Smack Zone — Smack Talk

Chances are, the Yankees and Mets aren't going to meet in the World Series. OK, sure. It's possible. IF the Yankees win the one-game wild-card play-in; IF the Mets get more than one game a series out of physically limited ace Matt Harvey; IF the Yankees don't get stomped by the much, MUCH better teams in the AL bracket ... OK. Maybe the traditional Subway Series is still a mathematical possibility. (Not happening.) Regardless, the REAL Subway Series took place today on Twitter, and New York beat the living hell out of L.A. In case you missed it, here's the ugliest case of mass transit system-on-mass transit system verbal violence in recent memory, tweet by tweet: From L.A., with love:

Hey @MTA please tidy up the 7 train, @Dodgers blue is coming to town. #lolmets @Mets

— Metro (@metrolosangeles) September 30, 2015

From NYC, only mildly annoyed but bringing it strong:

Don’t worry, @MetroLosAngeles – we sweep our subway just like the @Mets will sweep the @Dodgers

— MTA (@MTA) September 30, 2015

L.A. tried. Really, it did:

A friendly wager, @MTA? Perhaps your famous New York pizza. #Dodgers #LolMets pic.twitter.com/5g1vpMBuZF

— Metro (@metrolosangeles) September 30, 2015

But this is New York. No contest.

.@metrolosangeles Happy to wager on who wins the series. Care to wager on who gets more fans to the ballpark?

— MTA (@MTA) September 30, 2015

They're still going at it, looks like, and maybe some pizza or something is on the line. Anyway. The Long Island Railroad clearly has a dog in this fight. Hence ...

.@MTA @MetroLosAngeles @Mets @Dodgers pic.twitter.com/sfIGIpV6O7

— LIRR (@LIRR) September 30, 2015

[caption id="attachment_1181" align="aligncenter" width="474"] You, too, can win one of those, Mr. Rose. BUT YOU HAVE TO STAY HEALTHY.[/caption] It’s almost October and that means the NBA season is close to tipping off. Steph Curry and the Warriors will look to defend their title this year. With a new season comes a new Derrick Rose injury (yes, again). This time it happened during practice, when he was elbowed in the face and broke an orbital bone. It could cost him the first couple weeks of the season. Since his breakout MVP season in 2010-2011, the man cannot catch a break. In the team’s last 312 games, he has missed 212 of them! This got us thinking of other athletes whose careers were cut short or derailed because of injury. Our list contains players that were destined for greatness if not for unforeseen circumstances.

1. Gale Sayers – when debating about who the best running back of all time is, most people say Walter Payton, Barry Sanders or Emmitt Smith. Had Sayers not torn up his knee, he would absolutely be in that conversation. In his rookie year, he scored a then NFL record 22 TD and had over 2,200 all-purpose yards. He led the league in rushing his second season. In his fourth season, he tore his knee, and had that not happened he would have been on his way to being one of the best RB of all time.
2. Jay Williams – Williams was an absolute stud at Duke. He won a National Championship in 2001, and was Player of the Year in 2002. He was selected 2nd overall by the Bulls in the 2002 draft. He was supposed to be a top 5 Point Guard in the league, and help lead the Bulls back to the glory days of Jordan. He was involved in a motorcycle accident after his rookie year and was never the same. There is no telling how good he could have been, but we think he was destined for a great career had it not been for that accident.
3. Greg Oden – he was a national treasure in high school. Most people knew about him because he was on the cover of so many sports magazines, and had some of his games televised on ESPN. He had a pretty good freshmen year at Ohio State, but once he entered the NBA, everything went wrong. He injured his knee his rookie year and was forced to miss the whole season. The next year, he injured his foot and knee again. He is still in the NBA, but is a shell of his former self. “Experts” pinned him the next greatest big man. That never came to fruition.
4. Rocco Baldelli – the Devil Rays drafted Baldelli #6 overall in the 2000 draft. His career got off to a very promising start as he won Rookie of the Year in 2003, and was top 10 in every offensive category. He followed that up with a very similar 2004 campaign, and was regarded as one of the best defensive outfielders in the league. He was injured to start the 2005 season and badly injured his elbow while rehabbing forcing him to get Tommy John surgery. He was never the same after that. It’s a shame because it looked like Tampa had a legit franchise player for a decade or more on their hands.
5. Sam Bowie – everybody knows Portland drafted Bowie ahead of some guy named Michael Jordan. Bowie just never lived up to being taken second overall. He had a promising start to his career averaging 10 points and 8 rebounds as a rookie, and being named to the NBA All-Rookie team. After that, the injuries just piled up on him. He could never stay healthy for an entire season, and wound up getting traded after his 4th year in the league. He finished his career with a modest 10 points per game and 7 rebounds per game.

