Who will be the first QB selected in this year's draft? The answer might surprise you...

With this year's draft full of endless possibilities, the big question is who will be the first quarterback take off the board? Will it be Johnny "football" Manziel, the surging Blake Bortles, or the elusive Teddy Bridgewater. Well, it won't be any of those names.
In this year's draft, at number four the Cleveland Browns select... Derek Carr, quarterback, Fresno State! (People gasp, cheer, and Carr cries)
Yup, you read it, Derek Carr will be the first quarterback taken in this year's draft.
There are many different reasons as to why he will be first. Two possibilities before the Browns would be number one to the Texans or number three to the Jaguars. Although if a quarterback were to be taken at either of those positions, I do not believe it would be Carr. So this pick is all based on those two picks. But I would like to explain why those two picks will not be quarterbacks.
At number one, Defensive End Jadaveon Clowney is too much to pass up. His size, explosiveness, strength, and speed are all amazing. He is flexible in positioning and a great defender. However, his build can work against him. His surgery could impact how he plays, as well has his attitude. He doesn't have the best personality. I still think he is worth the first overall pick, and it would be dumb to pass up on him.
At 3rd overall, I have Wide Receiver Sammy Watkins. The Jaguars do need upgrades at many different positions, especially at quarterback, but they desperately need a wide receiver. Sammy Watkins would be too hard to pass up. Quarterback Chad Henne is not very good. But I believe, and I think Jacksonville also believes that with the right team he could be a successful quarterback. The Jaguars upgraded a lot, but not at wide receiver. Jacksonville also has to weigh in on other quarterbacks. In the second round, A.J. McCarron would probably be available when no great wide receivers would. Watkins has great speed and great hands. When watching him play at Clemson, he definitely looked like a great Receiver that will be amazing in the NFL.
The Cleveland Browns desperately need a quarterback. One of many articles, the article here explains how he keeps visitng the Browns. If they trade down to get him, then the argument is null. But if they don't, he is definitely the first taken off the board.
I am not sure if it would be the best pick however. I do like Manziel, and Bridgewater. Bortles I do not care for at all. I think he fits the build of a great quarterback, but I just don't believe in him. Personally, I think that McCarron will be the best quarterback. He has the best build, mechanics, and statistics.
Now all that is left is tuning into the draft Thursday, May 8th.

Bubba Watson Won the Master's before it even started

On Sunday afternoon, Bubba Watson won this year's Master's tournament, shooting a 69 in the final round, and -8 for the entire tournament, three strokes better than second place.
Watson has proven he can win the tournament. He has won two times in three years. Watson is a very good golfer, but some would say that his winnings is a fluke, or that the competition has been pretty bad. But did Watson clinch first place before it even started?
Bubba Watson went into the tournament with momentum on his side. Before the tournament, he had three top-5 finishes and one win. For a golfer as good as Watson, momentum is everything. If a golfer is playing well going into the tournament, they have enough experience to let it ride through the tournament, without letting emotions get in the way.
Statistics were on Watson's side. Bubba Watson has been out driving the competition by six yards on average. He averages 315 yards per drive. At a course as long as Augusta National (7,435 yards), getting off the tee can make a huge difference.
Watson is also extremely accurate. He currently ranks thirteenth in the PGA in Greens in Regulation, a statistic measuring how often you hit the green in an approach shot (a shot that can set the player up for birdie). He is also hitting nine percent more greens than when he won in 2012.
When putting, he is ninth in three-putt avoidance, a complex calculation that creates a number showing how often a player has a chance to three putt- something no golfer wants. He has only three putted nine times this year.
Bubba Watson also has poise. In a recent article, professional caddie Hank Haney commented on how Watson plays how Tiger use to. We all remember how great Tiger was during his prime, winning every tournament, basically changing the way people viewed the sport. This comment shouldn't be taken lightly.
Watson played a great game throughout the tournament. He commanded the tournament, showing how well he can play when he bounced back from a poor third round, shooting a 74. I believe Watson had won the tournament before it even begun. Statistics pointed towards Bubba as favorite, and I believe that Watson had the mental make up to win as well.

