The Trib makes the top 20 newspapers in America

Being a citizen from the great city of Chicago i'm am proud to announce that the Chicago Tribune has made the top 20 newspapers in America. The trib has some of the best sportswriters around and some of the most entertaining. These writers include former NFL player Matt Bowen, morning radio host on WSCR 670 The Score Mike Mulligan and writer for the National Football Post Brad Biggs. The Trib was ranked 15th on newspapers.com's "Top 100 newspapers in America" with USA Today and The Wall Street Journal placing in the top 2. I honestly believe that the Tribune should have made the top 10 but 15th isn't too shabby considering the fact that there are many great papers in this country. Not oly is the paper great but I also love the android app! I also would like to give mad props to Yahoo! Sports for being ranked the 2nd best sports site (behind ESPN but you knew that already now didn't ya?) in the world. They have terrific writers and cool content making it a top destination for your sports hungry life. Not oly does Yahoo! have fantastic writers but they also have a wonderful radio station with some amazing hosts! Go to http://www.newspapers.com/top100.php?start=10 to view the full list of top 100 newspapers in the U.S.! ENJOY! and like a teacher of mine just recently said. SMELL THE INK! PEACEEE!

A dedictation to all of the great sports broadcasters & sports writers.

"GOOOAAALLL!!" "Touchdown!!" That ball is....GOONNEE!!!" "It's in the hole!!!". These are just some of the great things a sports broadcaster can say. We all love the broadcasters as much as the players themselves. Because if you think about it, what would sports be like without the brodcaster??? Let me be the first to answer that question for you...*Crickets* *crickets* *More crickets*. EXACTLY! So this is why we love and need these guys. They are inspiring to sports fans and even the athletes themselves. The things they say during a broadcast reels you in to tune in to a sport on TV or on the radio. Legendary broadcasters like Harry Carey, David Feherty, Peter Allis, Darrin Jackson, Vin Scully, Chuck Swirsky, Al Michaels, Randy Moller, etc make sports the way they are. They get you pumped for every 70 yard TD run or Game ending home run. It's also a great thing to do in college because there are alot of great schools out there that have sports broadcatsing. And not just the play by play guys but I got to show some love to the color commentary guys also. They do a solid job of commenting on each play and giving good analyst that make sense (Well, sometimes). But what would the sports we love and watch be without the broadcasters? They get us talking, they get us thinking, and they give us a more reason to love sports. They may say things we disagree with (well if you're a color commentator) which gets the conversation started which is beautiful. Ahhh yes, sportswriters. My creme of the crop. A pen and a pad or a keyboard. The most beautiful sounds for someone like me. As some of you obviously already know I love to write. esspecially if it's sports related in anyway. If i didn't love writing then i probably wouldn't be writing this blog right? right. So it's time for me to show some major love to all of the great sportswriters out there. Dan Jenkins, Sean Jensen, Jamie Diaz just to name a few. But sportswriting is another thing that reels us back into the sport every single time. The way they write and how deep and detail they are, plus you get to meet people that some people will never meet in their lifetimne and even better you get to see places that most don't see. France, Italy, the UK, you name it!!!! It's truly a great great career and worth considering if you love to write and meet people. But no writer gets the perks like a Golf writer does. Private Jets, food at the finest reseraunts, access to many courses around the world. Yup it definently sounds like a dream job and its fun. To me one of the funnest things you can do is interview someone (especially a professional athlete) and write a great story about them and the best best part is when it gets published. Nothing better than grabbing a magazine or a newspaper then reading your name in print and reading your work in print. And even better is when you know that other people out there are reading your hard written work. Another way to get sportswriting published is through the internet where most great writers write today and let me tell you, if you want people to read your work then the internet is obviously the best way to go because everyone reads stories, blogs, etc on the internet now a days. And now we have smartphones which gives us internet access on the road. I still think publishing a sports article in a paper is kind of better because you get to actually hold your work in your hands and cherish it (maybe even put it in a shiny fancy frame!). Sportswriting is a great great profession because you get to write, interview famous people, host a radio show (possibly), and they might even allow you to do play by play broadcasting or color commentary for any sport because it happens almost all the time. Laurence Holmes of Chicago's radio station 670 The Score writes blogs, has his own radio show, interviews players and coaches and is a color commentater for DePaul Blue Demons basketball on the radio along with Zack Zaidman who also is multi-talented as he does play by play for DePaul and is a beat reporter for the Chicago Bears. Sportswriting and broadcasting are two things that go very well because as i said before, there are many professional sportswriters that become radio show hosts or do a bit a play by play action or even sometimes it's the opposite way around as a radio talk show host or play by play broadcaster decides to be a part time writer. There are great schools to go to learn about broadcasting and sports journalism. Such schools like TCB (The Center for Broadcasting)  allow you to have all hands on training to get you prepared to "run your flap" on radio and chit chat to the listeners about sports (School the callers if you have to, prove them wrong! But in a friendly matter, just a simple argument), sometimes even movies, music and life (even on a sports station! Just don't get too off topic). Probably the best part about sportswriting is that there are no athletic abilities recquired. Just strong opinions, thoughts and a pen that drips hard or a keyboard that clicks with authority. The Lifestyle, the fun of it, the pleasures, the first class flights, the good eating, the amazing travels, the chance to get to see your favorite athlete up close and get to ask him or her question, the pretty girls, the fame and best of all it's something you want to do in life. it's something you are passionate about. that's the key to life. finding your passion. if your passion has major benifits like sportswriting and broadcasting then you got the extras of your dream. Sportswriting and Sports Broadcasting is a great way to go if you love writing and talking about sports. So that's my dedication to sportswriters and broadcasters! The dream lives on baby! Till next time ya'll im out of here.......PEACE!!!!!!! (Below, Chicago White Sox Radio announcer Darrin Jackson)

