DLD 07/04-05/09: Fourth of July Weekend

[via hiddenoaksfamilycampground.com]
Fourth of July is that much more special when it falls on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Why? You can dub it "fourth of July weekend" and it's just much more catchy. Still, the fourth of July is a great day. Happy birthday, United States of America. Oh, and a happy birthday to Al Davis! That's right. Al Davis is 80 years old today, July 4, 2009. Still, be on the lookout for a few days on this fourth of July weekend.

All 30 MLB teams are rocking the red fourth of July cap this weekend. Red, red, red. [via www.hatland.com]

Be on the lookout for sales! (Cats included where participating.) [via www.thatpetplace.com]

Fireworks! Everywhere! Boom, boom! [via kimberly2u.files.wordpress.com]

Hop on the ball, Terdell! [via lh5.ggpht.com]
Here are some quick-hitting links:
- There is a report that the Oakland Raiders are shopping defensive tackle Terdell Sands.
- The Dallas Cowboys are reportedly toying with the idea of using Marion Barber and Felix Jones on the field together.
- Citing a league source, Mike Florio says that the New England Patriots are not likely to bring back free agent linebacker Willie McGinest.

Pablo Sandoval kicked off the slugfest in the first inning for San Francisco. [via a.espncdn.com]
BAY AREA BOX SCORE®: July 3, 2009
MLB: Oakland Athletics 3, Cleveland Indians 15 (Final)
Oakland Athletics: 33-45; 4th in American League West, 10 GB
Nomar Garciaparra: 2-3, 2B, RBI
Trevor Cahill (L, 5-7): 3.2 IP, 6 H, 8 R (5 ER), 4 BB, 2 KMLB: Houston Astros 0, San Francisco Giants 13 (Final)
San Francisco Giants: 43-36; 2nd in National League West, 7.5 GB
Pablo Sandoval: 2-5, 3B, HR, 3 RBI, 2 R
Ryan Sadowski (W, 2-0): 7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 KMLS: San Jose Earthquakes 1, Real Salt Lake 1 (Final)
San Jose Earthquakes: 3-9-3 [12 points]; 8th in Western Conference, 16 PB
Arturo Alvarez: Goal (63rd Minute)
Additional notes and thoughts:
- I can't believe the San Jose Earthquakes. In the 90th minute, they allowed an OWN GOAL. It's no wonder why they're the second-worst team in MLS and the worst in the Western Conference.
- Apparently, Hedo Turkoglu chose the Raptors over the Blazers because his wife liked Toronto better. I track all NBA free agent news here.
- Have a nice fourth of July weekend, everyone.
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hmm
Terrdell Sands on the market?
why not the guys a bum and wont work hard enough.
ps. my fourth of July is gonna suck.
Punjabi by Nature
Damnnnn!!!!!
Giants whooped the astros!! GO GIANTS!!
Oakland Raiders Fan
Golden State Warriors Fan
San Francisco Giants Fan
San Jose Sharks Fan
MMA Fan
USC Trojan Fan
by i love sports101 on Jul 4, 2009 10:10 AM PDT reply actions
Benching Fred Lewis for Nate Schierholtz was the best move Bruce Bochy ever made. Now, if only Bob Geren would sit Jack Cust for Travis Buck, we might be less ticked off about the way this season has transpired.
The Ultimate Opportunist
by Rated-R Superstar on Jul 4, 2009 12:31 PM PDT up reply actions
cust worse than buck...??
stick to DLDs, my friend. Buck will never be the 30+ HR, .350 OBP Cust IS already.
Cust isn’t exciting to watch, but DAMN can he hit.
Don't confuse me with the facts, my mind is made up!!
Former Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair was shot to death in Nashville, Tennessee.
Police said it looked like a double homicide. A female victim was also found dead.
The Ultimate Opportunist
by Rated-R Superstar on Jul 4, 2009 1:41 PM PDT reply actions
Madden NFL 2010 ratings have been out for a little bit and most of you have seen them. The ratings for the Oakland Raiders are here and most of you won’t be happy. All the ratings are low for everybody this year, really, and everyone will feel as if their team was gypped.
The Ultimate Opportunist
by Rated-R Superstar on Jul 4, 2009 3:24 PM PDT reply actions
actually the rating are meant to be that low
the average rating for a starter in previous maddens on any team was i believe 84. But in 10, the average is in the mid 70’s. This is so the NFL’s dominating players actually dominate. Besides, the overall ratings are kinda pointless. Schilens is like in the high 60’s in 09, yet he’s my best receiver. As long as the speed, catch, tackle, etc are around the same, overalls don’t matter.
