No More War for Raw

This is the first time for me that I am writing the Raw blog, so I hope that I can do this justice for JCall. Now I do watch both TNA and WWE and if you haven't already heard, TNA is moving back to Thursday nights and they are going back to recording all of there shows. Boy that away TNA for admitting defeat only three months into being on Monday nights. I now give TNA about 6 months before its over. Now onto Raw for this evening.

Raw starts off from Jacksonville, FL with a good promo from Batista. He has to explain to the crowd and for the people watching at home how a "Last Man Standing" match works and he has to explain real slow for us. I really thought that he had to explain it slow to himself cause apparently he didn't understand the rules very well. He says that he didn't lose at Extreme Rules cause he was not beaten to a pulp to where he couldn't answer the ten count. Don't worry Batista, you may have not been beaten to a pulp during that match but we as fans were for having to watch that match. He then tells the fans that tonight he and John Cena are going to be having a beat the clock night where whoever has the better time, they get to choose the stipulation for there match at Over The Limit. (by the way who is the guy that is naming these PPV's cause this is a stupid name.) Then Sheamus comes out to interrupt Batista and tries to lay claim to the No. 1 Contendership. Sheamus is so heely with him using the word "Fella". I just hope that when WWE is writing these promo's for him that they don't overuse the word cause then the word will lose its greatness in two weeks. After Batista says that Sheamus lost the triple threat match last week he has no right to lay claim to it and he needs to leave the ring. Sheamus tells him that this is not over and leaves the ring.

Batista vs. The Miz
This match is supposed to be Batista vs. The Miz but for the second week in a row the WWE believes that we need really stupid props like the one that The Miz brings to the ring in an envelope that has "Doctors Note" written on the outside of it. Yeah cause we couldn't figure out that when Miz came out to the ring in street clothes that he wasn't going to wrestle. Miz starts to kiss Batista's ass about wanting to give him the match of his life (don't worry anything you do in the ring is much better than what Batista has done in the ring in his entire career Miz.) but the Miz has hand picked an opponent for him. At this point I get excited a little at the prospects of who Batista would have to face. Then Miz and the WWE disapoint me by bringing out Daniel Bryan the NXT Rookie to face Batista. Nice Job WWE!!! They really want to keep beating down Daniel Bryan cause of how much fame he had before he got there cause if you didn't know what was going to happen in this match then you need to have your head examined for any semblence of a brain. Of course Batista wins this match. They did give Daniel Bryan a couple of moves but they have Batista win in 5:06 with a Batista Bomb. Then the WWE punishes Daniel Bryan some more by having him take two more Batista Bombs. Yeah you looked so strong Batista, you beat a rookie. Congratulations you look like a bigger tool then you already are.

As we come back from commercial we have Eve taking pictures with the Diva's Title and then our Celebrity GM for the night Wayne Brady comes in and says that he loves wrestling and he is a big fan of Eve's. Then Jillian pops in and offers to sing Wayne's theme song. Yes WWE we get it already, Jillian can't sing. We don't have to have her show up every week to prove the point. Wayne did get rid of her in a funny way though by dancing with her and shoving her out of the door. When thats over, Eve tries to get back to her photo shoot and notices her belt missing. She then gets blindsided by Maryse.

We now go to Edge walking in with some actor that is posing as a producer as Edge is talking about what video's he would like to use during "The Cutting Edge". Josh then comes up to Edge and asked him if he thought that having Randy Orton on The Cutting Edge would lead to a physical retaliation. Edge then talks about how WWE is PG and that he is the Rated R Superstar and he is going to take us back to those days. Yeah right Edge. Nice try on getting me to think that you are going to bring back the Rated R days. This is not going to happen until Linda McMahon is done with her Senate Run if it happens at all. And two, I don't like that the wrestlers talk about the PG rating era that we are in. We all know that were trying to gear the shows to kids. Don't talk about in promo's, its just stupid to me. Also on another note here, what was the WWE thinking in turing Edge back to a heel or having him as a face when he came back. Why don't you make up your minds. Edge was doing just fine as a face and he was really starting to get the crowd behind him. Now that you finally were getting him over as a face you decide to move him to Raw and turning him back to a heel. Stupid writing WWE. I am going to pull a saying from Randy Orton here. "YOUR STUPID".