Dayan "I can hit more home runs than you!" Viciedo

Dayan Viciedo. Yeah that guy is pretty good. came into tonight's game against Seattle and got a base hit and hit a home run DEAD CENTER!! This guy has major potential and his bat is electric. He just needs to work on his fielding but once he masters that then he will be one of the most dangerous players in baseball. He destroyed the minors with a batting average well over .300 and over 10 home runs. His speed is average. not the fastest but is still solid. He's not Paul Konerko slow (even though Paulie doesn't need speed since his bat is so electrifying). But he's not Juan Pierre fast. Not even Alexei Ramirez fast. But he can get around the bases. One of the things that's so incredible about him is that he can hit for average and hit for power. You see, some players hit for just power and some hit for just average. Example. Jose Bautista would be considered just a power hitter and not a player that hits for average. On  the other side a guy like Starlin Castro is a guy that hits mostly for average. Than you guys like Viciedo that hits for both power and average.. There are only a few guys that I know of that are good both ways. Carl Crawford, Hunter Pence, Carlos Gonzalez, Joey Votto, Paul Konerko, Brandon Phillips, and Hanley Ramirez and Jose Reyes (Jose reyes has some power. he will hit at least 10 homers a year). So you can definently throw Viciedo in the mix. This guy is strong and he will crush it out of the park. He hit a line drive home run to center field! At Safeco Field!! That ballpark isn't a launching pad you know. This guy ain't going nowhere esspecially after Ozzie (Guillen) saw the way he played. Can Dayan keep it up though? This was just one game. But it was pretty impressive though. To kid a base hit and a home run and I believe he got a walk too. That's impressive esspecially since he hasn't played in the big leagues since last year. So what holds in the in the future for young Dayan Viciedo? Only time will tell. Well we'll see what happens tomorrow anyway. He's in the lineup again and ready to BEAT UP SOME TWINKIES (MinnisotaTwins)!! HIS NAME IS DAYAN VICIEDO AND HE BEATS TWINKIES FOR A LIVING (watch out little kids who like twinkies!!)!! So this guy is going to be good in this league. White Sox fans should be very excited right now for this dude even if the Sox are almost out of the playoff race. THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT MY FRIENDS!! THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT!! My next blog is going to be kind of a dedication. It's a secret right now so I will post it soon so you guys can find out what I will write about. TILL NEXT TIME YA'LL, PEACE!!!!!!!!!!!! (Both Pictures are of Dayan Viciedo obviously)

