Grand Day for Winston-Salem

Greensboro, NC -- At long last, after three and a half years since the idea was first proposed, Winston-Salem is opening their new ballpark downtown tonight.  While I am not attending the game, and the game is being played during this writing, the park's beauty is nothing but magnificent.  I pass by the 610,000 bricks twice a day to my "day job."  The park currently holds 5,500 spectators, but the key to the park is that it's accessible in 360 degrees.  When I attend ballgames, I like to walk around the park and coddle my beverage in the outfield (at minor league games).  However, it's always a pain to walk in a "U" to get from the entrance (right side of the field) to the left field area.  In this park, you can walk in any direction around the field.

The Winston-Salem Dash (get it, Winston "dash" Salem) are hosting the Potomac Nationals amid cloudy skies, but it's currently 75 degrees.  It wasn't easy to reach this day -- there were many setbacks along the journey.  There was strong citizen opposition out of fear of raising taxes and ultimately, using the monies for more needed expenditures, such as schools and roads.  The team and the city ran out of money in November 2008.  In April 2009, B's Bistro blogged about the ballpark progress.  It wasn't until September 2009 that BB&T stepped in to bridge the financial gap, and work on the park resumed.  It was sad to see a 70% completed park sit there for 10 months untouched.  With a tight deadline of Opening Day 2010, the workers and the city finished the park in the nick of time.  It's a beauty with the city's unique skyline sprinkled across the asymmetrical outfield wall.  I plan on taking in a game this month; I guarantee it'll be worth the wait.

The "Great" Offseason Trade

Greensboro, NC -- If the Redskins aren't going to dab their hands into the slim free agent pool this year, they might as well make a splash with a cannonball-sized trade.  This deal isn't necessarily about money, but it's still Snyder politics at its core; bring in the best player available and start selling jerseys.  While I do believe the Redskins offense will be much improved both at the quarterback position and overall coaching, the team is not one player away from a deep run in the postseason.

This trade will forever forbid our eyes from seeing Sam Bradford don the burgundy and gold.  I believe that it would make more sense if the new regime built their team from the ground up, as in drafting a quarterback and rebuilding the offensive line.  These quick fix patches -- like potentially signing Flozell Adams -- provide very little depth and stability at critical positions.  While most sources and fans believe that the trade will work out well for the Redskins, including my trusted source Peter King, I don't believe that it'll bring long term success or improve the team by several wins.  Jason Campbell probably wasn't the solution at quarterback, but most of his dropbacks that resulted in sacks were not his fault. 

Games are won in the trenches with your offensive and defensive lines.  If your offensive line is stable, any capable running back can find the holes, and any professional quarterback that has sufficient time will eventually find the open receiver.  If your defensive line can apply pressure to the quarterback, and force the offensive into doing things that they don't want to do, then the defense will be successful.  Until the Redskins realize that games and championships are not won at the skill positions, it won't matter who is coaching the team or calling the shots from the front office.  Drafting Oklahoma State OT Russell Okung would be the next best step for this franchise.

I believe that we can get a year or two of good quarterbacking from McNabb.  He's mobile, he still has a strong arm, and he's smart.  It's going to be difficult rooting for him at first because I've cheered against him since I was in high school.  These intra-divisional trades are always odd and unusual.  They usually don't occur because one or both teams are fearful of looking foolish, and aiding the opposition, if the trade doesn't pan out in their favor.  It'll be interesting to see what the Eagles do with the 37th pick in this month's deep NFL draft.

Opening Day

Greensboro, NC -- In the greatest sport of them all, we all know that time begins on Opening Day.  When every team has a sense of hope, this first Monday in April should be a national sports holiday with all of the day games and the NCAA Championship to cap off the night.  But in today's space, we're here to make our predictions for the upcoming baseball season, so here goes:

Division Winners
AL East: Yankees
AL Central: Twins
AL West: Angels
AL Wild Card: Red Sox


NL East: Phillies
NL Central: Cardinals
NL West: Rockies
NL Wild Card: Braves


Playoffs

ALDS: Yankees over Twins; Red Sox over Angels
NLDS: Phillies over Rockies; Braves over Cardinals


ALCS: Red Sox over Yankees
NLCS: Phillies over Braves


WS: Red Sox over Phillies


MVP's
AL MVP: Mark Teixeira, 1B, NYY
NL MVP: Albert Pujols, 1B, STL


Cy Young's

AL Cy Young: Felix Hernandez, SEA
NL Cy Young: Roy Halladay, PHL


Rookie of the Years
AL Rookie of the Year: Austin Jackson, DET
NL Rookie of the Year: Jason Heyward, ATL