Help Wanted!!!!

Week 17 games started and finished. The day head coaches of bad teams have dread since week 13 "Black Monday" has hit the NFL and it was not as bad as expected. Both New York teams look like they are keeping their head coaches when a lot of people wanted them to started over, or thought they should. Jerry Jones has shown faith in Jason Garrett even though this is his third 8-8 finish. The one firing where it makes you shake your head cause you are not quite sure what is going on is in Cleveland. After one season Rob Chudzinski was shown the door along with  a $10 million dollae pay out. In total there was six head coaches that was given the pink slip on Monday ( Browns,Lions,Vikings,Texans, Skins,Buccaneers). I rated the jobs from the best on the market to the the one most coaches are not to thrilled to interview for.

Detroit Lions: Just like the Kansas City Chiefs of last year the Lions are stocked and the right coach signing away from winning their division and more. With Calvin Johnson the best wide out in the NFL along with Reggie Bush the Lions have the star power on offense. They have one of the best defensive lines in the league, they might need to add another pass rusher since they had only one player with more then seven (Ezekiel Ansah) sacks this year. Now the question is what to do with quarterback Matthew Stafford, and is he a product of having the best receiver in the game or is he really that good. Stafford just needs somebody to help him with his mechanics, not a complete overhaul but a little retooling. With the Lions picking in the top ten in a loaded draft this coming April, the Detroit Lions is the job most coaches should want to coach next year.

Houston Texans: I'm still not sure what happen to the Texans this year. They was a Super Bowl contender before the season started. Two games into the season they looked like they was on their way to make that prediction true. 15 games later and they fired Gary Kubiak and Wade Phillips (interim). Unlike the Lions Houston  have quarterback issues. I was never a Matt Schaub fan from the jump and I felt much of his success was from Andre Johnson and Adrian Foster. Case Keenum may not be the answer either which. The one thing they have going for them is on the defense with JJ Watt and Brain Crushing leading this unit they have the ability to be a top 10 defense again.What makes the Texans a good job is they have the first pick in the draft and can go any way, whether it is picking a quarterback or trading down for more draft picks.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Another team with quarterback issues with no answer in sight. Just two years ago the Bucs looked like a young team on the move up the ladder in the NFC South. They had what it seem like a very good young quarterback in Josh Freeman, great young defense and a young coach who looked to be leading them in the right direction. Greg Schiano fate was determined not because he started the season 0-8, but I believe because the way he handle the Josh Freeman situation. The way everything went down Schiano in my opinion lost the respect of some of the players in the locker room. Greg did not leave the cupboard bare, well not on the defense side of the ball. Even with a bottom of the barrel offense the defense finished in the middle of the pack on defense. With the third pick in the draft it gives the in coming coach the opportunity to pick their share of offensive players to fit their system.

Washington Redskins: No first round draft pick because they traded their picked to the Rams last year to move up which resulted in the Skins picking Robert Giffin III. A franchise quarterback who is still struggling to recover from his ACL injury last year. Not every coach is equpped to take the Skins job I feel it is better suited for a lay back coach who has a background in defense, and can work with a young quarterback. With RG3 and Alfred Morris they have a form-able back field. Pierre Garcon is turning out to be a solid number one receiver. The defense has potential, but it is going to be hard work with no first round draft pick and playing in the NFC east does not help.

Cleveland Browns: Inconsistently at the quarterback position will always get a coach fired and it has bitten another coach working for the Browns organization . After trading Trent Richardson it seem like the Browns was willing to rebuild with Rob Chudzinski as their head coach. Nobody would  have guessed that the Browns was going to fire him after one season. Chudzinski had to deal with the most  inconsistent play from his quarterbacks this year, with the future being drafting another quarterback in the first round. There was a some Cleveland players who was in disbelief  when they found out that Rob was getting fired. The Browns are one of the worst job openings this year. They have Josh Gordon, Jordan Cameron, and Greg Little, but nothing else on offense. On defense Joe Hayden and TJ Ward are a solid one-two in the secondary. But the Browns are going to need a lot more then those players to win the AFC North or even a wild card spot in the future.

