have inflated sense of entitlement because they keep getting chance after chance. They are treated like a 3 year old getting a time out in the corner then getting to go back and play with the kids. If you’re blessed with the gift of being an outstanding athlete then maybe you’re capable of being an outstanding human. There is a reason they call it right and wrong.”