Ted DiBiase vs. John Morrison

I have some really high hopes for this match as it pits two of there younger talents that are really pushing for main event status in the WWE. Now with all of that being said the start of the match was ok as Morrison got in a majority of the offense. Then Morrison clotheslines Ted over the top rope. Morrison then performs a front flip dive onto Ted. I know that I really love Morrison's in-ring ability, but this move was FREAKING AWESOME LOOKING. I wish that I could have half of the talent in the ring that Morrison has. Back to the match. Ted looks like he is going to break the ten count by climbing into the ring, Ted then decides that he is going to run away more like a wounded son than the fortunate son that he claims to be. As the winner is getting ready to be announced, John says that he, "The Monday Night Delight" does not want his debut on Raw to end this way. So he offers to Ted that if Morrison loses that he would become Ted's new Virgil. As soon as John said this, I was sure that the WWE in a move to somehow punish Morrison more, was going to have him lose this match. We come back from the break, and we see Ted really gain the upper hand here and it is looking more and more that Morrison is going to become Ted's Bitch. But as the match goes on and on and there is a pin attempt on Morrison and he kicks out, Michael Cole the stater of the obvious keeps reminding us that Morrison is so close to becoming the new Virgil. STOP IT ALREADY!!! We know the stipulation, you don't have to remind us every 25 seconds. Towards the end, Ted sets up Morrison for the CrossRoads near the corner, Morrison gets his feet up on the top turnbuckle and pushes backwards and gets the 1-2-3 on Ted and surprisingly gets the win. This is a good match. We really didn't get to see the vast aray of what Morrison is about but a good match nonetheless. Ted attacks Morrison after the match and then RTruth comes out for the save. Great ending as both guys got a good push from this match.

John Cena vs. Chris Jericho

Here is the other match in the beat the clock challenge. John Cena comes out to a loud pop of the crowd. Then it is Y2J's turn to come out. As I am waiting for Y2J to come out it starts to dawn on me that Y2J is not going to wrestle in this match. And I was right once again as Y2J comes out and says that he is pulling himself out of this match and in his place is his NXT Rookie Wade Barrett. Gee I wonder who is going to win this match and in less time than Batista. Of course, John Cena wins the match with the STF. After the match, Cena grabs the mic and is getting ready to tell us what the stipulation is going to be, when the greatness of Sheamus comes out and just murders Cena with a Big Boot. WWE has done a great job of putting Sheamus over in most situations. This was definatly one of them as he knocks Cena into next week.

Maryse vs. Nikki Bella

With all of the Diva's that they have on there roster that can actuall wrestle, the WWE decides to put out this match. Maryse was obviously going to get the win cause neither of the Bella's can wrestle and will never get any kind of push. All they are good for is looking at and valeting the celebrity GM. Maryse hits a really ugly looking French Kiss which is her DDT finisher for the 1-2-3. Great waste of about 5 minutes of time. This time could have been better used for anything else than this match. Now after the match was when the comedy happened cause Eve tried to slide into the ring to attack Maryse she ran and jumped straight into the bottom rope. Nice Job Eve!!! Congratulations for screwing up something so easy and looking like an idiot that can't enter into a ring.

Mark Henry vs. Zach Ryder

There was again no point to this match as Zach came out and claimed that he was now single (WHICH NOBODY CARES) because of Rosa Mendes being traded to Smackdown. So he had Alicia Foxx and Gail Kim out to ringside so they can be impressed by him and his dominence in the ring. So he thinks that he is going to wrestle and kill Primo like he did on Superstars on Thursday. Guest GM Brady comes on the TitanTron and says that he should beat somebody more impressive. We now shoehorn in Mark Henry. Again I really wish that they would have taken the time from this match and the match before to put on one more better match that everybody would have cared to see more than this crap. Please give me something better. I don't think I am asking that much.

