Strasburg Adds to the DC and Cleveland Sports Curse

After the latest news that Nat’s rookie phenom Stephen Strasburg tore a ligament in his arm and needs Tommy John surgery, taking him out of next season, I began to think DC sports is cursed, just like Cleveland. Cleveland has the longest title drought of cities with three teams, while DC is the longest with four teams. Well, which is worse?

Both cities main fan base is with football, so we’ll start there. The Browns won multiple titles in the 50’s and 60’s with Jim Brown and Otto Graham but have never been to a Super Bowl. The Redskins have won three Super Bowl titles, but none in the past 18 years. The Browns are infamous for Red Right 88, The Drive, The Fumble, and the move to Baltimore. Washington has Dan Snyder, Norv Turner, Gus Frerotte head butting a wall, and the reattempted fake field goal. Unfortunate Loser: Cleveland

Both cities have an NBA team of similar franchise lengths, with equally tortured pasts. The Cavaliers have never won a title and only appeared in their first final four years ago. The Wizards won a title back in 1978 as the Bullets, but have not made it past the 2nd round since 1982. Cleveland endured the Shot, numerous losses to Jordan in the 90’s, and now the Decision, numerous early playoff exits to the Celtics. DC has suffered through the Jordan/Kwame years and gun totting Gilbert Arenas. Unfortunate Loser: Cleveland

Since the Nationals have only been around five years, I cannot compare them to the Cleveland baseball team, so I’ll take a look at the Capitals’ failures in comparison to the Indians. The Tribe last won a World Series in 1948 and lost two World Series in the 90’s. The Capitals have never won a Stanley Cup in their 36 year history, failing in their only appearance in 1998. Cleveland is infamous for the baseball version of the Catch, the Major League movies, the Blown Save, The Stop Call, and countless players finding success after bolting. Meanwhile the Caps choked in the playoffs to Pittsburgh seemingly every year in the 90’s and 00’s and endured the Jagr blunder. Unfortunate Loser: Cleveland

That leaves us with the fourth and newest sports franchise in DC, the Natinals, err Nationals. After moving from Montreal, the Nationals have not had a winning season in six seasons, including this season, 20 games below .500. Including two 100 loss seasons, they are already on their third manager, second general manager, and couldn’t even sign their first round pick in 2008. The Strasburg injury is not the first costly one to the Nationals either, with Nick Johnson missing a year with a broken leg, and Jordan Zimmermann requiring Tommy John as well. Loser by Default: Washington

Unfortunately for Cleveland, not only do they appear more cursed, but Washington has more hope for the future with Ovechkin, Backstrom, John Wall, Ryan Zimmerman, Bryce Harper, a healthy Strasburg, and Redskins with an improved front office. Meanwhile, Cleveland has the remnants of the Lebron-less Cavs, lowly Indians with only Grady Sizemore, and the Browns whose only good young players are a left tackle and kick returner. Loser for being born in Cleveland and living in DC most my life and rooting for these teams: Me

The Real MVP of Sports: Dr. James Andrews

Before Brett Favre made his third return from retirement this week, he had to consult with a very significant person. No, not his wife Deanna, nor his children, nor his coach Brad Childress, not even his Viking teammates. The 40-year-old indestructible gunslinger needed the blessing of one of the most influential men in sports, 68-year-old orthopedic surgeon of the athlete superstars, Dr. James Andrews.

The renowned doctor started off in Alabama in the early ‘70s and after successfully operating on Roger Clemens’s torn labrum in the early ‘80s, both careers took off. On his way to 40,000 lifetime surgeries, including 2,500 Tommy John operations alone, Dr. Andrews has treated Bo Jackson’s broken hip, Michael Jordan’s shoulder and Peyton Manning’s knee. Similarly to Clemens, in 1991 Troy Aikman’s career began after going under Andrews’s skillful knife. More recently, the Saints should give the surgeon an honorary Super Bowl ring after repairing Drew Brees’s shoulder before he signed with New Orleans.

Even this month, if you search his name under Google news, 1,000 article hits come up noting his procedures. Speaking of Google hits, in a testament to his influence, if you just Google his name, he gets 7.3 million hits, compared to 208k and 390k for the super-agents for his clients, Scott Boras and Tom Condon, as well as only 700k or less for three of the four commissioners of the sports he repairs. So next time your starting quarterback tears his ACL or ace pitcher blows out a shoulder, the following day you better hope to hear the familiar name of the man behind the curtain.