Minnesota Vikings: The Vikings are in worst shape then the Browns. Who else besides Adrian Peterson do the Vikings have on the offense that can make the opponents defense coordinator fear them? Nobody. The signing of Josh Freeman did not work out like they plan. Matt Cassel  or Christian Ponder does not seem to be franchise quarterbacks. Cordarrelle Patterson was a nice pick up in last year draft though, reminds me of a bigger Percy Harvin. The defense has no young stud but is workable for the incoming coach. The Vikings have to figure out whether they want to sign Jared Allen back. Plus the Vikings will be moving to a new stadium in 2015, so next season they will play all their home games at the university of Minnesota stadium. That is a lot for a coach to think about when deciding to sign a contract with the Vikings.
           

Chip Talk All-Pro team

With the first inaugural Pro Bowl draft in the next two days, we have the first Chip Talk All-Pro team.

Offense

QB- Peyton Manning, Denver Broncos: Season passing yard record, season touchdown record, fifth MVP, enough said
RB- LeSean McCoy, Philadelphia Eagles: Finished the season as the leading rusher, and was Philly's best player
LT- Tyron Smith, Dallas Cowboys: Is becoming the best left tackle in the game
LG- Kyle Long, Chicago Bears: I believe the steal of the 2013 draft
C- Mike Pouncey, Miami Dolphins: This year he took his brother spot as the best center in the game
RG-  Logan Mankins, New England: The one consistent player on the Patriots on offense, besides Tom Brady
RT- Branden Albert, Kansas City Chiefs: Running tackle ( check Jamaal Charles stats)
WR- Calvin Johnson, Detriot Lions: Down year in stats, but still the best wide out in the game
WR- Josh Gordon, Cleveland Browns: Break out year for himself and fantasy owners who drafted him
Flex Back- Jamaal Charles, Kansas City Chiefs: Andy Reid has another do everything back (Westbrook, McCoy)
TE- Jimmy Graham, New Orleans Saints: Brees go to weapon, you stop him the Saints can be beaten

Defense

DE- Robert Quinn, St Louis Rams: Career high 19 sacks
DT- Ndamukong Suh, Detroit Lions: Less news about his fines and more news about his disruptive play on the field
DT- Haloti Ngata, Baltimore Ravens: His play is less about stats, still the anchor of a top 15 defense
DE- Greg Hardy, Carolina Panthers: Hardy is that pass rusher that helps lead the team to a Super Bowl
LB- Robert Mathis, Indianapolis Colts: Showed he still has some gas left in the tank, leading the league in sacks (19.5)
LB- Luke Kuechly, Carolina Panthers: The best middle linbacker in the league (1b)
LB-NaVorro Bowman,San Francisco 49ers: Still number one middle linebacker in the NFL (1a)
CB- Patrick Peterson, Arizona Cardinals: Becoming the Deion Sanders of this time
CB- Richard Sherman, Seattle Seahawks: Big corner, big talker, shows up in big time games
FS- Earl Thomas, Seattle Seahawks: With Sherman on one side he is able to roam the field and be the playmaker he is
SS- Antrel Rolle, New York Giants: The best player on the Giants this entire year ( not saying much), but the best stats out of all strong safeties this year
Punter-Jon Ryan, Seattle Seahawks: His punts equal to the lease punt return yards this year
Place Kicker- Justin Tucker, Baltimore Ravens: 38 out of 41 field goals made this year, almost kicked the Ravens into the playoffs

All-Star Hiccup

Over the last few years a lot of people whether they covered the NBA or just an average basketball fan has voice their opinion about taking the All-Star voting out of the hands of the fans, I was never one of them. That is until this year. Last week the first round of all star voting was released and it was sad to see some of the players the fans voted for.

