The Basement View

Fresh Start_9: Colin Kaepernick Oh Brother… Where do I begin with this story? If you haven’t heard; recently San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick has started his own protest on the National Anthem. Yes, you read that right, Kaepernick is not standing during the National Anthem before every game. What the San Fran QB is protesting is the lack of equal treatment toward African Americans in the United States. Which to me doesn’t really make a valid protest; at least not for the cause that you are trying to help. What you are doing Colin is not helping the Black Lives Matter movement nor it ever will. You may think you are protesting the country to help a cause that is near and dear to your heart like some many others but you aren’t. What this is doing is causing an unneeded distraction to the thousands of voices that are imploring for equally treatment. The stance that you are taking is ridiculous and shameful for a man in your position. Look at what players in the NBA are doin

Fresh Start_8: The Golden Boy and the Rook With Romo’s most recent injury, the broken bone in his back keeping him on the shelf for next 6-10 weeks, the star quarterback just might be done in Dallas. With the past two seasons in Dallas ending short because of an injury to Romo, the Cowboys selected Dak Prescott in the fourth round this past April. Prescott when drafted was to be the security blanket behind the franchise quarterback so the team didn’t fall behind in a very tight division race. Unfortunately for both Prescott and the Cowboys, the security is being needed right away.  Jason Garrett and his staff did not have that much time (if any) to groom Prescott or even give him that much time to feel comfortable in the Cowboy offense. The dumpster fire was just kind of thrown toward Prescott and it his job to find a way to lead a very talented offense into unsurpassed waters for a young rookie quarterback in that division. The inability to have Prescott feel comfortable or have

Fresh Start_7: Gary Sanchez After a great trade deadline, the New York Yankees have got a gift from God. This gift is a catcher by the name of Gary Sanchez. This astronomical rookie has broken hitting records that no other player has ever done. Gary Sanchez is the fastest player to eleven home run. Sanchez is batting .400, 11 home runs, and 21 RBI’s in just 22 games. Not only that, Sanchez’ defense has caught the eye of many including Baltimore Oriels manager Buck Showalter. Sanchez has a great arm and a very nice glove including some tricky catches in foul territory against Baltimore. Yankee fans have heard a lot of rumors about Sanchez, Bird, and Judge among others. But, nobody ever thought this would happen. What Gary Sanchez is doing is unprecedented and almost rookie of the year caliber for a guy who has only player twenty-one games. I went to the game were Sanchez hit his first home run. Hopefully, Sanchez becomes an All-Star so I can tell my grandkids about him. What Sanche

Before I start this article I would like to just write a disclaimer that I will not be naming any names of writers because I don’t want the drama to start. I want to start a conversation or even create some improvement on stories like the one I am about to rant on… Fresh Start_6: A message to sports writers So I was catching on my daily reading, scrolling up and down the Bleacher Report app on my phone and I came across this video of players’ discussion their Madden ratings with a reporter. The reporter asked the players about overall and specific stats about the generated player. With multiple reactions and questions this video was put out and released to the public. Now, I do like Madden very much, it’s probably my favorite sports game and I care about the ratings of the players because of the certain modes I play in the game. With that said though I do not want videos like this to be created. I just IN MY OPINION think that these types of videos are pointless; because majorit

Fresh Start_5: Thanks Bill Dear Bill Simmons, Thank you for being one of the many driving forces to make me want to become a sports journalist. Now as I just said you weren’t the first or only writer to make me want to enter in the business of writing but you were the last. I starting my own podcast before I found yours, but your podcast has been a good model to follow and find my own ways to improve it. I also have tried to start a podcast show strictly about baseball before you (I’m not gloating by the way); but you have done everything you have attempting since leaving ESPN extremely well. Not to say that you have a little more help because you have been in this business for a long time and have resources that I don’t have. You have the ability to start your own website and have a dam HBO show. You have become a role model of mine and you play a very important role in my up and coming career. When I was at work the other day; I was asked what I wanted to do for a living and

