Various sports thoughts 2/25/15

Gonna go across the board with this one on this Wednesday night:

As said before, this is predominantly a football blog so that is where I will start. It seems that around the National Football League, there are several guys who are at least considering restructuring their contracts. One of those guys is Peyton Manning.

On Manning, those who are friends with me on Facebook know I am not crazy about Manning coming back, and I'm even less of a fan of him coming back with Gary Kubiak in charge. The playoffs to me clearly showed that Peyton Manning can't do it anymore. The balls he throws barely get to his receivers anymore and yes, I know he was hurt in the playoff game vs the Colts, but his elevated age can only exacerbate the injuries he sustains. Moreover, Kubiak is a terrible head coach and I think Broncos fans will find that out rather quickly.

By coming back, Manning to me is risking his legacy by trying to do what I feel is very unlikely; win another ring. I could be wrong, but I don't think they are in the same stratosphere as the truly elite teams in the league; the Seahawks, the Packers, the Patriots. That said, if he is going to come back, I do agree that he should take a pay cut, especially if the Broncos are going to keep some of their free agents such as the two Thomases, Welker, Terrence Knighton, Rahim Moore.

Another quarterback could be looking at a restructured contract himself, that being Arizona's Carson Palmer according to Fox Sports Mike Jurecki. It's a smart move by Arizona if it happens, who signed Palmer to a 50 mil, 3 year contract right before he got hurt last year. If the Cardinals can rework some parts of his contract, it can save them some salary cap room. It wouldn't be the first time a Cardinal has restructured his deal; Larry Fitzgerald did it not too long ago.

As far as NFL releases go, the Lions releasing Reggie Bush surprises me initially but after thinking about it, it's not that big a surprise. He was hurt for much of last season, and the Lions found Joique Bell to be a very capable running back.

I am surprised however that the Packers cut A.J. Hawk, who was a viable defensive player for them. He's not Clay Matthews, but still, I'm surprised. I get that he's not the player he once was, and that it saves them salary cap room, but still, that's not some chump player that just went on the market.

Couple of basketball notes now: Baylor beat Iowa State tonight in Ames, a big win for the Bears; it's their first ever win in Hilton Coliseum. Iowa State is a weird team, just depends on which team shows up night to night. I didn't like some of their strategy at the end of the game, waiting 20 seconds to foul a player down six in the last minute of the game.

In the pros, Rockets beat the Clippers, the first time in seven tries that they've beat Lob City. It's about time that monkey got off their backs.

On baseball, it seems to me that Josh Hamilton just can't stay away from drugs. He has attempted to stay sober since coming back to the big leagues after his first run in with drugs and alcohol, but according to CBS Sports' Jon Heyman, has had a relapse involving "at least cocaine."

Meanwhile, the Washington Nationals' Bryce Harper, the outspoken 22 year old star, made his long-term intentions clear Wednesday, that he's "going to bring a title to D.C., no matter what." We know this guy can talk the talk, now we're going to see if he can walk the walk. That team is talented enough to win 95 to 100 games, easily.

And finally, it appears that "Big Papi" David Ortiz is not a fan of the new pace of the game rules to try to speed up baseball, one of which includes that players must keep a foot in the batter's box at all times. Ortiz called the rules, "bullshit."

Honestly, I can't disagree. The new commissioner has been in office a very short time, and already I'm not a fan of what he's trying to do (granted, I'm not a fan of any of the major professional sports commissioners to begin with). It seems to me that the new commissioner is trying to appeal to the casual fan who rarely watches the game, when the game is fine as it is.

Until next time...