Well, I’m glad that I didn’t do a post with a mock draft or any sort of speculation about who will go where. Many of the early picks so far don’t fall along the lines of what most “insiders” had in their mock drafts. What doesn’t make sense to me is The J-E-T-S passed on Matt Leinart. Seems like that would have been a perfect fit. Not that I think taking an the best offensive lineman in the draft is a bad idea… but Leinart is a franchise QB. I think that where Leinart landed (Arizona Cardinals) will be a great fit for him, I wonder why he fell so far? Does anyone have any insight? Or opinion?

As for my beloved Bears, I hope that Marcedes Lewis is still on the board for them. I think that a big play-making TE would be a great addition to their offense. If he’s not I’d like to see them go with either a defensive back who can play both safety and corner, or offensive lineman.

I’m starting to believe (not really) that the Fates are against the Cubs. What kind of world do we live in where, the guy who spurned the Cubs (Rafeal Furcal) to play for the Dodgers, breaks two bones in Derrek Lee’s wrist? Twisted. That’s what I say. However, I am very encouraged by one thing. The Cubs’ trainers did not come out and say that Derrek Lee’s achilles tendon was injured, not his wrist. Granted, everyone saw the injury so there wasn’t too much hiding or misinformation that could occur. But, I wouldn’t want to put anything past the Cubs’ front office or training staff.

Now, do we look to the return of Kerry Wood and Mark Prior as the saving grace of this season? I think not. DLee is a very important part of the Cubs. No doubt, but there have been plenty of other contributors to the early season success of the Cubs. Perhaps this is an opportunity to further hone the small ball atmosphere of this club. I think that the series with the Cardinals is either going to be a monumental disaster or a huge confidence boost. If they lose, they stand to fall into a deep deep deep slide that will be hard to recover from, but if they win the series, they will gain confidence in themselves as a team.

It looks like John Mabry and Todd Walker will fill in for Lee at first base. While I like Walker a lot, and I think Mabry was a good addition to the club (as a bench player), neither one of them really turn me on at first base. I never thought I’d long for the days of Hee Seop Choi.

Ah baseball. It’s so nice to have you back. I’ve now settled into the 2006 season. Let me introduce you to my baseball self. First off, I’m a diehard Cubs fan but not a huge Wrigley Field fan (I know I’m gonna get skewered on this one). I definitely enjoy the park, but I have to agree with my brethren down south. In general, folks at Wrigley are there for a good time, not to watch a baseball game. It sucks because those people who are knowledgable baseball fans get lumped in with all the yahoos with floppy hats, sunburns, and a full tank of beer. All that said I plan on heading to both Wrigley and U.S. Cellular Field this summer to enjoy me some baseball.

A lot of my contributions to this site this summer will have to do with the Cubs. There are other contributors who will be offering up posts about other teams (if there are any of you out there who would like to post on other teams, let me know by commenting on this post and we can get you set up).

Back to baseball. I really like the team the Cubs are fielding this year. I can’t tell you how excited I am about the youth and speed on this team. Don’t get me wrong, Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez hitting home runs is still vital to the success of the Cubs. Having Juan Pierre and Todd Walker on base in front of them is invaluable. I’ve only been able to watch games on nights and weekends so I’ve only seen about 4 of their games, and in each one of those games Juan Pierre’s speed has caused the other team to make a mistake that benefitted the Cubs. Jim Hendry deserves his contract extension. Matt Murton and Ronny Cedeno have been very welcome additions. I really liked Matt Murton last year, so I was glad to see that they went with him as the everyday starter. And Ronny Cedeno just consistently hits, and he has a solid glove too. Michael Barrett continues to be servicable behind the plate, and a clutch hitter (as well as my favorite player). My only real concern (besides starting pitching, but I won’t go there) is Jacque Jones. He strikes out an awful lot. That concerns me. Other than him, I really like this lineup.

The starting pitching. Wow. All that I can say is that I’m glad that they’ve been moderately successful so far. I really hope that Glendon Rusch can settle into a consistent starter. Sean Marshall has been fun to watch. I think that Carlos Zambrano needs to reel it in and realize he’s the ace of this staff, and he’d better start acting like it. There is nothing I can say about Greg Maddux that hasn’t already been said. I’m certainly not depending on Kerry Wood or Mark Prior to come back and make any substantial contributions and I hope that the Cubs aren’t either. If either/both of them do, consider it a huge blessing. If they don’t I still think that the Cubs can be in the hunt for a Division title or the wildcard.

Even though the NCAA Tournament has one more game to determine the National Champion, the First Annual Vigilante Sports NCAA Bracket Challenge crowned it’s champion last night when Florida defeated, the Cinderella, George Mason. I’m happy to report that the winner was… me. I know that I previously posted that my brackets were busted, but I was wrong. Florida was my saving grace. Heading into the Final Four I was the only person who had a team who could score more points.

There has been talk that the reward for picking a Final Four team or a team that wins it’s National Semi-Final game is too high. But, I don’t agree with that line of thinking. When people ask about your picks in the tournament they don’t ask “Who do you have winning in the first round?” They ask “Who’s your Final Four?” and “Who do you have winning it all?” So in my mind those picks are the most important ones, and should reflect that importance in the point value awarded for correct picks in that round. Thanks to all that participated in the First Annual Vigilante Sports NCAA Bracket Challenge. I would love to see if we can’t get a bunch more people for the Second Annual Vigilante Sports NCAA Bracket Challenge next year.