The PGA Championship & my fantasy golf picks

Hey ya'll hope everyone is having a safe and fun week so far. The PGA Championship is upon us and it looks to be another great golf tournement this year. My question is will an American player win it this year for America's first major win after 5 attempts at a major title failed due to the monsterous power of the europeans as well as South Africa (I'm a fan of South African golf because i'm part african so it's in my roots but American gollf is still no.1 to me) with guys like Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel winning majors recently with Schwartzel winning the masters this year. American pro golfers are looking embarrasing right ow going on a streak of not winning a major. Phil Mickelson was the last American to win a major when he won the masters last year. I honestly believe that an American WILL in fact win the PGA Championship this week. I have my yahoo! fantasy golf picks for the PGA championship this week and for my A-list players I chose Luke Donald and Matt Kuchar. I picked Luke because I am a big fan of his and plus he lived in my hometown of Chicago for a long time and played golf for Northwestern, but my obviously I really wouldn't mind seeing Matt Kuchar pull it off since he is an American and is still a guy that always puts himself in contention at any major he plays in. So that's my A-list guys. As for my B-list guysI have Steve Stricker, Bubba Watson, D.A. Points and Jeff "Boom Baby!!!" Overton. The two best players out of the four probably have to be Steve Stricker and D.A. Points. Steve Stricker obviously because he's the highest ranked American golfer right now plus he has a win under his belt this year. The reason why I put D.A. (Chicago native) over Bubba is because D.A. also has won a tournemnet this year with his win coming at Pebble Beach. As for Overton, this is a guy that was arguably the best player on last year's U.S. Ryder Cup squad and seems like a clutch golferf and that's very important in the majors. Finally, I have my C-list which contains Rory Mcilroy and bomber Robert Garrigus. Rory.....that's all I need to say. Rory. You know who I'm talking about. Record breaking performance at the U.S. Open this year? remember? Yup, same dude. As for Garrigus, this dude can obviously bomb it off the tee which is important in the game of golf but how will he putt? Most long hitters arent very good putters even though Robert is a solid putter on tour. As long as he keeps bombing it off the tee and as long as he MAKES PUTTS then he will definently have a shot at the seasons final major championship. So those are my picks! By the way my team name is "Da Royales". This should be a very fun week and i'm very excited about what will happen at the PGA. Who will pull it off? Will it be an American? A European? Will we see a legendary performance? Only time will tell my friends. Only time will tell. First round is this thursday. We are very close. Once again my pick to win it this week is Matt Kuchar. I was actually considering Harrison Frazar or Steve Stricker but I think "kuch" will be very VERY hungry for that major this week and this is a guy that is one of the most dangerous players on tour. He's all around. Power, Accuracy, Short Game and Putting. That's a formula for success.I'm keeping my eye on Frazar and Stricker though. These guys look pretty good as well. So Matt Kuchar will be our 2011 PGA Championnship.....champion! By the way i'm going off topic but to all my gamers, NBA 2k12 and MADDEN NFL 12 look freakin sweet!!! I WANT BOTH RIGH FREAKIN NOW MAN!!! awwww yeaaa boiiiii! Well, tillnext time ya'll....PEACE!!!!!!!!!

Fantasy football is in the place to beeee!!!