Interesting promo between Jericho and The Miz in the back talking about how they were knocked out by The Big Show. They also talk about how they carried the Big Show when they both had the Unified Tag Team Titles. Jericho then gets an idea and they both walk off together. I really wish they would quit teaming up The Miz in tag teams. He has improved so much during the last few years that he deserves to have some US Title defenses and be a singles wrestler. I don't like where this is heading.

Another bit backstage where Kozlov is thanking Wayne Brady for giving him a match with matched superior talent to his. First of all Kozlov does not need to be wrestling cause he just doesn't have that much offense and we get that he is big. Santino then enters the backstage area where his comedy comes in as he is dressed up as a 70's fro wearing man. He then says that he is glad that they were both apart of The Brady Bunch. To steal a line from Jericho, Santino is the best in the world at what he does. And what he does is great comedy. We then find out that the next match is going to be a tag team match featuring Regal and Kozlov. REALLY!!! WHAT!!! WHY!!!

The Hart Dynasty vs. Regal and Kozlov

This match is another reason why the WWE needs to build up there Tag Team Division cause we get the weird pairing of Regal and Kozlov. I guess WWE needs to some how justify paying both Regal and Kozlov what they are paying them. Also sitting at ringside doing guest commentary is The Miz and Y2J. And again I don't like the pairing of these two guys. During this match Kozlov pulls Tyson Kidd of the top turnbuckle by his arm so hard that I really thought for a minute that Kidd hurt his arm. Thank god he wasn't hurt by that blundering Russian Kozlov. In the end, I think everyone also knew the outcome coming as D.H. Smith locked in the sharpshooter for the win. This is a good match do get The Hart Dynasty over cause they did beat two bigger men. After the match Y2J and The Miz come in and decimate the Tag Champs. I guess this is our next Tag Team Feud. I'm not feeling this fued cause it just feels like they are forcing people to tag and not having actual teams being made.

The Greatest part of the night as we finally get to The Cutting Edge with Edge coming out to explain his actions from last week. Then the WWE tries to shoehorn Wayne Brady in one last time as he gives us the worst attempt at being a WWE superstar. Thank God that Randy's Song interrupts and he hits the ring. There is an akward stare between Orton and Edge as the Viper is ready to strike. By the way, Randy's new shirt is so cool looking with the Snake eyes and the big chains running all around the shirt. Anyways, Wayne Brady tries to walk up to Randy Orton to either hand him the mic or shake his hand, but gets an RKO for his troubles. Wayne takes this really horribly and it almost looked as if he was trying to die in the ring. This makes no sense cause if Orton is supposed to be a face, then he should have never even touched Brady. Then Edge tries to intice Orton into reforming one of the better tag teams from a while ago, Rated RKO. Randy doesn't go for it as he sits there in silence and doesn't say anything. Edge asked Orton if this was all registering, and no answer. Orton tries to hit the RKO but gets shoved away and Orton eats a boot from Edge. Good looking boot from Edge. Now Orton is getting up in the corner while Edge sits like a guy waiting for the voices to stop in his head. Orton looks up at the TitanTron and can notice out of the corner of his eye that Edge is set up for the spear. Orton then hits the RKO as Edge is running at him. This ends Raw as we see a triumphant Orton standing over Edge.

They have done a much better job in setting up there matches in time for the PPV and I can't wait to see Edge and Orton at Over the Limit.

Make sure that you read Wasp's TNA Blog to hear what happened on the last episode of Monday Night Impact. Also Email me at Eric@bigbadsportsdaddy.com and let me know what you think about the first Raw blog that I wrote.