[caption id="attachment_1109" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Enter the weekly Smack Apparel picks contest to win t-shirts! Share it with your friends and prove your superiority as a pigskin prognosticator![/caption] By Erez Ladetzky, Smack Zone Contributor So your fantasy team is off to a rough start. Or one of your star players is hurt and you need a replacement. Maybe you have succumbed to all of the daily fantasy commercials and have joined FanDuel or Draft Kings (I started FanDuel last season). Here is a list of 5 players either potentially on your waiver wire or who have good value every week in daily/weekly fantasy:

1. Karlos Williams, RB Buffalo Bills -- word out of Buffalo is Shady McCoy could very well miss this week’s game against the Giants. McCoy’s hamstring will probably linger on most of the year. Williams is coming off a 110 yard performance against Miami, including a highlight reel TD. Look for Williams and McCoy to split carries the rest of the way.

2. Devonta Freeman, RB Atlanta Falcons -- coming into the season, many people thought Atlanta would use their 3rd round draft pick Tevin Coleman more than Freeman. Last week Coleman injured his hip, and Freeman took advantage of the opportunity, scoring the most fantasy points this week with a 3 TD game against the Cowboys. Freeman is a very solid RB2/value pick in daily fantasy sports (DFS).

3. Tyrod Taylor, QB Buffalo Bills -- Taylor is available in a lot of leagues and definitely worth the pickup in case your starter has a tough matchup or is injured. Taylor has a great supporting cast around him with Mccoy, Williams, Watkins, Harvin and Clay. Not to mention he can run for yards and TD if necessary.

4. Darren Sproles, RB Philadelphia Eagles -- Sproles is Mr. Do it all for the Eagles. He runs, catches and returns punts/kicks. He is an excellent value play in DFS and allows you to take two high-priced WR or a high priced RB and WR. He might not play a lot of snaps, but the snaps he does play turn into fantasy gold.

5. Marvin Jones, WR Cincinnati Bengals -- teams have to start doubling A.J. Green. No team wants him to be the reason they get beat. Enter Marvin Jones. He had 94 yards and a TD against Baltimore this past weekend, and I expect him to be consistent the rest of the year. Dalton is playing his best football yet, and Jones should be the beneficiary of Green having a monster start to the season.

After you scroll through the waiver wire for these guys, enter the Smack Apparel Weekly Picks Contest to try and win free t-shirts! Here is a look at the NFL games you'll be picking: Jets at Dolphins: Miami is so bad this year, they are playing this “home” game in London so the fans won’t have to suffer. Vikings at Broncos: Manning was supposed to be too old and not strong enough to throw 20 yards this year. The 3-0 Broncos just don’t care. Packers at 49ers: Rodgers has 10 TD and 0 INT to start the season. Kaepernick is coming off a 4 INT game. Can the NFL enforce a mercy rule? Cowboys at Saints: Brees could be cleared for this game, but if not it will be a Sunday night showdown between back QBs Brandon Weeden and Luke McCown. Get your popcorn ready! Rams at Cardinals: Arizona is looking like the class of the NFC West, and someone forgot to tell St. Louis that after you beat Seattle week 1, you have 15 more games left. Chiefs at Bengals: the mighty Daltons are off to a scorching start. But then again, it’s not January yet. Panthers at Buccaneers: the first of many Newton vs. Winston matchups. Let’s see if the Bucs can win their first home game since 2013 and if they are "Carolina ready." Lions at Seahawks: this Monday night game might be over before it even starts. Eric Ebron still thinks the 0-3 Lions are a great team. Maybe he will change his mind after this game.    