Further reading:

Much longer bio pieces from ESPN and FastCompany.

Slideshows of a team of future MLB Hall of Famers made up of his recovered players and twelve star QB patients.

FFL Decision 2010: Mathews, Best or Spiller?

After winning two Fantasy Football Bowl titles in three years and posting the longest winning streak in South Run Oaks FFL history in the other year, my team nosedived last year, finishing in last place. Peyton Manning was still his solid MVP self, but the rest of my team got old (Terrell Owens, Clinton Portis), injured (Anthony Gonzalez, Felix Jones), or forgot how to catch touchdowns (Greg Jennings, TJ Houshmandzadeh). Therefore, I now have the first pick in the draft coming up and am in desperate need of a young franchise runningback. Since we are in a 12-team, 8-player dynasty league, my options are limited to the rookies and three in particular. Ryan Mathews of San Diego should be the starter on the Chargers in week 1, while Jahvid Best of the Lions and CJ Spiller of the Bills are more talented prospects, but are on less talented teams. It’s a tough decision for a new face of the Syracuse Merlins franchise to return to glory. Therefore, I solicited some advice from some strangers, experts, friends and enemies.

Strangers (random users on ESPN’s FFL message boards):

· “I would go with Best”
· “Stick with Mathews”
· “Mathews....Best and CJ might be injury prone.”
· “Spiller is the best long term prospect, though he'll probably sign a four or five year deal with the Bills and that means he's not a better prospect than Mathews for a long time. You have to take Mathews, he's good enough to be the starter in SD for a long time, and that’s more valuable than being the starter in Buffalo”
· “I still think you gotta like Mathews best, even in that format. Who knows when (or if) the Lions or Bills be good enough for Best or Spiller to be fantasy studs? The Chargers are ready right now. Running back shelf life is so short that I'd really weight the current pretty heavily. Take Mathews.”
· “Best is defiantly a better rookie RB than Mathews spiller and Tate, no questions”
· “Best and Spiller won’t even be the guy. They still have Kevin Smith and Mo Morris, and Fred Jackson and Lynch. Mathews is easily better than any other rookie”

Experts (ESPN’s FFL writers):

· “Ryan Mathews is the clear preseason favorite to lead rookies in fantasy scoring, Mathews looks like an early-down starter right away, with Darren Sproles operating as a third-down back and all-around threat. He was the NCAA's leading rusher last year and is a good player, but his talent is not sublime. And Mathews is a guy coming off a 276-carry season his last year at Fresno State.”
· “Jahvid Best has had elbow, shoulder and hip surgeries, plus his collegiate career ended early after a concussion. But he's impressed his pro coaches so much this spring and summer, it looks like he'll be an every-down player, too, especially with Kevin Smith likely to begin the year on the PUP list. If he stays healthy, this kid could be a big-play threat on the order of Chris Johnson. His health and his offensive line are in question, but his quickness and speed aren't.”
· “C.J. Spiller was my favorite rookie going into the draft, but landing in Buffalo did him no favors. Fred Jackson is a very good player and may lead the team in between-the-tackles carries, and for now Marshawn Lynch is also around. But Spiller has home-run speed, and the Bills will line him up in several spots to get him in mismatches. Plus he's likely one Jackson injury away from a starting gig, albeit behind what might be the worst offensive line in the NFL.”

Friends (Friends who play FFL but are not in my league):

· “Go with Best”
· “I like Best, he is going to play, and Lions offense should get better. Spiller is on a terrible team so who knows what #'s he will put up. Matthews, I just don’t know about him, I am still trying to figure out why everyone is so high on him.”
· “I think the consensus is that Matthews is walking into the starting role where as they may be more competition for the other two.”
· “I think Mathews is your best bet, the Lions always have a crappy o-line. Then again, Spiller could wind up good too. But he plays for the Bills....Given LT's success in SD though, I'd go Mathews”

Enemies (Fellow owners in the SRO League):

· “Barring any big changes in camp, you have a tough choice between Best and Mathews. If the draft was today, Mathews is your man but after camp gets going things might show up - bad hands, bad blocker, so won't see field as much.”
· “I don’t think you can go wrong with Mathews or Best. The Lions aren’t very good but they are getting better and Best is more talented than Mathews. I think Mathews has the best chance for success early but I just think Best is a much more talented player, Spiller as well”

Now all I have is the month of August to decide.