Fresh Start_4: Big Papi As baseball fans know David Ortiz is retiring at the end of the season bringing his twenty-year career to an end. In those twenty years Ortiz has won over the heart of a city, helped break the illustrious “Boston Curse”, and became arguably the best designated hitter of all time. With that however, his career has had some small dents in it. Big Papi’s name did land on the same steroid report as Alex Rodriguez, and Barry Bonds. Enduring the fire of hate for most of his career Ortiz has cemented a place in Boston history forever. From the time he arrived from Minnesota to Boston in 2003 his presence was made aware, as he hit 31 homers and 101 RBI’s in his first season with the Red Sox. Ortiz would propel Boston to the ALCS where they would lose to the Yankees in dramatic fashion thanks to one Aaron Boone. In the very next season Big Papi would smash 41 out of the park and drive in 139 runs, ultimately breaking the curse in ’04 along with Yankee fans heart, wh

Farewell A-Rod? August 12 th 2016 the last day that Alex Rodriguez would ever play for the New York Yankees, ending an entertaining twelve year career. A-Rod came into the game at eighteen years old, energizing the game as a young shortstop for the Seattle Mariners. Rodriguez in his first full season batted . 358 with 36 homers and 123 RBI’s. This after being bounced around in the Seattle system in 1994 and 1995. A-Rod also had 15 stolen bases in 19 try's in ’96 solidifying his spot as a young star in the game along side his teammate Ken Griffey Jr. The future looked bright for Rodriguez and for good reason. Fast forward a couple years to 2001 where Rodriguez is in Arlington Texas playing for the Rangers and playing well. In his first season A-Rod hit 52 bombs, batting . 318 while also collecting 135 RBI’s. If that wasn't enough the very next season Rodriguez hit 57 homers with 142 RBI’s and batted an even . 300 ; and stapled his spot as a superstar in the game wi

Fresh Start_3: Social Media This entry is something different from my normal content on this blog that I just need to write down and showcase on the blog and be just a bit more personal. As of this past Sunday I have completely deleted all social media off my phone. I’m getting rid of the distractions and trying to prioritize my time with this upcoming school year and just for my sanity to distance myself from social media. Where that lands me with relationships with my friends we will see. Also many of you may say it will hurt this blog in terms exposure when I post my articles on twitter. It may also hurt my overall brand; with both of my podcast channels on youtube. I will handle that, but to just make this clear I am not quitting social media all together. I’m taking a leave of absence if you will from it and see how I feel. I don’t know how long I will be gone but it won’t just be a week. If anyone you would like to ask questions or suggestions email me at jdatasports@gmail.c

Fresh Start_2: Pink Slip It’s just about that time of year where the NFL rosters thin out, and your favorite team gets their rosters closer to an opening day look. For the New York Jets, Geno Smith looks like he will be moving further down the bench; or possibly on the way out the door. With Bryce Petty looking like a solid backup to Ryan Fitzpatrick. Petty went 7/14 for 93 yards in limited time. While this last Friday Petty went 16/26 for 242 and two scores with no interceptions. After watching a small sample live, and tap afterwards Petty looks comfortable in the pocket and in this offseason to be a reassuring backup if there was anything to happen to Fitz. After the rumors of the Jets “grooming” Petty to actual show up on the grind iron. I understand that it is the preseason, but it’s now or never for guys like Petty and Geno to prove that they should be on the roster. Geno went 8/14 for 79 yards and a touchdown, while going downhill in week 2 going 6/13 for 47 yards and an int

Fresh Start_1: Introduction                After some thinking I've thought of a great way to bring back old times for me on this blog. When I started this a little over a year and half ago it was to share my opinion on the sports world, mainly focusing on New York sports, while giving my opinion on other sports issues and stories that I found interesting. I introduced games balls and weekly picks (which will be making there return come the 2016 NFL season). I also attempted a mini article series called “NY 500” where I tried to take an entire weekend of New York sports and sum it up/ give my opinion on what happened. I will be bringing that back on Monday September 5 th , and will be continuing every Monday from then on out. While all this is going on, I will be introducing a new collection of articles called “Fresh Start”. This is where I will take 1,000 words and write whatever I want too down and just make it public every day for a year. Some days I will be popping out 3 art