I finally signed up for fantasy football after a 6 year layoff! I have been playing more fantasy golf (which I still play and love) and I havent played that in at least a year! So Im back in the fantasy game and looking to tear it up!....Unless the big boys squash me like a little bug! The last time I played fantasy football was back in 2005 when my beloved Chicago White Sox won the world series against a tough Houston Astros team that got swept in the series with my boy Jeraine Dye winning the world series MVP. I'm a huge video gamer so the fantasy football league I was with in 05 was the EA Sports fantasy league. Back then you just play online like any other league but now you draft your squad and actually play with them in the Madden NFL video games! Amazing! The league I joined this time around and I'm very excited about is the Yahoo! fantasy football league. My team has the sweetest, most ballin, most awsome name EVVERR!! *drum roll*........DA ROYAL PANDAZ!!!! That's my team name! Pretty boss right? Yeah that's what I thought!! Since I use my internet mostly on my awsome Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V smartphone, I can't get Adobe Flash Player which MEANSSS I can't do the online draft so I decided to just do an automated draft for my squad. Hopefully my super awsome team name will get me some sweet players! Well no I take that back, FOOTBALL PLAYERS AREN'T SWEET! THERE TOUGH! BIG! AND ANGRYYYY!! RAHHH!!! Phew! Anyways, I'm sure the draft starts soon so hopefully I can get a good running back or quarterback because those are my keys to points! One QB i would looove to have on my team and from what I hear, he's the most popular pick in fantasy football is Michael Vick. The guy is one of the NFL's rushing leaders from last year and he's got an incredible arm! What more ca you ask for? I've been a big fan of him ever since i was about 6 years old so that was 11 years ago. 11 years of Mike Vick fandom baby! Woohoo!! yeah! Although a Bears fan I still loved watching Mike. He's just so athletic and his arm is amazing! The only player that might have a arm as strong as Michael is former Bear Rex Grossman. I've seen Rex throw. He had a heck of an arm that's for sure. So Mike Vick is my QB pick. My backup would be Jay Cutler (and no it's not just because I'm a bears fan) because he feels great and he has a nice new target to throw to in the acrobatic brilliance of Roy Williams, not to mention the offensive line looks better than ever esspecially since they drafted a great college lineman in Gabe Carimi and the acquisition of Chris Spencer and the return of Reberto Garza so I think Jay will have a great year and so... he's my backup QB pick. On to the rrrrunning backs! My hopeful pick for RB is Stephen Jackson. Now I know some people say he's underated but c'mon man he's been oe of the top 3 backs for the last 3 to 4 years!! The guy is strong, he can knock you down, he's very fast. He's simply a beast and he's my fantasy football RB pick. As for my backup, Now I was about to make him my top RB but I decided to choose him as a backup. My dawg, Chi Town native, Michael Turner of the Atlanta Falcons. He's a big RB back there and is one of the best "truckers" in the NFL. That's a thing that makes him a very dangerous back. Wide recievers. I'll just throw the names out there with no scouting reports. Andre Johnson, Dwayne Bowe, Roy Williams, Roddy White. Those are my fantasy football picks! WOO!! I'll also be doig my fantasy golf picks soon for the PGA Championship. That should be fun. I'm also with yahoo! sports for fantasy golf. So I'll let ya'll know my fantasy golf picks for the last Major of the year soon! Till next time ya'll..PEACE!!!! (Michael Vick left top, Roy Williams left middle, Michael Vick left botttom)

Coming down the home stretch.