Eric Ringel

Phil Helmuth- Biggest Baby with the Most WSOP bracelets

While watching Poker after Dark on NBC to help go to sleep I couldn't help but ask myself, "why can't Phil Helmuth just quit his crying?"

Phil Helmuth is one of the most decorated poker players in the world. He's won 11 World Series of poker bracelets which have all come in Texas Hold'em which ranks first all time in front of Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan who have 10 bracelets. Phil is one of best cash game specialists out there. But whenever you watch one poker show that has Phil in it, one thing is constant with him: Phil can't lose with one bit of dignity without giving a speech and crying. Let me give you the two examples that I saw tonight.

Example 1: In a hand with Brian Adams(not the singer) Phil had pocket 10's and raised before the flop about $4500. Adams called and the flop came Q-2-4 with two clubs on the board. Phill bets about $7500, then Adams comes back over the top and raises $35000 more. This is when Phil thinks he has the best hand but couldn't risk the call and folds. Adams turns over the 10-7 of clubs and shows a great bluff. Phil then proceeds to berate Adams for even being in the hand, and on several occasions he calls Adams a "moron". Hey keeps saying that he wants Adams to do that when two clubs weren't on the board. Here's the thing Phil, you got bluffed out of a hand by a better player. Why don't you show some class and say nice play instead of embarassing yourself and looking like a 2 year old.

Example 2: New comer David Peat plays K-9 off suit. Phil has A-K offsuit and raises to $6000 before the flop. Peat calls and the flop comes K-6-2. Phil makes a bet of $12000. Peat makes the call. The turn comes a 9. This gives Peat two pair and Phil bets about $6000. Peat re-raises all-in for over $50000 and Phil calls and when the cards get flipped over, you could actually see Helmuth's brain explode. Phil then goes on to lose all of his money and let David Peat know that him and Adams are both morons and that he was playing the best at the table and he decided that he was going to take his ball and go home when everybody started to laugh and taunt him. Phil doesn't like having his own medicine.

So when you watch Phil Helmuth on tv poker and he starts into one of these cry baby fits just remember that he is the best hold'em player in the world and he doesn't deserve this type of luck. (I wish you could see the sarcasm on my face while I wrote that). One of these days Phils going to cry and somebody is going to need to grab him, slap him, and tell him that he is only 2 years old and to QUIT embarassing himself.

The best player to not be in the hall of fame???

When I think of all the players that have been voted into the baseball hall of fame, there has been the biggest omission in our lives: Ron Santo. As I sit here and watch the great movie "This Old Cub" and it goes through the trials and tribulations of Santo, I think to myself with all of the sucess this man has had in his career how is it that every year that there was a vote from the committees that vote on inductions, how is he not already in the HOF? Santo who played with the Cubs through his entire career was ranked second in fielding percentage behind a certain HOF third baseman named Brooks Robinson. Now I know that he didn't put up the flashiest of numbers (Over 300 HR's and 1500 RBI's which ranked 5th all time for RBI's) through out his career, but his stats rivaled those of some of the HOF's that we have in there now. He won a couple of division titles with the Cubs, he even made several all star teams in his career and he even became the youngest captain of the Chicago Cubs at age 23. The one thing that avoided him was a world series title. Now that I have told you most everything about his career, there is one more thing about him that should have gotten him into the Hall, that is that Ron Santo had to deal with having Type 1 diabetes. If you have ever known somebody that's had the disease you know that person has to take shots every couple of hours to regulate their blood sugar levels. So as a baseball player that is playing at the top of his game in the '60's and '70's to also have to deal with the disease that would eventually take both of his legs, that is one of the toughest SOB's that have ever played the game that is not in the HOF.

Now when there are such great HOF's like Hank Aaron and Willy McCovey saying that this man needs to be in the HOF, don't you think that the senior committee needs to listen and induct one of the greatest Cubs and best ball players of the '60's and '70's in. YOU BET YOUR ASS THEY DO!!! SO VOTE HIM IN ALREADY, and give this Cub one more day in the sun before we lose the great man.

