Ever since the infamous “Tuck Rule” of the 2001 Divisional Game versus the Oakland Raiders, the Patriots have racked up more hardware than any other football team of the 21st century, but they have also racked up almost as many haters. Since the Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft era started, the Patriots have won five Super Bowls, appeared in seven, and are perhaps on a journey for another this year.

Over the years the Patriots, or as some call them, the “Evil Empire” have had many controversial situations, with “Spy-Gate” and “Deflate-Gate.” Along with that, they have also had their Death Star blown up twice in the Super Bowl by the New York Giants. And, if you’re a Jets fan, Bill Belichick is the Emperor that turned to the Dark Side when he resigned from the Jets Head Coaching position almost immediately after becoming the Jets coach.

Over the past few weeks the Patriots have had another storyline focused around them, in which many speculated that  it could be the end of the Bill Belichick era in New England.

The story starts  when Belichick forced Brady to get rid of his personal trainer Alex Guerrero. Belichick reportedly had a problem with Guerrero and wanted to have complete control over Brady by making him use the team trainers. Next, it reportedly came out that Brady was aggravated with Belichick for constantly calling him out in meetings. This is something that many people admired about Belichick, that he even held the great Tom Brady accountable. Evidently though, it has gotten old to Brady and he has had enough of it. Brady probably feels that at 40 years old, everything he has done has earned him the right for respect.

The next part of this story is that Brady felt threatened by ex-backup Jimmy Garapolo and wanted him to be traded. There has been speculation that Brady went to Kraft to tell him this, but nothing has been confirmed. Garapalo, during his short time in the NFL, has shown great flashes of success when playing for New England during Brady’s suspension, and has won every game for the 49ers since being traded.

Brady may have also have been worried that Belichick may get rid of Brady within the next few years. This may seem crazy for some to fathom, but Brady is forty years old and Belichick has always said that it is better to get rid of someone a year early rather than a year late.

Since Brady wanted Garapolo to be traded, owner Robert Kraft was on the side of Brady. It is well known that Brady and Kraft have an extremely close relationship with each other, asKraft considers Brady to be a son to him. Belichick, however, did not want Garapolo traded as he believes that he can be the future quarterback of the team.

Belichick reportedly went to have a meeting with Kraft about the Garapolo situation that was initially scheduled to only last an hour. This meeting however lasted over six hours and Belichick was forced to cancel other meetings in order to fight for his case.

What is remarkable about Belichick losing this argument is that for years Belichick has been able to do whatever he has wanted, run the entire show and have his fingerprints on every single detail regarding the team all the way from the players to the ball boy (you know what I mean) and janitor. For the first time, Kraft is  overruling the opinion of someone whom many consider to be the best coach in NFL history, which many consider shocking.

In the ESPN story written by Seth Wikersham, (which he reportedly has been working on for two months) he also reported that the three of these gentlemen have been in turmoil for the past few years.

Due to this controversy, many have speculated that  this could be  the end of the road for Belichick and the Patriots. The Patriots and Belichick, however, have released a statement saying, “For the past 18 years, the three of us have enjoyed a very good and productive working relationship. In recent days, there have been multiple media reports that have speculated theories that are unsubstantiated, highly exaggerated or flat-out inaccurate. The three of us share a common goal. We look forward to the enormous challenge of competing the postseason and the opportunity to work together in the future, just as we have for the past 18 years. It is unfortunate that there is even a need for us to respond to these fallacies. As our actions have shown, we stand united.”

Sources: ESPN; The Score

Never Praise a Cheater

Being inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame is one of the greatest honors that can be bestowed upon a player. As such, only the greatest and most honorable players of all time should make it into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Barry Bonds, though one of the greatest baseball players of all time, should not be put into the Hall of Fame. Bonds, or any player that has taken steroids, should never be allowed into the Hall of Fame. Using steroids is against the rules of Major League Baseball and is flat-out cheating. Being inducted into the Hall of Fame should not honor anybody who cheats. Now, some might say, ‘Bonds never tested positive for steroids.’ Bonds did, however, transform from a small into a huge man overnight. Bonds showed every symptom of steroids, even though he never actually tested positive. So, there is no doubt that he used steriods to enhance  his performance on the field.

