We need a new fanpost to spur some interaction and discussion!  I was kicking around the idea of doing this during the summer, but never got around to it (yes, I am that lazy).  What are your favorite (non - UK related) blogs to read?

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What is your favorite sport to read a blog about?

• college basketball
• college football
• college baseball
• MLB
• NBA
• NFL
• Hockey
• Soccer
• Other

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One of the big questions about the off-season is whether Tubby will make changes to his assistant coaches.  I think it is safe to say that a majority of UK fans would like to see somebody brought in who can really coach offense.  My question is, who is this 'someone'?  

Realistically you're not going to get anyone who is currently a head coach at a Div 1 school to come and be an assistant coach.  You could see a currently unemployed head coach (or should that be 'unemployed former head coach'?), but the only one I can think of who fits that criteria is the recently-axed Tommy Amaker and I don't think he's the answer.

I think the best bet is to find an assistant coach on either a low-level BCS conference team, or a high-level mid-major.  Unfortunately I don't have a clue as to who the assistant coaches are on any of these kinds of teams, nor do I have any idea which of them would be "offensive guys" (that's the good kind of 'offensive').

So my question to Big Blue Nation is, who would make a good assistant coach for our beloved Cats?  

Apparently ESPN.com has swiped an idea from Blez and will have Huston Street post periodic diaries on the site.  In his first diary he talks about what it's like to be a closer and how he handles the pressure.  It's all stuff that I don't recall reading or hearing from other closers before, so it's nice to hear a fresh perspective and new comments about the job.  In particular I like how he describes pressure as essentially an emotion and how he can control it by controlling his mind.  I think he removes any possible lingering doubt about whether he can handle the ninth inning.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=street_huston&id=2073394

I'm not sure if this is an Insider article or not, I saw 2 links, one with the Insider logo by it, the other without.

I've seen Mike Sweeney's limited no trade clause discussed, but haven't seen any details as to what teams it might or might not apply to.  While reading the latest dialogue between Rob Neyer and Rany Jazayerli concerning the Royals on Neyer's website, I found a little nugget of information about it.

The link is http://www.robneyer.com/robrany.html

They started by talking about Mike Sweeney and how Baird should consider trading him now while he is

1. smoking the ball
   
2. not injured

The Yankees are the only team they mentioned by name as a possibility (which makes me think that all the talk of the A's trading for Sweeney is occuring on AN only), but Rany made one comment concerning Sweeney's limited no trade clause that I took particular notice of:

Rany:... Plus, there's the small matter of the no-trade clause in Sweeney's contract which only allows us to trade him without permission to eight teams.  I don't know which teams they are, but I'm quite sure that most of them are on the west coast.

So it appears that west coast teams are among the few that the Royals can deal him to without problems. While I think that Sweeney would certainly provide a big boost to the offense for this year, I'm not sure the size and length of his contract make him that attractive as a long term option, not to mention the number of prospects it would require to pry him loose. That being said, if Beane can get him for a relative pitance and find some way to make the money work, I think he should go for it.  

I would still like to see Dan Johnson, Matt Watson, and friends get a shot at some regular AB's in The Show though.

BTW, if you like Neyer but aren't in the habit of reading these conversations about the Royals, I highly recommend them for their entertainment value.  Even if you're not a Royals fan (I'm not), I think it's nice to read some informed, regular perspective on other teams.

I went to the Braves game last night and wanted to share some thoughts about the first matchup between Huddy and Mark. Unfortunately the game didn't live up to the hype, but it was still nice to be able to see both guys pitch.

First of all, driving into Atlanta, my friend Tim and I were listening to Buck and Kincaid on 680, when to my pleasant surprise Mychael Urban came on to talk about Aces and the Big 3. He mostly related stories from the book, but also made a few comments that stuck out to me:

• When asked who Zito misses more between Hudson and Mulder, Urban said he thought it was Hudson since Zito used to talk to him about the art of pitching and now he doesn't have anyone like that on the current team.
• When talking about how Zito and his outside interests are percieved by a lot of people, he made the comparison with Shaq, saying that people who think Shaq would shoot better free throws if he wasn't making rap albums were just being silly. I'd never thought of it like that, but I think it's an apt comparison.
• On a side note, Buck and Kincaid were both very positive when talking about the Oakland organization. It's nice to hear our guys get some respect from other parts of the nation.

From the game:

Hudson had a rough time in the first inning, but a few of the hits should have been played better by the defense, IMO. On Edmond's single, Mondesi threw home instead of to the cut off man.  While Mondesi has a good arm, he didn't have a shot at getting the runner going home and he could have gotten Edmonds in a run down if he had gone to the cut off man, or at least kept him at first base and it might have kept Walker at second.  The inning ended on a high note though, Huddy made an outstanding catch on a bunt attempt that was popped up, then caught the runner off of third.

Mulder had a slightly easier time in his first inning, but the defense still let him down to. The single that Andruw Jones hit should have been fielded by Eckstein, and any real shortstop would have had that ball and ended the inning, instead 2 runners scored.

Both of them picked a runner off base, Hudson got Cedeno and Mulder got Jones. The moves were pretty good and they had both guys fooled.  I personally took great pleasure in watching both getting picked off.

All in all it was an okay game, I wish they would pitched a little better, but I don't think they were as bad as their final lines indicate.