LeBron James and Paul George led the east, which was not much of a shock.  They play for the only two teams that have winning records in the eastern conference. The shock was that the fans did not vote for a player who plays the center position. The fans voted Carmelo Anthony as the other front court player. Now I can't put all the blame  on the fans the NBA suits have to take some of the balme also. The ballot is not set up in positions any more. It is now front court and back court. With the lack of centers I can understand why they made the change, but that change is now causing a bigger problem. If the all star game was to start next week the east would not have a starting center. Which is unfair for the Brook Lopez and the Roy Hibbert of the world. I also have a problem with the guards that was selected too. I like Kyrie Irving being the sarting point guard the league needs to show off their young talent. The problem is not Irving, the problem is Wade he does not deserve to be the other starting guard.

The western conference did not do any better with Kobe starting in one of the guard spots while only playing in five games this year. I would love to see another center start over Howard this year, somebody like Demarcus Cousins. But at least the west has a starting center. Blake Giffin and Kevin Durant is the other front court mates to go along with Dwight Howard which is not bad. I can deal with Chris Paul being the starting point guard,  I would love to see Curry or maybe Westbrook start along side him.

Just like the NFL pro bowl the NBA all star game has had its critics, about how there is no defense being played during the all star game and how it is not that entertaining. To make it more fun how about keep the fan voting, but it does not go for the starting five instead it is for the captains. You have the two with the most votes be able to pick their team no matter the conference, just like a pick up game. That give the fans more to root for. It can also showcase their young talent that the average fan may not be aware of. Can you imagine team James playing team Durant one year, or how about team Kobe matching up against team Howard.

A piece of the Chip

Central replay: NFL's competition committee is looking to Institute all game replays from the NFL offices in New York City. Great idea you have two maybe three people look at the replays and have the able to say what should be replayed and if anything should get over turned. I say take it out of the refs hands let them worry about the action on the field only.

Rant of all rants: If you have not seen Sourthern Illinois basketball head coach Barry Hinson rip his team after last night game you should Youtube it. Once I saw it  I loved it from a fan point of view, hated it if I was a player or if I was a parent of one of those players. As a parent you never want to see your child get humiliated and have to go through the aftermath of this. I have to say I never heard of Barry Hinson before now but I have to rate his rant top five of all time of head coache rants. How can it not be? He mentioned everything from his players being mama's boys, too they was giving the ball away like it was a tax exemption, to even bringing his wife into it saying she could make more then 2 shots out of 11 attempts . Top notch rant coach, top notch.

Down play game: If one team down play the importance of a game, is it still a big game? That is what the Miami Heat is doing for tonights match up against the Pacers. Everybody on the Heat team as a whole is sounding a little bit like politicians whenever the importance of this game is brought up. The NBA season is a long one, but every once in awhile there is a big marquee match up that gets a ton of attention. Somebody should let the Heat know they have one tonight. I feel the Heat are down playing the significance of the game just in case they lose it will not affect their psyche for the next time they play the Pacers later this season and if they see each other in the playoffs.

D.C. Drama: The owner backs the franchise quarterback, the head coach sits the franchise quarterback for the remaining three games of the season for a unclear reason, franchise quarterback is known to have a "all about me" type of personality and does not seem too fond of the moves of the head coach has made. The day time soaps do not have this much drama. I don't know how they go from winning the NFC East division and making the playoffs, to now where there are questions on RG3 work ethic,  and questions about Mike Shanahan job security and the way he coach the team.

Non-Sport

Gladiators: For those who watch the ABC tv series Scandal must have loved the season final last week like I did. Season finale left the fans with so many questions. How did Olivia's mom get back into the country? What is Olivia' s dad going to to now that he is not the head of B-13? What is baby Huck going to do now that she knows how Huck feels about her? What will happen to the vice president? An how many more people will find out she killed her husband? Can't wait until February 27th to get most of these questions answered.

Can the Cowboys win with Tony Romo?

By now everybody knows about the debacle that happen in Dallas Sunday night. Whether you watch the game, caught the never ending discussion on Sportcenter or the NFL network about how they blew a 23 point lead in the second half, and who fault it was. I'm not here to put blame, I'm here to figuare out is Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys the right fit. Yes I know the Cowboys invested $55 million in guarantee money to Romo this off season, does not mean the Cowboys are hand cuffed to Romo until the latter part of his contract. They already gave him his money, so the money he is getting in his contract is not a big deal.