One argument for putting Bonds into the Hall of Fame: he had the numbers to be put in before he even took steroids, which, in fact, may be true. Yet, that doesn’t matter to the voters who decide if he’ll be in the Hall of Fame, for they look at the player’s whole career, not just a part of it. And part of Bond’s career was shadowed by his use of steroids, a use that deemed him a cheater. If you cheat on only part of  a test, it doesn’t matter how much you cheated — it just matters that you did. Cheating in any way in the MLB should not be acceptable. If you allow cheating, it’s just encouraging others to cheat as well. If Major League Baseball doesn’t lay down the law about cheating, then they will never be able to stop it. That’s also why the MLB has to have lengthy suspensions for cheating and even ban players from the game.

It also isn’t fair to all the players who played the game clean and the right way, when Bonds and others were taking steroids. The game needs to be played on an equal playing field. Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were able to put up great stats without performance enhancing drugs. Many often say Babe Ruth hit home runs on beer and hot dogs — not on steroids.

Barry Bonds played in an era where many players took drugs, often deemed “The Steroid Era.” Because Bonds played in a time where so many players were cheating, many will say ‘well everyone was doing it so it’s not a big deal, the playing field was equal.’ Yet, it isn’t, even if most were using PED’s, not everyone was and it’s not fair to the people that played the game without steroids. Just because others are cheating doesn’t make it right for you to cheat. If everybody else is committing crimes it doesn’t mean that it’s all right for you to as well.

The only way to truly see who the best players in the Major Leagues are is for everybody to play the game fair. Nobody is above the game.

Tortora Predicts Great 2016 MLB

With Pitchers and Catchers reporting and Spring Training starting it’s time that we start getting ready for the 2016 MLB Season. With all the great hitters, pitchers and teams in the league right now combined with the relatively new playoff system more teams than ever have a chance at winning the World Series.

2016 Predicted Division Winners:

AL West: The Houston Astros are the next up and coming team in the Bigs. Last year the Astros hit the second most homers in the league even in large Minute Maid Field. Carlos Correa of the Astros has the potential to become one of the best hitters in the game. As for the Rangers you can never count them out because they have so many talented players. There are many question marks for the Rangers however, with Yu Dervish coming off Tommy John surgery and Josh Hamilton still dealing with a knee injury. The Mariners have good players such as Robinson Cano and are getting closer but most likely are still a few pieces away. The Oakland A’s will have to hope that General Manager Billie Bean can work some “MoneyBall” magic up and get them into contention this year.

Prediction: Houston Astros

AL Central: As for the Kansas City Royals how could you bet against them. They are the defending World Series Champions. During the offseason they were able to resign some key assets such as Alex Gordon. The bullpen that Kansas City has is also a great strength to compensate for their mediocre starting rotation. The Detroit Tigers have made some key signing this offseason with signing pitcher Jordan Zimmerman and reliever Francisco Rodriguez. They were also able to sign slugger Justin Upton. The Twins have a solid team but have a shaky rotation. They are still looking to find their Ace of the team since trading Johan Santana in 2008. As for the Indians and White Sox they both need to learn how to hit. It was a struggle last year and will most likely be again this year. The upside for the Indians is their starting rotation had the 4th best ERA in the AL last year.