Is Collabello the Real Deal?

Six games into this year's season, First Baseman/Outfielder Chris Collabello of the Minnesota Twins has won the week's American league player of the week. He is currently batting .370/.414/.630 with one home run and 11 RBI.
What makes this guy so special?
Collabello is from Assumption College in Worcester Mass. (which means I have a personal bias. oh well), playing baseball from them and also for the Worcester Tornadoes of the Can-Am league, and independent league baseball for seven years. Colabello did not even enter the draft upon his graduation.
In 2012, Collabello earned an invite from the Twins to play Double-A. At 28, he produced great numbers, hitting 19 home runs, 98 RBI, and a batting average of .284. In 2013, he started the season in Triple-A.
He tore up Triple-A, and two months into the season, Colabello got the call up to the big leagues. He did struggle in his time on the Twins, hitting at a .197 batting average, with 7 home runs, and 17 RBI. During the offseason, Colabello was offered a secured job in South Korea. Colabello declined.
Even with catcher Joe Mauer moving to first base, Colabello made the starting lineup for the Twins this year, and he batted fourth in the lineup, the most coveted clean up spot. On Thursday, he produced.
With the bases loaded, Colabello doubled , scoring three runs. In all, he would have six runs batted in during the game, with two doubles, and ultimately leading the Twins to a 10-9 victory.
So. Is this guy the real deal?
Colabello won't bat .370 to end the season, but it gives the twins a reason to keep him in the lineup for now. He has succeeded all expectations. Being a player in the independent league at 28 years old, odds pointed to him never playing in the big leagues. But he is.
Most people would say he will fade into average numbers and he will eventually be replaced in the lineup. But Colabello has never been average.
Chris Colabello is here to stay.

Jim Wilson: Assistant Sports Editor of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette

     Last week I had the opportunity to talk with Jim Wilson, the Assistant Sports Editor of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette during one of my classes. An all-around good guy, one specific word still resonates in my mind that he told the class: Passion. I absolutely love what he told the class, saying "If you want to be a sports writer, you have to love it. Enjoy what you write, and everything is worth the sacrifice. You have to earn it."
     His words could not be any more true. There is no great opportunity in the business. A writer has to work all hours of the day, grind out everyday, just to get up four hours later and do it all again. Oh, and it doesn't pay well either.
     But there is something that makes people want to do it and take on the insane workload: passion. I am willing to say that I love sports more than anybody else I know, and I don't love them just because I played them, I love them for the experience. I love the stories, the analysis, the ups and downs of when you team wins and loses, and I love complaining about every decision my team makes, good or bad. I love the atmosphere, the stress during games when a team is two points down with 30 seconds to go. There is just something about sports that has me like a third grader staring at her hollywood crush. I see this same thing in Mr. Wilson.
     Mr. Wilson also told us a story about him and growing up with sports. As a child, he would play neighborhood pickup baseball games. When they concluded, he would go home and write down all the statistics of the kids. He always read the sports page growing up, and he would write his own game recaps. I found myself doing the same things as a child, and even to this day I track the vital statistics of baseball players in notebooks that fill the closets of my room.
     He also shared with the class that he loves to cover stories that have resonance. He wants to write a story that people will remember, not just last night's game's recap. He shared one of his first stories with us that was about the basketball coach at WPI who said the referees where racist. He loved the aspect that this story would catch fire and everybody would talk about it. Just hearing the story brought goosebumps to my skin.
     Overall, I enjoyed his time not just because he talked about sports, but he showed me why I want to be in sports. I still struggle to this day whether it is right for me or not, but I know for a fact that I don't want to do anything else but devote my life to sports.

Welcome to Revis Island!

*Breaking News*

Martha’s Vineyard will be renamed to Revis Island for the time being.

If you have been living under a rock while NFL free agency has been occurring, you would have missed the Patriots signing of Darrelle Revis. The signing has Patriots fans acting like this

Now I love the signing of Revis (if you haven’t noticed already) and I can’t wait to see him in uniform. But before we give 100% support in the move, I would like to examine the situation.