The way Romo was playing earlier this year, I was hearing a lot from the Cowboy fans that Romo should be known as a top 5 quarterback, and they would start throwing out a whole bunch of numbers to back up their case. You can't just go by the numbers to decide if he is top 5 material or not. Romo puts up numbers in the regular season with the likes of a Brees, Rodgers, and Peyton Manning, but he does not win division titles like Brady. Those four quarterbacks have played in a combined 59 playoff games to Romo's 4. Romo has one playoff victory under his belt out of the eight years he has been the Cowboys starting quarterback. Any other quarterback would have seen the door, or the organization would had spent a high draft pick on a quarterback. Before Joe Flacco won his  ring last year there was talk about how the Ravens wanted to see vast improvement from Flacco. They wanted more from their quarterback who at that time was in his 5th year as a starter, and played in more playoff games then Romo also. My question is why is Romo who is has not won anything in his 11 year career held to a higher standard then any other quarterback?

Looking back at the quarterback history of the Cowboys of the last 20-25 years can explain why the Cowboys are still holding on to Romo. Since they drafted Troy Aikman back in 1989 the Cowboys have had 13 quarterbacks start at least three games in one season, six has played at least one. An since Aikman last suited up in 2000 Jerry Jones have not had that star studded quarterback until Romo fell in his lap in 2006. Now this has nothing to do with the sport of football, but Romo has that look that Jerry has been looking for to play quarterback for his team. Which makes you think that at his age (71)  Jerry Jones seem to be more concerned with making money then winning titles. As a owner of a football team you would expect him to want both.

As a New York Gaints fan, I hope every off season that this is not the year that Romo and the Cowboys finally get it together becoming the Cowboys that I hated from the 90's. The best thing is that the Cowboys have not had a head coach like Jimmy Johnson who led them to two titles. Romo is on his third head coach since taking over for the Cowboys, he is also on his third offensive coordinator, which is a lot for a quarterback with the talent of Romo. That can explain why Romo is having a problem succeeding in the playoffs and late in the season. When you have a new offense every few years or a new offensive coordinator comes in and wants to change something about your mechanics or way of thinking during a game, it can affect you mentally. Plus all these changes affect the identity of the team. The Cowboys is the only team who can still make the playoffs, who change their game plan every week no matter who they play. They never seem to have any balance,  whether they throw too much or they they run too much and choose not to pass.

If we was talking about a star in the NBA or the MLB we would be talking about how a change of scenery could be a good thing for both. I'm not sure why nobody is bringing it up in this situation. I personally think that Romo can be successful somewhere else. I believe that the star on the helmet is becoming too much for Romo. Plus I don't think Jerry is going to change his ways on how he run the team anytime soon. So to sum it all up and answer the head line question, I think it is the best move for both to part ways cause the last nine years have not produce anything but headlines. Which does add up to wins or titles in the NFL.

" All Chips In"

Last week edition of All Chips In was all about the college conference championship games and I went a modest 2-3. I was more shocked about the Friday game of Northern Illinois/ Bowling Green score then I was of the Buckeyes losing to the Spartans. I was extremely happy about the SEC championship game,  which I got right (don't know to many people who did). Since there is no major college football games on this week, it will be all about the NFL.

The first game is the Thursday night game San Diego Chargers take a visit to the mile high to play the Denver Broncos. The spread is Broncos -10 on the visiting Chargers. Both quarterbacks had great performances last week. Rivers game was never in doubt,  meanwhile Manning was behind one point at halftime but ended up in a blow out. I don't expect a blow out because Broncos will be without Wes Welker who suffered a concussion in the game against the Titans. Plus the Chargers defense is playing a lot better then the Titans and the last time these two teams met five weeks ago Denver only won by eight 28-20, even with Peyton throwing four touchdowns. In this rematch I'm All Chips In on the points, Thursday games are never that entertaining.