Prediction: Kansas City Royals

AL East: Who really knows who’s going to win this division? The last four years there have been four different winners. Three out of the five teams in the division had a good offseason this year with that being the Blue Jays, Red Sox and Yankees. The Blue Jays have a power house when it comes to bats, scoring more runs than anyone last year. The Yankees will most likely be in contention like they always are. With the team getting up in age it will be difficult to rely on Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira to not only stay healthy, but also be productive. The Yankees do now have probably the best Bull-Pen in the league with Andrew Miller, Aroldis Chapman and Dellin Betances, which they will need with their below par starting rotation. The Red Sox made a splash move signing pitcher David Price to a $217 million deal. We have seen these deals work both ways for the Sox, we will see which way it goes this time. The Rays last year were a team that floated around .500 last year and have done little to improve. As for the Orioles, Manager Buck Showalter will have to work some magic as he had the 14th worst rotation ERA in the AL last year.

Prediction: Toronto Blue Jays

AL Wildcard: Yankees & Rangers

NL West: The NL West could easily go to either the Rockies, Giants or Dodgers. The Dodgers won the division last year but they lost ace pitcher Zach Greinke to the Diamondbacks. As for the Giants who have been in the World Series more than anyone in the past few years are always a competitive team now have signed Ace Johnny Cueto. The Padres do not have much going for them and the Rockies had the worst starting rotation ERA in the league last year at 5.27, which is only worsened by playing at the hitter’s paradise that is Coors Field.

Prediction: San Francisco Giants

NL Central: Possibly the hardest division to pick a winner from. Probably the best division in all of baseball. It’s very probable that you could have the maximum three teams going to the playoffs from this division. The Cubs have very young hitters and one of the best rotations in the league that include John Lester, Jake Arrieta and John Lackey. The St. Louis Cardinals, defending champs of the division will never seem to go away. But the previously 100 game winners lost Lackey and Jason Heyward to the Cubs. They will once again be relying on their future hall of fame catcher Yadier Molina. The Pirates and their fan base are thirsty for some winning and they might finally get some with Andrew McCutchen leading the charge in center. As for the other two teams there is about a hundred feet of garbage to put it nicely until you get to the Brewers and Reds.

Prediction: Chicago Cubs

NL East: The New York Mets coming of their first World Series appearance since 2000 and are the favorites to win the division. The Mets most likely have the nastiest rotation in all of baseball. The rotation includes, Matt Harvey, Noah Syndagard, Jacob DeGrom, Steven Matz, Zack Wheeler and Bartolo Colon. The Mets also resigned slugger Yoenis Cespedes who they acquired at the trade deadline last year and was a huge asset to the Metropolitans making the postseason. The Nationals should give the Mets a run for their money though with pitchers Steven Strasburg, Ryan Zimmerman and Max Sherzer. The Nationals also have possibly the best hitter in the game in Bryce Harper who is side kicked by Jason Werth. As for the Marlins they have been looking for some winning for a while now. They are hoping that big hitters Dee Gordon and Gincarlo Stanton can hit the ball hard and lead them to some wins. The Marlins will also be lead by new Manager Don Mattingly this year. For the Braves and Phillies fans 2016 is most probably not their year. The Phillies can’t go anywhere but up though, who lost 99 games last year.

Prediction: Mets

NL Wildcard: Cardinals & Pirates

The 6’8” enforcer who had only scored five goals in his NHL career, who was voted as captain for the NHL All-Star Game by the fans as a gimmick, didn’t know if he would even go to the game, but he eventually went on to have a weekend that everybody would remember.

When fans first started voting for John Scott for the All-Star game, Scott came out and said, “This is very nice, but I don’t deserve to be an All-Star so stop voting for me.” The votes for Scott kept piling in, however, and he was voted to represent the Arizona Coyotes and the Pacific Division as captain of the All-Star Game.

Scott, who at this point of the season had more penalties than games, was then traded from the Coyotes to the Montreal Canadians. Once Scott got to the Canadians he was immediately sent down to the AHL (minor leagues). After this, the NHL and their commissioner, Gary Bettman, tried to convince Scott to not play in the game. Scott however, decided that he would play. John Scott said in the Player’s Tribune, “I’m not some random person off the street, and I didn’t win a golden ticket to ‘play hockey with the stars.’ I won an internet fan vote, sure. And at some point, without question, it was a joke. It might even finish as a joke. But it didn’t start as one. It started with a very small pool, out of a very small pool, out of the very, very smallest pool of hockey players in the world: NHLers.”