The Patriots refused to give Talib a contract, whether it was long term or not, because of his injury history. Bad hips are a reason to be careful when giving a player a six year deal, but Revis has a more pressing issue in his knee. Revis missed time due to his injury when Talib had not. So if it was about injury, why does it make sense to give more money to a player who has a more pressing issue, especially when Revis has not been the same since his surgery? I do give the Patriots the fact that Revis is a far better player than Talib, which does pacify the money because I would rather Revis on the field than Talib.

I would also like to pose the question of did the Patriots make the move in order to trump the Broncos from signing away Talib from them. The Broncos made it known that they did not need him, rather they signed him because they didn’t want to Patriots to have him. Granted Talib is a step up from what they had, but did this possibly force the Patriots to sign Revis? The Patriots are all about working the cap in their favor, which forced Wilfork into wanting a release, and their reluctance to sign a top wide receiver. I think it’s an interesting question, and we will never know the answer.

Darrelle Revis is far better than any other defensive back in the game when healthy. But every signing comes with some backfiring. We wouldn’t be called sports fans if we didn’t gripe about every signing. Revis will definitely help the Patriots, and I even though I am skeptical about the deal, I still think Revis will excel as a Patriot.

Ian Kinsler Wants Rangers to go "0-162"

                Earlier today, Detroit Tiger’s second baseman Ian Kinsler made the comment “I hope they go 0-162,” about his previous team the Texas Rangers. Kinsler had been traded this offseason in a blockbuster deal that sent fellow all-star Prince Fielder to Texas.

                The comments rattled Texas slightly, as many players commented on the comments. Names were fired in both directions, where Kinsler called Ranger’s general manager a “sleazeball” according to ESPN.com. Kinsler has shown a clear dislike for the Ranger’s organization after a bitter feeling following the trade. However, Kinsler has every right to be.

                Kinsler quotes being asked to take on a leadership role within the organization. However, the team wanted to move him to a completely new position in first base because another prospect currently plays the same position. So the team traded him, informing him about it in the worst possible way. According to ESPN.com, the organization left him a voice mail regarding the trade while he was on a flight to Tucson.

                Kinsler deserves better treatment than what the Ranger’s organization showed him. A team should not ask a player to take on a leadership role within the organization, but also ask him to change to a foreign position when he has proven himself to be an all-star player at second base. This is not the only time something like this has happened. All-star outfielder Josh Hamilton also left the organization on a sour note, saying the town was not for baseball. This is a reoccurring thing from the organization.

                The Texas Rangers need to treat their all-star players better. They shouldn’t be taken off guard from Kinsler’s statement when they treated him so poorly. Kinsler needs to cut his losses with the organization and start new with the Detroit Tigers, a place that actually wants him.

The Love of Match Play

          For Golf fans, this week is one of the best as the WBC-Accenture Match Play tournament is going on. This is a knockout event in with 64 players compete within brackets named after famous golfers (See all the rules here and how match play works here). The golfers play a match in where the player who takes the most holes advance to the next round.

            Speaking as a golf fan, this is rather exciting. The 64 best players are pinned up one on one where every little mistake can make our brake the player. It adds a kind of competition not found in how regular tournaments work. There is also tons of parody in the tournament. A player can have a couple bad holes and shoot 4 over but come away with a tied score. Not every hole counts in this format, rather how you outwit your opponent.

            It is also fun to watch because it doesn’t come around often. This makes it a special event amongst the fans. Happening once a year, it is the equivalent to the other sports’ all-star games. Who wouldn’t want to see Ian Poulter and Rickie Fowler, who share a sponsor, compete against each other head to head? The sharing of sponsorship (which I believe they do these things on purpose) add to the competitive feeling. Who will show that they are the brands’ dominate golfer? Fowler came out on top in a great battle against the man who claims to be the “best match player in golf.”

            All-star games tend to be one of the best events in any sport. The match play event at Accenture is golf’s version of an all-star game. Pinning the best against the best is what the fans want to see, and as a golf fan, I wanted to express the excitement in this tournament.