Minnesota is playing host to the Philadelphia Eagles for this 1:00pm game. The Eagles are -4.5 point favorites which is not a surprise. That is only because you can never know what you going to get from the Vikings, expect that Adrian Peterson is their only and best player. AP is questionable to play in this game since he injury his ankle last week against the Ravens. Even with Peterson I don't see the Vikings winning this game. Nick Foles is really showing people that he can play quarterback in this league. Foles and the Eagles struggled in the first half against the Lions, because of the snow storm that hit the Philadelphia area around the time the game started. Once the snow stopped falling the Eagles started scoring and McCoy was the reason. McCoy should start being mention as one of the top runningbacks in the NFL.  With Foles, McCoy and the Eagles offense on their A game and playing in a dome I'm All Chips In on the Eagles

The Detroit Lions are a -6 point favorite over the Baltimore Ravens. Each team played in memorable games in week 14. The Lions played in that snow bowl against the Eagles, which was a disaster for the Lions fumbling the ball seven times . The only good thing was they only lost three of them, yeah that was the good thing. The Ravens played in snow themselves just not as much as Detroit. They also was able to score points, combining with the Vikings to score five touchdowns in the last 125 seconds. The Lions are happy to be home in a temperature control stadium, having gone 1 for 2 in their last three away games (which was at cold city stadiums).  For the Lions to win this game Matthew Stafford has to limit his mistakes. For the Ravens they have to give the ball to their playmakers, and it helps that Dennis Pitta is back on the field. I like the Lions when they play at home, bit not when they play a defense like the Ravens I'm All Chips In on the points

Whew!! That is how the Dallas Cowboys defense is feeling after hearing that Aaron Rodgers is highly doubtfully for this weeks game. Early Wednesday afternoon the line was even for the Packers/Cowboys game, that was before the news about AA-Rod. Now the Cowboys are -7 point favorites over the Packers who will be starting Matt Flynn. If AA-Rod was playing I would have went with the Packers, but I have to ride with the Cowboys. I believe that Tony Romo will bounce back from his so-so game (11-20 104 yards 3 TD's) he had against the Bears. The Cowboys running game was on point running for almost 200 yards. Don't expect anything different against the Packers defense. What the Cowboys need to do is get up on the Packers early and try to take their run game out of the gameplan. The last thing the Cowboys want to do is allow Matt Flynn and the offense to be in the game with the way the Cowboys secondary is playing  this year. Even with a bad defense I'm All Chips In on the Cowboys and the points

A Piece of the Chip

NBA a 1 conference league?: There is a big fuss being made about the lack of good teams in the eastern conference.  I seem to be the only one who knew the east was not going to be that good. As of Tuesday night the east has two teams (Heat, Pacers) with a record .500 and better, and one  team (Hawks) at .500. But if you look at the east before the season started they only had four maybe five teams who was real contenders for the title anyway. The Heat, Pacers are the best in the conference the Bulls are playing the season without Rose again. The Nets are going through a slew of injuries themselves having Deron Williams, Jason Terry,Paul Pierce, Brook Lopez, Andrei Kirilenko all out at the same time at one point this season. Winning two in a row and getting Williams back should get them back on track. The only team I'm worried about is the Knicks they can't seem to get back to playing like they was last year. Missing Tyson Chandler has hurt but so has been the lack of ball movement and the lack of inside play. Other then those teams everybody else was on a "if everything goes right" gameplan. So in my eyes the east is right where I expected them to be .

_ allas is missing their D: Usually in the month of December and January when you say the Dallas Cowboys are struggling it is because of their quarterback Tony Romo. This year is that rare difference, it is their defense who is the big disappointment. After giving up 45 points to the Bears back-up quarterback on Monday night. It seem like the team is destin for another 8-8 finish instead of their first playoff berth since 2009. Ranked last in most major defense categories, Dallas is the only team to have two teams in one season go the whole game without punting the ball. How can you expect to be successful in this league playing D like that. Even though it is going it against his win-lost record, this year it is not Tony Romo's fault, but I doubt anybody outside of Dallas would care.

