Seattle Sportsnet

Catcher Jamie Burke (pictured left) was not offered a 2009 contract by the Seattle Mariners and it’s an injustice. Burke, the 37-year-old who has spent the majority of his career in the minor leagues, became a victim of the Mariners poor organizational management when he was cut loose today, possibly headed for retirement. The veteran backstop did everything for the M’s in his two years with the team, including pitching in a game last season and mentoring younger players. A logjam of catchers, brought about by the horrible decision-making of the Bill Bavasi era, forced Burke out of a job and I won’t hesitate to point the finger of blame at Kenji Johjima.

Not that this is entirely Kenji Johjima’s fault. Johjima was rewarded with a three-year contract extension last Spring for no reason whatsoever. There isn’t even any speculation as to why Johjima was rewarded for a lack of effort, the move has simply been chalked up as one of the worst contractual decisions in history. The 32-year-old Johjima regressed miserably from 2007 to 2008 and with a glut of young receivers climbing their way up the organizational ladder, should have been allowed to make his way into free agency during the ’08-’09 offseason. Instead, Joh was given a three-year extension worth $24-million which essentially rewarded him for being one of the worst catchers in baseball.

The presence of Johjima over the next three seasons will be a detriment to this ballclub. He may be a very nice man, but last season the pitching staff complained about a breakdown in communication with Kenji and by season’s end, the three-year veteran was backing up Jeff Clement. Clement should take hold of the starting job this season and force Johjima into a role all too familiar to Seattle sports fans: overpaid backup. Which is why Burke, of all people, has been the one most hurt by Johjima’s lack of performance. Johjima will earn his paycheck no matter if he plays or not. The idiots that gave him his extension have already been fired for their mistakes. Burke, the innocent bystander in all this, has been canned despite the fact that he outplayed Johjima last season, was a favorable clubhouse presence, and was deemed the best defensive catcher on the ballclub.

There is really no resolving this situation without calling for Kenji Johjima’s job. I’ll admit I was excited to see Joh come to Seattle back in 2006 when we had a catcher-desperate ballclub that benefited from his services. But now this has gotten out of hand. If nothing else, Johjima should give half his annual salary to Burke, who will exit the Major Leagues having not earned a fraction of the amount that Johjima will take home this year alone. Personally, I’m all for releasing Johjima and letting him walk with the rest of his money, rather than letting him bring down this baseball team and take a roster spot away from a deserving replacement. The cost-effective Burke would have been a cheaper, more fan-friendly option and who doesn’t cherish the thought of seeing the former Oregon State kicker on the mound in extra innings again, firing away with his 80-MPH heater?

Johjima needs to go, and the Mariners need to bring back the veteran backstop who can spell Jeff Clement and give this team a reliable option on Sundays. The Bring Back Burke coalition begins here.

Everyone knows the BCS is garbage. College Bowls are outdated, anticlimactic, and trivial. It’s a dog and pony show, and in this day and age sports fans need a real champ–a clear, undisputed champ. Even though I agree that the teams in the National Championship game are the two best teams in the country, it’s still not a legitimate way to choose a the champion of 119 teams.

Like I said, we need a clear, undisputed winner. Right now it’s like Joe Louis and George Foreman fighting for the heavyweight crown while Muhammad Ali was suspended for draft dodging–THERE ARE CLEARLY OTHER TEAMS QUALIFIED ENOUGH TO HAVE A SHOT.

A playoff is needed, there’s no doubt about that. The guys at ESPN showed a hypothetical 8 team playoff bracket on College Football Live based on Barack Obama’s proposition. After seeing it, I wasn’t satisfied. 8 teams is nowhere near enough. 16 is the number we’re looking for. With a 16 team playoff, not only can we include the winner of every major conference (something Obama’s 8 team playoff doesn’t do), every undefeated team (12-0 Boise State was not in the 8 team playoff), and as many teams from each conference that are deserving (instead of the current BCS rule that doesn’t allow more than two teams from one conference to be in BCS bowls, causing a weak 10-2 Ohio State team, ranked 10th, to get a bowl birth over 11-1 Texas Tech, ranked 7th, who’s only loss came to #1 Oklahoma).