Trade Deadline Come and Gone. What did we Learn?

Well the NBA trade deadline has come and gone and all the talk now is how will some of the trades that were made will effect my team. But what I am looking forward to now is what is going to happen next season. With so many teams making trades to collect expiring contracts and other teams just receiving cash for players, I want to take a look at the winners of the trade deadline: the Salary Dumpers.

Now I know that I will probably sound like a huge homer for this but, I think the winner for this year was the Chicago Bulls. They were already sitting $12-$13 million under the salary cap for next year, but when the Bulls dumped the salaries of John Salmons and Tyrus Thomas and received 4 expiring contracts in return, that brought them to $21-$22 Million under the salary cap. This is the best case senerio that could have come out of this for the Bulls. This means that they could possibly sign 2 of the big names that will be in free agency this year (HINT: DWAYNE WADE AND CHRIS BOSH)

Another winner at the trade deadline was the New York Knicks. With the fact that they got $22 Million that will come off of the books when the season ends and Tracy McGrady's contract is up, this sets them up really nicely to pursue LeBron James and possibly someone else as well. The one thing that I didn't like for them was the fact that they got rid of Nate Robinson and sent him to Boston and really got nothing back in return. Yes it was all about cutting payroll for the Knicks, but the fact is that they dont have any kind of PG there cause Chris Duhon has shown his true colors there, they will be having to hope to lure a great PG to come in there next year. Robinson was not a great PG, but he was good enough that you should have thought about getting rid of some other parts.

Now when the summer hits and the NBA Championship has been handed out, everyone will have just one thing on there mind- what will the Bulls and Knicks be able to do with all of the payroll that they now have in there pockets. Will any of the big stars go to those two cities or are both of these teams just living a pipe dream that will lead them to the cellar of the NBA? Only time and money will tell!!!

Does Danica Really Stand a Chance???

When we all hear the name of Danica Patrick what do we think of? We think hot, attractive, and intelligent. But the title of race car driver gets laughed at alot by tons of people because Danica has never really been sucessful as an IndyCar driver. But this weekend she becomes something new. A NASCAR driver. Danica in the "Silly Season" of NASCAR signed a deal with JR Motorsports which is attached to the Hendrick Motor Racing stable to race in the ARCA league for most of this season while also choosing to race in 13 races in the Nationwide Series, then on top of that she is also racing in a full time schedule of the IndyCar series. Most people are saying that she is a joke and what is Dale Earnhardt Jr. thinking???

I know what he is thinking, he's thinking "I can see the talent that this driver has and I want to be the one that brings this driver to the world of NASCAR." Yes I know that she has only won 1 IndyCar race and most people say that she won it because everyone else ran out of gas. BUT SHE STILL WON. Most people will also say that she has never won a championship in IndyCar. Some of the best racers in the world that have been in IndyCar have never won a championship in that series. Do the names Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart ring a bell to anyone. That is where they got there start and they never won a championship there. And also most people say that she has never won the biggest race in the IndyCar series season, the Indy 500. Lets look at the facts here too. She is the only female to ever lead any laps and the Brickyard, and also she has finished in the top 10 there twice in 4 seasons of her in IndyCar.

So when you look at all of the facts, you should be able to plainly see that she has not completly failed at IndyCar like most people say she has (The men that are scared of her being sucessful). I think that she can and will go into the NASCAR series' and learn from some of the best racers within the Hendrick stable and become one of the most sucessful racers that we have seen male or female.

So when you try to answer the question "does Danica really stand a chance at succeeding in NASCAR???" You have to say a resounding YES!!!

What is the SEC's problem???

First the SEC can't find good enough referee's for an NCAA football games in there conference, now the SEC wants to fine schools for rushing the basketball court after a game is over. South Carolina today got fined $25,000 for having their fans rush the court after the huge upset of newly crowned #1 Kentucky.