To resign or not to resign: Tuesday afternoon there was breaking news that Texas university head coach Mack Brown was going to resgin by the end of this week. The only problem was nobody let Mack Brown know about that. Mack Brown stated that he was in Florida on a recruiting trip and have not decided on whether to resign or not. Even Texas is not sure if they want to let Brown go. There is no word on if Texas has any other coach on their list to replace Mack Brown besides Nick Saban. So why allow Brown to go recruit if you are not going to keep him. I have to say that I was one of those voices that wanted Brown gone when things was not going right earlier this year. But he got things going because they was one win away from winning the Big 12 conference. I say if you not going to get Saban then bring back Brown for a year and spend the entire year looking for his replacement, that seems like the right thing to do.

HOF Bound: The three best baseball mangers I have seen in my lifetime was announce to be inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame  Tony LaRussa, Joe Torre, and Bobby Cox. These three mangers finished 3rd, 4th and 5th on the all time wins list. Like I say they was the best mangers I seen, Tony LaRussa was the best at knowing how to use his bullpen which resulted in three World Series titles. Joe Torre was that manger that led the Yankees on that dominating run thur the mid 90's winning for championships out of five trips to the World Series. Then you have Bobby Cox who only got that one World Series title while managing the Atlanta Braves, but they was still one the best in the National League winning 16  division titles. So I would like to send my congratulations to those three great mangers.
I would also like to bid a farewell to Roy Halladay who sgined a one day contract with the Toronto Blue Jays so he can retire as a Blue Jay. You can expect to see Roy in the HOF in the next few years once he becomes eligible.

"The Good, Bad, Ugly" Weekend sports Recap

This weekend of games was full of "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" moments in sports. The best thing is that there was more  good things to out weight the bad and ugly things.

Like.......

The six early NFL games that was played in the snow. You either had flurries or a down right snow storm. We had a preview of what could happen in this year Super Bowl. And I have to say the average fan will enjoy the Super Bowl if there was snow. The six games that was played in the snow had a lot of offense and not much defense, but that is kind of expected. In games where it is hard to keep your footing on the field the defensive player is helpless. Only the offense know where they are going  so it slows even the best defense.  Another good thing came from the NCAA football conference championship games.  Besides the Flordia State and Duke game, they all was very entertaining games. We was so close to ending the BCS era without having a SEC team in the national championship game.    Being a Buckeye fan I don't really consider the Big Ten Championship game one of the good things of the weekend, like some SEC fan would. All in all you had to like the college games on Saturday whether they had BCS implications or not like the Oklahoma/Oklahoma State. The Big 12 was one of the two AQ (automatic qualifier) conferences that did not have a conference championship game. Which led to three Big 12 teams (Oklahoma State, Baylor, Texas) with the chance to win the the Big 12 title. At the end of Saturday night Baylor Bears ended up the Big 12 champs. The last good thing of the weekend games. The return of Kobe Bean Bryant 9 months after tearing his ACL. It was good to see Kobe back on the court, but it was a bad game for the Black Mamba. Playing 24 minutes only scoring 9 points and causing 8 turnovers. But it is good to see him playing this year.

I really hate the way things are going in Washington this year. It all started in the playoffs last year, and continue in the off season and the beginning of training camp of this year. Word is that the Skins head coach Mike Shanahan will be fired either in the next couple of days or at the end of the season. I don't feel sorry for Shanahan because he brought it on his self, but I don't feel it was a even fight. You have a star quarterback who has the backing of the owner of the team, when it is suppose to be the other way around. How is a coach suppose to coach the team the way he feel, if he can be over ruled by his quarterback at any moment. RG3 should have been benched five weeks ago when he showed signs of struggling to recover from his knee injury from last year to where it was affecting how they game plan against a team. The Skins still had a chance to make the playoffs, but I don't believe Shanahan had the authority to bench the quarterback with the owner Dan Snyder standing behind RG3 instead of the coach. Now what coach is going want to take the job knowing they have to be on pins and needles when dealing with RG3 and the owner relationship.

