Former Golden Gopher Blake Wheeler has been resigned by the Boston Bruins for 2.2 million dollars. Holy Cow! That is a lot of money for a player that is 6’5″ 205 that plays timid and as if he was 5’7″ 175. Pardon my French the man is a wussy. Yawn! I think the Bruins are over paying him and I would have passed on him.

Boston - Blake Wheeler has signed his one-year, $2.2 million contract, officially putting him in the fold for 2010-11.

“Before the hearing, I was anxious, obviously,” Wheeler said during a conference call. “You hear all the horror stories of different things that go on in those rooms. But once you’re in there hearing both sides being argued, it was handled extremely professionally. Nothing was said in the room that I didn’t already know myself. There were no low blows or anything like that taken by either side. It was handled extremely well. When the hearing was over, I felt great about it. I was really happy to be through that process.”

The Cowboys had a glaring weakness on the offensive line last season and that weakness is now a Pittsburgh Steeler. Former Cowboys left tackle Flozell Adams signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers earlier this week, a few months after the Dallas Cowboys released him to free agency.

Adams was a staple on the Cowboys line for years, opening holes for Emmitt Smith and protecting Tony Romo’s blindside. But last year Adams seemed to lose a step with plenty of false start penalties, personal fouls, and he also gave up eight sacks.

This season he will be replaced by Doug Free, a lineman who replaced Marc Columbo in the right side of the line last year after Colombo went down with a fractured fibula. Free was seamless in his transition and played well in the seven games that Marc missed.

Fantasy football has taking over the sports world like a tornado does in Kansas. Anybody who plays fantasy football knows that the key to having a successful team is finding one or two players late in the draft that put your team over the top. These players are known as sleepers, usually players in their first season or players who are veterans that are finally receiving their chance to get good playing time. To help out the everyday sports fan I will provide in my opinion my top 5 possible sleeper picks for each position.

QB

1. Alex Smith-the former number one overall pick of the NFL draft finally looks like he is fulfilling some of his potential. Projected stats, 24 TD, 16 interceptions, 3,200 PY.

In this post, we compare additions NFL teams made between the beginning of July and the beginning of NFL training camps. For previous signings from the offseason, go to the June signings post and work your way back.

With Week 18 of the Fantasy Baseball season finally coming upon us, some bright young stars are beginning to reach their potential. The catcher position finally has some life again, and a big-name starter may be down for the remainder of the season. Who am I referring to? Let’s take a look.

Starting Pitcher to Start

It’s amazing how much a few extra days of rest can affect a pitcher. Going into the 2010 MLB All-Star break, a young Blue Jay appeared to have his wings clipped. He scuffled into the weekend festivities, going 0-3 in the final three starts leading up to the time off.

Two teammates lead this week’s waiver wire pitchers. One is 4-0 in July, while the other has an ERA of 1.26. The best part for Fantasy owners is they are only owned in less than 10 percent of ESPN leagues. Who are these valuable late additions?

Starting Pitchers in Focus: Randy Wells

In four starts in July, Wells is only 2-1, yet has an ERA of 1.26. He is holding opponents in the month of July to a .223 batting average. In his last five starts, he has lowered his ERA from 4.96 to 4.07. Wells is owned in nine percent of ESPN leagues, so Fantasy owners need to add the Cub and reap the benefits…

Continue reading>>>



The number to the left of each team name is their predicted conference ranking with the conference champion displayed in all caps.  The number in parentheses to the right of each team name is their predicted rank nationally.  Also, after my written analysis for each team, I have provided my prediction of where each team will end up spending their postseason.  Furthermore, I have underlined my ten surprise picks and italicized my ten disappointment picks.  Separate entries for my surprise and disappointment picks will be posted later on, which will compare my preseason predictions with the average of the (allegedly) expert predictions from Athlon, the Sporting News, and Phil Steele.   

Hello, my name is Brad Matthews, and I am returning to the MVN after writing several columns last fall.  I’d like to start out my contributions by posting a college football guide for your enjoyment.  For the past three years, I have created a college football preview guide full of analysis and predictions.  My full guide can be found on my personal blog (www.sportsentiment.com), but I will post my BCS conference picks, full Division-1A rankings, and bowl predictions for MVN readers to enjoy.  I look forward to contributiong to MVN’s college sports blog, and I appreciate the opportunity to do so.

I’ve seen it coming since The Year Of The Biggio, when it became obvious that Drayton was running the club and that he had absolutely NO idea how to GM a club, just how to promote it. I’ve watched the general atmosphere deteriorate as Roy and Lance realized that they were not going to have any chance of returning to the postseason. They (barely) tolerated the ineptitude of Cooper and the rest of the coaches, but even though Mills and Arnesberg were hired this year, Roy and Lance saw the writing on the wall – Drayton wasn’t about to hire good baseball people and let them rebuild the franchise, so they said – I’ve had it.

I don’t blame em one bit.

Marion Barber is a hardnosed running back. His running style is that of a guy who believes it may be his last run ever in the NFL. Barber has a reckless abandonment about him that’s refreshing and tough and the Cowboys have thrived on his thunder clapping legs for a couple of years.

Now it seems that Marion will return to his original role as closer for the Cowboys this season as third year back Felix Jones is poised to become the starter.

Sports Illustrated writer Peter King visited Cowboys camp yesterday and said that Felix is wowing fans and coaches with his play in training camp so far. King also says that Jones has bulked up to 220, but that’s only a two pound weight gain from his 2009 playing weight of 218.