My proposed 16 team playoff doesn’t eliminate the bowls either. It’s simple: there are four brackets of four teams–the Rose Bracket, Fiesta Bracket, Orange Bracket, and Sugar Bracket. When those brackets get narrowed down to two teams, the two teams qualify to play in the respective bowl. The winner of each major conference automatically gets the top 6 seeds (ranking them based on BCS standing), then the rest of the 16 teams go according to BCS rank (except to make small changes to avoid same-conference teams matching up in the first round). The winner’s of the Pac 10 and Big 10 automatically go to the Rose Bracket, ACC to the Orange Bracket, Big 12 to the Fiesta, and SEC to the Sugar (regardless of rank; these are the current assignments). First round match ups go according to seeding (1 v. 16, 2 v. 15, 3 v. 14, etc.).

Here’s where it gets a little tricky. The at large games, first round games that do not have an automatic qualifier (one game in each bracket except Rose), are assigned based on an invitation system, much like teams are invited to bowls now.

It would only take 4 weeks, meaning if it started Saturday 12/13 it would end the week before the current national championship game on 1/3. That makes the “a playoff would make the season too long” argument void. Here is what the bracket would look like:

(For clearer image go to http://www.facebook.com/note.php?saved&preview&suggest&note_id=53253762848#/photo.php?pid=27582&op=1&view=all&subj=53253762848&aid=-1&oid=53253762848&id=1072633568)

Once the second round is finished (the bowl games have been played), the final four will compete in a BCS Tournament of Champions (cheesy name, but accurate). Whoever comes out of that will be the crowed champion. Based on my predictions, the final four would be USC, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Florida–in other words, the four best teams in the country.

The best part: you can still play those other bowls and the smaller schools can get their cash out. They could even have those first round games be some of the bigger non-BCS bowls. There are a lot of options. Basically what I’m saying is that it would be an easy transition, contractual/sponshorship-wise, from the current bowl system.

Hopefully, someday, the powers at be will reward college football fans for their years of whining by actually putting together a playoff. I would settle for eight teams, but 16 would be way more exciting. Just look at some of those potential matchups; it could become as big of deal as March Madness–brackets, office pools, the whole works. There’s a lot of money that could be made.

If you guys have anything to add or change, or if you have a way to get in contact with President Elect Obama, please comment and let me know.

The Compton Honkies are a jovial band of rapscallions that play fantasy football home games in a make-believe stadium in the real life city of Compton, California. The Honkies are led by running back Steve Slaton and wide receiver Terrell Owens, and all fourteen of the players on the roster get along just fine. Our mascot is 80′s pop icon Rick Astley and this week we take on the Tehran Ninja Kittens4Justice in the semifinal matchup of the Pearce Fantasy League. Needless to say, we desperately need strong performances from our star players, which is why right now, we’re hating Tony Romo pretty badly.

The national media would like you to believe that Terrell Owens is a divisive force and the individual solely responsible for the turmoil surrounding the Dallas Cowboys these days. Wrong. Terrell Owens is a saint. I know Terrell Owens kind of, and he’s a beautiful person. He’s been on my fantasy team more than once, and I saw him one time in person. No problems with him whatsover. Now I don’t know Tony Romo, but I’ll tell you what, anyone who hates on Terrell Owens is probably pro-war and anti-love. Tony Romo strikes me as a kitten/puppy hater too. My God, how can you hate on kittens and puppies?

If that’s not enough convincing for you, allow me to present more evidence on behalf of the wonderful Terrell Owens:

• When was the last time you saw Tony Romo weep publicly and declare that Terrell Owens is “his receiver?” Never, that’s when. T.O. will cry for you Tony, but you’re not man enough to shed your tears for him? You bastard.

• T.O. swallowed a bottle of pills in an attempt to show the world that he was willing to die for Tony Romo, his quarterback. How does Tony repay the unconditional love of T.O.? He throws the ball to Jason Witten. Jason Witten probably wouldn’t take two Tylenol for your ass.

• Terrell Owens once called Jeff Garcia “gay.” Romo is much gayer than Garcia, and has anyone ever heard T.O. even hint that Romo may be gay? No. What a nice guy.

• Tony Romo rooms with Jason Witten on road trips. Terrell Owens shouldn’t have to sleep with anyone to win their affection. Jason Witten, where are your morals?

If this were a Lifetime movie, Tony Romo would be the ungrateful cheating husband that betrays his loving, affectionate, ample-bosomed beautiful wife, played by Terrell Owens. Tony, I just want to know how you can wake up each morning, look yourself in the mirror, and say “I am a good person,” when the one person who loves you more than anyone else in the entire world is sleeping cold and alone in another room, and that harlot Jason Witten is laying there next to you trying to wreck what was a once a beautiful, loving, affectionate relationship. Damn you, Tony.