Why is it the SEC thinks that it can take away one of the greatest staples of college basketball in rushing the court after your college team wins the game? It's not like people are getting hurt all of the time doing this. The SEC wants to be the "no fun league" of college sports. What's next for the SEC, are they going to take the cheering away from the fans next? Cause that is what rushing th court is like. This has been a tradition of college sports for a hundred or so years. All of our greatest college sports memories end with the crowd storming the court or field. It's what makes college sports so great, the thrill of your team as bad as they may be, knocking off the mighty "Goliath" that rules there land.

So SEC when you have an idea to fine the next team that has their crowd rush the court after a big win. Throw it in trash can and accept that this is history and this is what makes the crowds feel so close to there college team. Don't become the "No Fun League" or you will have every college student and fan staying at home to watch a game where they don't have to worry about getting there school fined.

Getting Ready for Spring Training

Once football season ends for me and the Bears dissapoint me for another year, I start turning my attention to MLB and the begining of Spring Training. I always look forward to the begining of Spring Training not just for the chance to see what the Chicago Cubs can do this year, but how all the teams shape up this year. We have had quite the off season with the moves of Roy Halladay to the Phils and Cliff Lee to the Mariners, but we have also had alot of money pushed towards free agents like Matt Holiday, Jason Bay, and John Lackey just to name a few. With some players having new addresses this year its going to be interesting to see how the divisions are going to stack up. Well I know its early but here are my early favorites for every division in the AL and NL and my playoff picks version 1.0.

AL East Winner- New York Yankees
Sometimes you don't have to go out in the offseason and spend tons of money to bring in new people. Just spend money on the people that got you there last year. Thats what the Yankee's have done. With this division, no one went out this year to really improve there team and the Yankees show no signs of slowing down this year and I think with there rotation staying intact and the lineup that they have they should put up another 100-win season.

AL Central Winner- Kansas City Royals
This is kind of the pick to throw against the wall and see if it sticks. The ownership in KC has really started to understand that sometimes you will have to go out and spend a little money to bring in free agents. With the additions of Scott Posednik and Josh Fields to the line up that they already had they should be much improved over last year. The Division winners from last year, the Twins stood pat in the offseason and didn't add one bat or one pitcher to there team and this may hurt them this year. Also don't rule out the additions of acouple more pieces to make them a little bit better.

AL West Winner- Seattle Mariners
With LA Angels losing alot of talent in the offseason and the Rangers not having the finacial flexibility to add a big piece to the team, I think the Mariners will run away with this division just due to the starting rotation that boasts King Felix and Cliff Lee.

AL Wild Card- Texas Rangers
With the addition of Vlad to an already potent line up that has Michael Young, Ian Kinsler and Josh Hamilton they will be banging home runs out of the ball park at record pace. Also there starting rotation is another year older and with the expirence that they gained last year will make them much wiser this year.

NL East Winner- Philadelphia Phillies
One name is really all that is needed to sum up why they will win this division: Roy Halladay. One of the most dominant pitchers that we have seen in the last 3 to 4 years added to the young talent of Cole Hamels will make this team be very difficult to deal with in the post season.

NL Central Winner- Chicago Cubs
Yes I know this is my "INNER HOMER" coming out in me but really I think last year was kind of a freak year for them cause they were dealing with so many injuries that they couldn't put out the lineup that they invisioned. With Milton Bradley gone, this makes the locker room so much easier to deal with for Pinella.

NL West Winner- San Fransisco Giants
Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain are probably the two best pitchers in the NL behind the Roy Halladay. With the additions that they made in getting Mark DeRosa and Aubrey Huff to there lineup this team will not have the same fate as last year and miss out on the playoffs.

NL Wildcard Winner- New York Mets
With the addition of a power bat like Jason Bay and the come back of injured players like Jose Reyes in this lineup will push the Phillies for the East but I think they will come out and smoke everybody in the wild card.

With the season coming around the corner and more moves to be made, Version 2.0 of Eric's Picks of the Divisions will be coming soon to a computer screen near you.