Happy Birthday to the following…..

Evander Holyfield, 1962. He must get a plethora of gifts with his 37 children.

Jon Favreau, 1966. “Couples Retreat” was a mistake big guy.

Chris Kattan, 1970. The king of laughing at himself on SNL.

Keith Foulke, 1972. The uncrowned MVP of the 2004 World Series. Never gets the proper credit for all he did in 2004 for the Red Sox. I appreciate you buddy.

Michael Young, 1976. Keep up the good work, beat the Yankees.

Oh and one more person……

Me. 34.

Mitch Williams, on MLB Network made an interesting comment bout Tim Lincecum’s masterful outing last night. Only 3 of his 14 3rd strikes, were in fact, strikes. He went on to say something along the lines of, “you get guys out with balls”.  It got me thinking, and no… not about dudes hitting each other over the heads with their nut sacks. What strike out is cooler, the “swing and miss” or the “caught looking”.

I don’t think either one is better, in fact the result is the same. However, I truly love the called third strike. I guess there is something about fooling the guy SOO badly that he doesn’t even swing. Of course, it is almost as cool when the batter swings at a pitch that dives out of the strike zone. So for me, the art of making it look like it is going to be a ball, is much cooler than the art of making it look like it is going to be a strike.

It’s great when you see a guy way behind of 100MHP heat, but I would rather see knees buckle at the sight of uncle charlie.

Just my preference. What is yours?

I have to say, I was SHOCKED when I heard the news that the Patriots were in trade talks with the Vikings over Randy Moss. Logic would seem to be that  IF the Patriots wanted to trade Moss, it would have happened before the season started. Now Patriot fans are left wondering what the hell is going on. One thing I know is that Bill Belichick knows more about football than I do. However, I like to pretend like I know something, so let’s take a look at the “action and reaction” of the Moss trade.

#1- Regardless of what happens, the Patriots got very little in return. Assuming the Vikings improve with Moss, the pick is likely to be in the lower half of the 3rd round. The Patriots also gave the Vikings a 7th round pick, but that is pretty much a throw away (especially with the amount of picks the Patriots have in the upcoming draft).

#2- The prevailing logic from NFL analysts is that opposing teams will no longer have to worry as much about the deep threat. This will allow them to play more men in the box, and in theory will crowd things for Welker et al. I agree with this, however there is a flip side to that coin. Perhaps having Moss draw double coverage was preventing the Patriots from going deep. It seems as if almost every deep ball was thrown to Moss, ergo every deep ball was thrown into double coverage. Perhaps having teams tighten up on the short stuff will in fact open up the long ball for someone like Brandon Tate. This is wishful thinking at best. Sure it’s possible Tate is ready to step up, but this is a question mark, AT BEST.

#3- What does Tom Brady think about this? One would think that the Patriots would not make this deal without his blessing. Is this going to motivate him, or is he going to revert to 2006 Brady. Remember, in ’06 Brady routinely pouted and yelled when Caldwell dropped balls. I really hope Brady was on board with this trade, maybe he sees things in the rest of the receiving corps that can be better exploited without Moss on the field. Does Hernandez move out wide? Will the Patriots play with both Welker and Edelman? The Patriots have a bye week, so it seems safe to assume that their offense could have several new “looks” when they next take the field.

#4- Everyone is talking about Tate as the guy who steps in, but I think it could actually be Gronkowski who sees more action. I may be wrong, but it seems as if he has only seen action in goal line and short yardage situations. Gronk can block and catch, does this mean less Crumpler? Algee is pretty much a roving blocker, without Moss, can the Patriots afford to have a non-catching entity out there?

#5- There is more to this story than meets the eye. Now it is coming out that Moss had an altercation with QB Coach Bill O’Brien, I am sure there has to be more than that. Of course, BB runs a tight ship and it will take a while for the real story to come out. I refuse to believe that this is a knee-jerk reaction to a conflict with a coach. There has to be more.

#6- The Patriots trade Moroney, and the next week, Faulk gets injured. What are the odds a WR goes down in the next game? I say about 75%.

#7- The Patriots need help on defense, maybe with all those draft picks they can make a trade for some defensive help. I think that would be a good idea. Teams like Buffalo, Detroit, and Carolina are pretty much toast. I am sure there is a player on one of those teams that could help the Pats. I don’t see the Bills doing business in the division, but a team like the Panthers may be prime to get a pick back.

#8- All this talk that the Patriots want to go back to 01-04 style of play is nonsense, back then the defense was a strength. Right now, this defense is questionable. I believe that they can improve, but it’s going to take time. Patriots schedule is brutal, these guys are going to need to improve on the fly. The offense needs to be able to more than carry their load. Is it possible that the Patriots don’t want to have a lot of big plays because they need their offense on the field as long as possible? So, if they aren’t going to use Randy, might as well dump him? This at least seems logical.

#9- The Patriots play the Vikings on Halloween. I hope Randy gets the runs and misses the game.

#10- Randy Moss may have dogged it on plays, his hands may not be as good as they once were… but the guy is still a total threat. Belichick has proven time and time again that he knows what he is doing. Of course, lately, he has had more misses than hits. This move is really going to test the fans faith. Win and people won’t care at all. Loose, and loose because the offense isn’t effective, and I think this will be the biggest strike against Belichick in his Patriots tenure.