The ugly of the weekend is the Patriots losing Rob Gronkowski for the year after he torn his ACL and MCL on Sunday. The Patriots just got Gronk back 7 weeks ago and he was just starting to fit back into the offense and Tom Brady was getting used to having Gronk back. The ugly is not that Gronk got hurt but the way he got hurt. After catching a pass for the gain of 21 yards Gronk knee was taken out by Browns safety T.J Ward. Ward who said he went low because he was in fear of being fine if he hit Gronk high when asked after the game about the play. I don't blame Ward I blame the NFL for putting the defenders in such a tough situation.  Gronk is not the only player to have his knee blown out this year because defensive players are more afraid of getting fined by the league, then they are of ending the season of they're counterparts. You can't get no more ugly then that.

Cano New Money-New Team

$70 million dollars. That is the number that might hunt the New York Yankees in the 2014 season. The most sought-after free agent this year, Robinson Cano signed a 10 year $240 million dollar contract with the Seattle Mariners. Bringing on mix reviews on the whole situation from everybody in the sports world. Some feel it was a great move by the Yankees for not braking the bank to sign Cano to another outrageous baseball contract. Meanwhile there is others who did not like the $170 million dollar contract offer the Yankees had on the table. I'm in agreement with the latter, even if they did not want to pay the $300 million that Cano was asking for the $170 million offer was disrespectfully.

I look at it like this the Yankees just signed Jacob Ellsbury to a $153 million dollar contract just days to the news braking on the Cano signing. That is a $17 million dollar difference between the two offers. Now I understand Ellsbury just came off winning the World Serie with the Boston Red Sox, but i do not feel he is in the same pay grade as Cano. Ellsbury is a very good center fielder, who can't seem to stay on the field majority of the season. Cano on the other hand played 160 games out of the 182 games in 2013. Last season Cano was the only productive Yankee finishing with a .314 batting average 27 homeruns and 107 RBI's, with those stats he finished 5th in the MVP voting in the American league. With A-Rod career stil up in the air, Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter are coming off injury, Granderson leaving for the Mets and the retirement of Rivera . You think the wise choice would be for the Yankees to go into the new season with production they can guarantee on.

With the Cano saga now over the Yankees can now move on and fill out their roster. I'm assuming that the money that would have went to Cano is now going to sure up their pitching rotation, getting a third basemen, getting somebody to play second base.  They already signed out fielder Jacob Ellsbury now you can add Carlos Beltran to the already stocked out fielders. Beltran signed a 3 years for $45 million contract on Friday. Bringing back Beltran to the New York area where he had a up and down stint with the Mets. On paper these signings seem like the best move for the Yankees, but they don't play the game on paper and the season has not started yet. So when the 2014 season begin prepare yourself for a lot of  Cano/ Yankees comparison on Sports Center,  especially between Cano and whoever the Yankees get to play second base.

"All Chips In" (College Edition)

This is the last meaningful college games until bowl season starts in the upcoming weeks.  These conference championship games have BCS implications all through them. Ohio State has to win to play in the national title game,  Northern Illinois needs to win to finish in BCS top 12 to play in a BCS bowl game. The winner of the SEC championship game is hoping to jump over a unbeaten Ohio State, and Florida State just has to win which may not  be that easy.

ACC Championship Game (Charlotte North Carolina)

Florida State is a 29.0 point favorite against Duke Blue Devils the surprise team of college football this year. That is the largest point spread out of all the conference championship games. Everybody knows about FSU and their freshman quarterback Jamie Winston. Even though their defense don't get as much attention as it should they are one of the best defensive units in college football. But there is something about the Blue Devils this year, that make this game intriguing. Duke is playing in it's first conference championship game, in spite most experts had them finishing last in the ACC Coastal division. FSU in my opinion is the best team in college football evem better then the Tide. But I don't see them coving this spread . Duke is a tough team who does not quit when they are facing adversity. I'm going "All Chips in" on the points.