The overall player rating were dropped this year for every team. It’s part of EA’s new rating system. Trust me, we’re fine. Burgess is 87 because he’s a dominant pass rusher, Miller is an 86 because he’s a dominant catching TE, so on and so forth. The overall ranges go like this:
99-90= Superstar
89-80= Great to really good
79-70= above average to average
69-60= below average to not too bad
59-50= backup
49-40= bad second string to third string
So while Gallery is a 79, he’s actually close to being a very good guard, much like how he is in real life. The 80’s are basically like pro bowl caliber.
This is going to be the very best Madden largely due to the ratings, the scrum tackles, and even further advanced AI. From what I’ve read, the AI is supposed to be as close to a human as possible. The game basically thinks for itself.
Randy Blythe, Singer of Lamb of God- "Words can be broken, so can bones....." Omerta by Lamb of God
you'll all get a kick out of this
click the box on the side of the ratings page and you’ll see the Raiders are ranked higher than Denver.
Randy Blythe, Singer of Lamb of God- "Words can be broken, so can bones....." Omerta by Lamb of God
The way they’ve done it this year reminds me of deflation. Usually, in the past years, everyone has been pretty decent. It’s sort of like the NBA Live series circa 2003 or 2004.
Nonetheless, I still feel like some of the guys are pretty low.
QB JaMarcus Russell 72
HB Justin Fargas 79
HB Michael Bush 75
WR Chaz Schilens 69
WR Johnnie Lee Higgins 64
LB Jon Alston 45
I’m glad Zach Miller is pretty good, though.
In the end, they won’t make everyone happy, of course. I’m still going to purchase the game.
The Ultimate Opportunist
by Rated-R Superstar on Jul 4, 2009 4:42 PM PDT up reply actions
reasons for each of your players
Russell- to be honest he’s still a below average quarterback. And until he plays consistently instead of playing good the last 5 weeks, he won’t get much of a boost.
Fargas- 79 is perfect. He’s an above average back who can be a really good back in certain games. 79 keeps him at that above average level, but allows him to have an occasionally good game.
Bush- This makes a lot of sense to me. They list him at average and for good reason. Other than Week 2 and Week 17, he never really had a good game. Every other game he was either average or nonexistent. Now I know better than this and you do as well. But until he proves otherwise to EA and the rest of the NFL, he’s an average back with a lot of potential.
Schilens- He’s ranked as below average and it makes sense with his numbers. I’m surprised his overall isn’t lower. But once he gets that starting role and has some good games, his ranking will go up.
Higgins- same thing as Schilens but even I can agree this is pretty low. I personally believe he should be a 69 with Schilens. But I bet you his PR will be 99.
Alston- what has he proven? He’s a good special teams guy. But he hasn’t proven himself yet to being an actual SLB starter. EA reflects this with Brown being ranked higher and being the starting SLB on it’s depth chart. Once again, just wait until the ratings are updated after a couple games and he should be much higher.
If you look at the ratings system in the way I’ve drawn it out.
99-90= Superstar
89-80= Great to really good
79-70= above average to average
69-60= below average to not too bad
59-50= backup
49-40= bad second string to third string
You’ll see these ratings are meant to be as such. I know all of you will want McFadden in the 80’s or Scott in the 70’s or 80’s, but in this new system, that would not be correct. Mcfadden is a 79 because he’s an above average back who’s close to being a really good back. But he’s not a really good back yet. Scott is in the 60’s because he hasn’t proven himself to be a good run stopping DE but you can bet is pass rush numbers will be one of the better in the league.
Hee hee, McFadden is better than Reggie bush. I bet Saints fans are pissed about that.
Randy Blythe, Singer of Lamb of God- "Words can be broken, so can bones....." Omerta by Lamb of God
By that measure, though, all rookies are overrated. With some of that rating, potential has to be factored in.
The Ultimate Opportunist
by Rated-R Superstar on Jul 5, 2009 10:57 AM PDT up reply actions
in which I think it is
You’ll notice Aaron Curry standing out as being borderline great LB. I believe that to be because everyone expects him to come in and be a force in the NFL like Willis or Beason before him. Raji is an 81 as an already good DT, which for him baffles me as DT’s take longer to develop in the NFL much like WR with only a very few exceptions. The one rookie that really upsets me though is Crabtree.