Today is Ask a Stupid Question Day. We know. It’s a stupid holiday. But hey, America! Actually, it was created in the 1980s by teachers to encourage more kids to ask questions in class. (So, it’s legit. Bet you feel bad for talking smack about it. Ha! Who’s stupid now? Huh? Don’t answer that.) The actual Ask a Stupid Question Day is supposed to be on Sept. 28, but they celebrate it on the final school day of September. Again, that seems kind of stupid. What was wrong with Sept. 28? It was a perfectly good Monday. Why do you hate Mondays, America? Don’t answer that. Anyway, sports and stupid questions go together like coffee and cream, like white on rice, like cold on ice. The two weeks of hype leading up to the Super Bowl are fertile ground for stupid questions. It most infamously gave us the twisted tale of the guy who supposedly asked Doug Williams how long he had been a black quarterback (or did it? Here’s the actual story in Snopes). But sports reporters don’t need a big event like the Super Bowl to drop a stupid bomb. The occasion can be as innocuous as a trip to Green Bay to face the Packers. Actual question once asked of Bucs coach Tony Dungy before such a trip: “Coach, do you like cheese?” Stupid is as stupid does, right? It's OK, though. Stupid questions will always make great fodder for satirical essays. Oh, we know it’s not easy coming up with brilliant ways to get athletes and coaches to make brilliant comments. Most questions reporters ask are vanilla and lame. In fact, good, reasonable questions often elicit the worst answers. So, today, we celebrate the stupid questions in sports. These questions, in particular, made history.

1. We begin with one of our personal favorites: the great Allen Iverson .

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGDBR2L5kzI] 2. Another all-time great: After a long rant about how bad his team had played in a loss, Colts coach Jim Mora was asked about his prospects for the AFC playoffs. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwq7BYOnDrM] 3. Sometimes there is no question too stupid -- or intelligent -- to draw an interview subject out of his shell. Here is the quintessential pointed answer by a coach who knows how to stay on topic: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agZKF7U5s8A] 4. Before young Bryce Harper became famous for getting choked in the dugout by a hyper-angry relief pitcher, he was a 19-year-old phenom doing phenomenal things. He once was asked if he would celebrate one of those phenomenal things by drinking a beer. At age 19. He was asked that on camera. In front of a whole bunch of people. Ask a stupid question ... [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dF5NcRvVxk&w=854&h=480] 5. Then, there is the post-game blow-up of all time. Hal McRae, then managing the Royals, always felt bad about this explosion afterward. But he left NO DOUBT about how he felt about stupid questions that day. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kamDqL-AGzI&w=854&h=480] Happy Ask a Stupid Question Day! Remember, there ARE no stupid questions. Only stupid reporters, and hot-headed athletes and coaches who have no patience for stupidity.

No one is enjoying this season of resurgence for the Mets more than super fan Jim Breuer. The comedian, Saturday Night Live alum and New Jersey resident OWNS his fanhood. His podcast is called Jim Breur Mets and More. His Facebook feed is loaded with epic fan rants about his beloved Amazin's (see his latest below; you must be signed in to Facebook to view it). And he LIVES it, you know? It's not just show. He is one of you, Mets fans. One. Of. You. He posted this on his Twitter feed before heading to the Rocky Mountains for a gig:

Any METS FAN want to meet at a sports bar tomorrow in Denver to possibly watch us CLINCH?!

— Jim Breuer (@JimBreuer) September 26, 2015

We know there are other celebrity fans out there. Ashley Judd does the Kentucky Wildcats proud. Jack Nicholson (Lakers), Spike Lee (Knicks) and other stars are mainstays in NBA floor seats. Bill Murray is a Cubs legend. And of course, Jerry Seinfeld famously staked out some Mets territory of his own in the 1980s and '90s. At the moment, though, Jim Breuer is the standard bearer for celebrity fans who not only love a team, but live and die with it. Here's a Smack Zone hat tip to Mr. Breuer. Well done, Mets fan. Well done. [facebook url="https://www.facebook.com/JimBreuer/videos/10153450376072025/" /]