Players and fans were all very supportive about Scott’s decision. Players like future hall of famer Martin St. Louis said, “It’s nice to see the league honor the enforcer and grinder of the league, it’s the hardest position to play.”

When Scott went to Nashville for the All-Star game, he was warmly welcomed by loud ovations from all the fans. During the game, Scott went out and showed the maybe he’s not the best player in the league, but he still has great skills. Scott, in the two twenty minute 3-on-3 games, scored two goals. Scott’s team went on to win the 3-on-3 competition, and after the game, Scott was lifted up on his team’s shoulders as if he was Rudy Ruettiger from Notre Dame. He then went on to win the MVP for the All-Star Game. After the game, Scott went back to the minor leagues, but on the weekend, as the hockey world watched, Scott gave everyone a moment to laugh, a lesson to learn, and a weekend they will not soon forget.

In week 5 of the NFL season the battle of “America’s” two teams will take center stage at 4:25 p.m. on CBS. The game will be a rare and exciting event, since the two teams only play each other every four years. So, why is it the Battle of America’s Teams? That’s because the Patriots and Cowboys probably have the biggest fan bases in the NFL. At the same time, they are both the most hated teams in the NFL. The Patriots, Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft did not help their case either with the recent “Deflate-Gate Scandal.”

The game will be played up in Foxboro, at Gillette Stadium. For the Cowboys it will be a tall task to go into New England and knock off the Patriots. Over the past two seasons the Patriots have an impressive 15-1 record at home during the regular season. That one loss was against the Bills last year in week 17 in a meaningless game where many of the starters did not play in the entire game. If the task alone of Dallas going into New England was not hard enough, it will be even harder without Tony Romo and Dez Bryant. The Cowboys starting quarterback will be out 8-10 weeks with a fractured left clavicle injury, which he suffered against the Eagles in week 2. This same injury left Romo out for ten games in 2010. Backup quarterback Brandon Weeden will have to step up for Dallas to have any chance in winning. Number one wide receiver, Dez Bryant was also hurt in week one of the NFL season versus the Giants at AT&T Stadium in Dallas. Bryant’s foot injury had the Cowboys, the Dallas fans and his fantasy owner in a frenzy.

Going into the season this matchup defiantly favors the Patriots and now with the injuries it will only increase the point spread in New England’s favor. Both teams will most likely be battling for their division title this year. Even though Dallas has lost Tony Romo they still will have a good chance at the NFC East title because the division is weak. There is a good chance that they will go 9-7 once again and can win the NFC East. The Cowboys already have a win over the Giants so, that will help them down the road in a possible tiebreaker situation. As for the Patriots they have owned the AFC and AFC East since 2001 when Tom Brady came into the league. The AFC East is a lot better of a division now with the Jets, Dolphins and Bills. All of these teams will have a good shot at winning a Wild Card spot while New England will most likely run away with the division again and be fighting for a first overall seed in the AFC and first round playoff bye.

With the injuries the Cowboys have, it is going to be hard for the Cowboys to go up into New England and win. Head Coach Jason Garret needs to have a great game plan for Dallas to win. If the Cowboys are going to win they will have to play great defense. The most important part of winning the game though will be the Cowboys not turning the ball over and being able to run the ball. Running the ball well and winning the time of possession is the only chance the Cowboys have at winning this game. The only true way to stop Tom Brady is by keeping him off the field, if he’s not on the field Brady cannot score. When Tom Brady wins the time of possession he’s next to impossible to beat. A defense can only slow him down never completely stop him. I feel it will be too much for the Cowboys to handle though and the Patriots will handle the Cowboys easily winning 34-17.