Well, baseball season is coming down the home stretch and the Phillies, Yankees, and Red Sox are your top 3 teams. Two teams that were RED FREAKIN HOT all season that are cooling off quickly are the Cleveland Indians and the Pittsburg Pirates. The tribe were doing really well even with a non-healthy squad which is simply amazing, but the biggest story in baseball, maybe even in all of sports has been the way the Pirates have been playing all year. Unfotunatley though the bucs are cooling off faster than a a bunch of people in a swimming pool. Even with the recent acquisition of Derek Lee they're still sucking up. As a matter of fact it seems like they're getting worse after the acquisition, I mean c'mon man they lost 4 straight to the freakin cubs! The Cubs are the second worst team in baseball!! They know they can do better than that. I don't know if they'll make the playoffs but I really hope so because I want all the stupid media people to shut up and stop talking about how bad the pirates were. This team has amazing ptotential beause what they're doing this year is unbeleivable and i'm lovin every minute of it. I seriously hope they make the playoffs but the Brewers look real good esspecially with Prince Fielder in their lineup and Zack Grienke in their rotation. I think they have potential to win the world series this year (yes maybe even get past the phillies) because their lineup just seems to tough. Obviously he phllies have the best pitching rotation in baseball and their batting is also top notch but I think the Brewers batters will eat up the phillies pitching, swallow it, then spit it back out. I think the Brewers probably have the best batting lineup in baseball. Rickie Weeks, Prince Feilder, Carlos Gomez, Ryan Braun and Nyjer Morgan. Rickie Weeks is a five tool kind of player. He hits for power, contact, has a good glove and has speed. the Phillies don't have a guy that can do it all. Jimmy rollins was that guy till now. He lost his power. Shane Victorino is the closest thing you can get to match Rickie Weeks. Weeks can carry a entire squad on his back. On that note, like I said I think the Brewers will go to the world series this year. As for the American League? Well my White Sox are still in it but they are playing horribley due to the awful hitting. The only bright spot in that batting lineup is Paul Konerko. Paulie is absolutley amazing because the older he gets, the better he gets! Everyone (myself including) thought last year was Paulie's best year but boy were we all wrong!! This guy is totally underated when he has CLEARLY been one of the best all around players in baseball (excluding speed). He has an amazing bat (obviously) and plays like a gold glover at first base. But all the idiot media people don't pay attention to players like Konerko. All they know is Albert Pujols, Derek Jeter, & Jose Reyes. Great players of course and Jose (Reyes) is having an unbeleivable year for the Mets, but they don't care about players in Chicago, Detroit, Milwaulke, ect because they simply don't want to. The only teams they want in the world series are the Yankees or Red sox or Phillies. If those teams don't make it in then those lame east side loving analysts will be pissed off but who gives a crap. Anywaus back to the Chi Sox. Not only Paul Konerko but Juan Pierre has been red hot lateley. He has had a ht in 23 of his last 24 games. Now that's some serious game!! Hopefully he can keep it up. He's also one of the nicest guys in baseball. A true class act. Another guy thats played very well is A.J. Pierzynski which is no suprise to me because he (like Pierre) are arguably the two toughest batters to strikeout in baseball. They both foul off tons of pitches in an at bat. they're as tough as they come. But other than those three guys, their hasnt been ANYBODY good. Adam Dunn & Alex Rios have been huge dissapointments this year. Adam came to the Sox and was expected to hit at east 30 to 40 home runs like he's been doing for the past decade. As for Alex, he was solid last year for the Sox but this year he looks very bad. That's why Alejandro De Aza is starting out in center and no Rios. De Aza has done a pretty good job so far and I'm glad they decided to call him up from the minors because i've always liked this  guy's play. He deserves the oppurtunity in the bigs. He can hit for contact, has a great glove, a solid arm, and can run like crazy. Now, if he can build his power up then he will be a five tool player. A dangerous one! Even with the downs of the White Sox hitting, I still believe they will make the playoffs because they have a great pitching rotation and a bullpen that is one of the best in baseball with Matt Thornton, Jesse Crain, Chris Sale, & Sergio Santos. Are they world series bound? NO WAY! Not with that hitting! But if you think about it, the San Francisco Giants won the whole thing last year mostly with just their pitching. They only had 3 good batters. Buster Posey, Cody Ross & Juan Uribe. The rest was all pitching. And that's kinda how the Sox look like right now except the Giants had a little bit better batting. They're batters showed up when it matterd. in the playoffs. The White Sox might of actually had a chance in the playoffs but the Yanks had thier butts on a platter late this season. Earlier in the year the Sox played well against the Yanks when Brent Lillibridge was red hot (which he should be a gold glover this year). If it weren't for the yankees I would actually say the Sox had a chance believe it or not. Because I think they will get past the Tigers. Their only really good pitcher is Justin Verlander. They're bats are real good but I don't think they are good enough. On that note here's my world series predicticon.... YANKEES vs. BREWERS. Till next time yall...PEACE!!!

Chris Conte looks good

Chicago Bears rookie free saftey Chris Conte looks real good. During a practice, Conte made two interceptions. Now I know it was just practice but one practice is all it takes for me to feel convinced. This kid has great potential esspecially coming from a great football program over at the University of CAL. Conte is one of the top defensive rookie hopefuls. Dude has speed, strength & great hands for interceptions. Will he be the starter at free saftey for Chicago? He's a excellet open field tackler which makes him dangerous but he was good at picking off in college as he only had a total of 3 interceptions in his college career. But he's definently showing hope that he will become a football "theif" just after one good practice. Maybe I'm overreacting. But I don't give a crap. I bet all ya'll that this guy will be a great free saftey in the NFL. Adding him to an already very dangerous Bears defense which includes Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs, Julius Peppers and the dangerous Anthony Adams and not to mention one the NFL's best special teams will make this team a major contender once again. Conte hopes to be a top rookie this year in a rookie class that has the amazing Cam Newton. So let's see how mr.Conte handles the NFL shall we? Rememeber...THIS IS NOT COLLEGE! YOU'RE NOT IN KANSAS NO MORE CHRIS! THIS..IS..SPARTAA!! Never even seen that movie (300) but just felt like saying that. Anyway let's talk some baseball in my next post shall we? Untill next time ya'll, PEACE!