Already an 84, EA must be thinking that he’ll be like Calvin Johnson and be one of those exceptions to the aforementioned rookie receiver rule (I’ll call this the the triple R {RRR}) In a way I understand this as he’s been credited as the most polished and NFL ready receiver (though I’ve heard his route-running will start out kind of low) When you factor in what makes Crabtree, I an understand why he might be a little higher. Good speed, great hands, good elusiveness, spins, jukes, cuts, etc., makes the tough catches and catches in traffic; factor all that in and his overall would be rather high for a rookie. But I’m still skeptical that he’s only one point lower than Donald Driver and something truly disturbing, he’s equal to Roy Williams.
I’ll agree that there’s flaws as there will be with the early rankings. But for those of with online, those rankings will change as early as preseason. For the first couple weeks, the rankings will be slightly off-base until EA and the NFL community can truly see what each team and each player actually plays like.
Randy Blythe, Singer of Lamb of God- "Words can be broken, so can bones....." Omerta by Lamb of God
schilens and higgins
got DISSED!!
they definitely took care of Morrison and Murphy though…
Don't confuse me with the facts, my mind is made up!!
Happy Birthday Al
Al Davis turned 80 years young today.
Your team is your child...You love it no matter what.
Also celebrating a birthday today
me
"If Vin Mazzaro comes anywhere near me with shaving cream he’s gonna be coming away with a bloody stump" – Dallas Braden
Jeff Garcia thinks he should be the starting quarterback because he feels like the best quarterback on the team.
“Not knocking JaMarcus or anybody else on the team, but I have a belief in my own abilities,” Garcia said in a phone interview from his home in San Diego." [That has] me feeling I am the best quarterback on the team. That’s just how I approach the game."
Over the past 10 years, Garcia has a 58-58 record as a starter with five different teams.
The Ultimate Opportunist
by Rated-R Superstar on Jul 4, 2009 11:35 PM PDT reply actions
Like Nnamdi
But I heard he is stepping his voice ip.
Amazing, Jamarcus Russell hands off to McFadden who pitches it back to Russell who finds Darrius Heyward Bey in the Middle of the Field wide open 30, 20,10,5 Touchdown Raiders! Amazing. This telecast is Brought to you by Cable.
He needs to get more vocal.
The Ultimate Opportunist
by Rated-R Superstar on Jul 5, 2009 12:38 PM PDT up reply actions
eh, some guys are like that, some aren't
its definitely not something you force…
Don't confuse me with the facts, my mind is made up!!
Speaking of ratings
Not sure I agree with these folks, but here’s a rating of the O-Lines:
http://fantasynews.cbssports.com/fantasyfootball/story/10878576
I’d kind of like to know how the 49ers gave up the most sacks last year, and yet their line is rated better than some other teams.
CBS
probably pinned it on the horrible QB play. I mean seriously, JT O’sullivan had to account for a decent amount of those…same w/ shaun hill…
Don't confuse me with the facts, my mind is made up!!
Shaun Hill actually went 5-3 as a starter.
The Ultimate Opportunist
by Rated-R Superstar on Jul 5, 2009 7:08 PM PDT up reply actions
Are the 49er's
Officially known as the Santa Clara 49er’s or is it still San Fran.
Amazing, Jamarcus Russell hands off to McFadden who pitches it back to Russell who finds Darrius Heyward Bey in the Middle of the Field wide open 30, 20,10,5 Touchdown Raiders! Amazing. This telecast is Brought to you by Cable.
ya but let's be honest
shaun hill is not a legitimate starter. He may have went 5-3 as a starter, but that doesn’t really mean anything when it comes sacks. I’m not saying the SF Oline is good, in fact it’s horrible, but i think the QBs must’ve had SOMETHING to do with all those sacks…
their Oline also probably went up in the CBS rankings because they’re plugging in some new starters that sat out their rookie yrs…
Don't confuse me with the facts, my mind is made up!!
umm, that was posted on July 30th. 2008
you’ll notice the Raiders still had Kwame Harris and the Jags still had Barnes.
Randy Blythe, Singer of Lamb of God- "Words can be broken, so can bones....." Omerta by Lamb of God

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