Filament Friday

I REALLY intend to post more than once or twice a week, but the day job has been digging it’s hooks into me this week.  I had a whole angle on “State of the Teams” that I hoped to finish Wednesday, but at this late date it is just a big outline.  I’ll still post it, but might have to change the title so it doesn’t seem so dated.  But enough of my self-pity, I did take enough time to at least round up some links (all for your reading pleasure, of course).

• We’re less than a month away from the beginning of spring training, so baseball news is starting to ramp up.  Lots of little moves for the Cubs, from bringing back some former fan favorites and some depth to the pitching competition.
• Scouts and media types (even the ones that are one and the same) tend to vary wildly on prospect analysis, especially in baseball.  So it’s not too surprising that Brett Jackson cracked the MLB.com Top 50 Prospects list while not even making ESPN.com blogger Keith Law’s Top 100 list.  A Cubbie pitcher with a great background story did come in at number 66 however, while Jackson and three other Cub’s minor leaguers made the near-miss list (warning, the ESPN.com links are Insider only).
• Cools story from Mike Wise in the Washington Post on two Wizards guards who took decidedly different paths to the NBA.
• It seems may have decided that Nick Young is and always will be a one-dimensional scorer who should be traded while his stock is hight.  This seems to discount the obvious improvements in the scoring and non-scoring aspects of his game this season.  Especially the “doesn’t create for others” meme, which completely completely ignores Foxy Young‘s role in the offense this season.
• A former Wizards beat reporter rips the coach and organization for coddling Andray Blatche.  I love how, less than one season into new ownership, people are still screaming about the “same old” Wizards.  Very similar to the Cubs fans and media who have already passed judgement on the Ricketts family.
• Not much going on with the Saints, other than scouting at the Senior Bowl and waiting Drew Brees to get paid.
• It’s not often that two undefeated, American champions in their prime face off in boxing, which makes tomorrow nights match between Timothy Bradley and Devon Alexander all the more exciting.
• If you, like me, were at school 25 years ago, you were probably watching the launch of the shuttle Challenger.  Today is a Day of Remembrance for all who have given their lives to our exploration of the universe.