MAC Championship Game (Detroit Ford Field)

Any other time the MAC championship game would not be on anybodies radar. There is a few things that could make this a must see on Friday night. First you have Jordan Lynch the best athlete not talked about in FBS. His last game he played he ran for 321 rushing yards and he is their quarterback. This the first time Lynch and NIU offense have face a defense this good. Bowling Green is ranked 5th in FBS only giving up 134.8 fushing yards a game. If NIU can beat Bowling Green it would be their third straight conference title, with the chance  of playing in a BCS bowl game also. NIU is not favorite by much (3.5), but I'm still "All Chips in" on Northern Illinois.

Pac-12 Championship Game (Tempe Arizona)

The Pac-12 championship game is the only one that is not played on a neutral site. The home team Arizona State is the favorite (3.0) over the visiting Stanford Cardinals. These two played earlier this year and Stanford won 42-28. I like Stanford in this game they are more of a stable team and seem to be more healthy then the Sun Devils,  who will be playing without their leading rusher Marion Grice for the second straight game. I'm "All Chips in" on the Stanford Cardinals.

SEC Championship Game (Atlanta Georgia)

Auburn vs Missouri for the SEC title. Nobody saw this match up when the season started. This is the only championship game that either winner could possibly be in the national title game Auburn is the 2.0 point favorite over Missouri in this very close game. Auburn is coming off clound nine after pulling the biggest upset this year by beating Alabama. Which could become their downfall if they don't bring there "A" game and is still thinking about the win over the Tide. If Auburn struggle to run the ball like they did the first half  of the Tide game they will be in trouble. Missouri has a high power offense and Auburn's defense is not as stout as is once was. But I'm still going "All Chips in" on the Auburn Tigers.

Big Ten Championship Game (Indianapolis Indiana)

The Buckeyes was very close to losing to Michigan on Saturday, but now they are one game away from possibly playing FSU for the crystal Sears football. OSU is 6.0 point favorite against Michigan State their toughest foe this year. The best offense in the Big Ten is facing the best defense in the Big Ten. I believe Michigan State has the best secondary in college football, the problem is that the Buckeyes are very very good at running the ball, and that great secondary may not be much of a factor. Nobody has been able to stop the two headed monster of Braxton Miller and Carlos Hyde. Michigan State best way to win the game is to make it a defense struggle, cause they don't have the offense to match score for score with the Buckeyes. I see the Buckeyes winning this game and like the 6.0 points, so I'm "All Chips in" with the Buckeyes.

A piece of the Chip

Missed 2 point : 32 seconds is left on the clock and Michigan just scored a touchdown to make the score 42-41 Ohio State.  Instead of going for the exta point, tied the game and go into overtime. Brady Hoke decides to go for two. I love the move (not because I'm a Buc eye fan) cause Michigan was the home team, had the visiting third ranked team on the ropes, why not go for the kill. There was no other way to stick it to your most hated rival then end their national title hopes then to succeed on a 2 point conversion to, too bad it failed.

0.01: One second is all that was between Alabama and Auburn playing into overtime and maybe Alabama still being ranked number one in the BCS on. But instead of taking a knee and playing the extra time, Nick Saban decide to send a freshman place kicker out there to attempt a 47 yard field goal. Not a smart move on Saban's part unlike the Hoke decision, Saban was trying a risky play with a very slim chance for success and a large disaster rate. Cause of his cockiness he cost his team a chance at a three-peat and in my opinion his legacy took a hit, even if it is a slight one.

Happy Coaches: Texas A&M decided to give Ken Sumlin a 6 year extension. Not really sure how I feel about this. Sumlin first two years on the job has been a great one, but I would have like to see what he does after he loses the most exciting player in college football (Jonny Manziel) before they gave him a extension. I believe the only reason they gave him a extension is to keep him in College Park, especially with USC talk and how they was pursuing Ken Sumlin. Speaking of the USC job with Ken Sumlin off the market, they ended their search by signing Steve Sarkisan former coach of Washington University. Sarkisan to me was a bad choice, I understand he was a assistant at USC for seven years and has ties to the University. But I would have went a different direction, Sarkisan return Washington to respectability but they was never a top contender in the Pac-12. Taking the USC job means he will be ask to return USC back to where they once was when Pete Carroll was roaming the sidelines, I'm not sure if he is that coach. Could be that the coaches on their list all bailed on them, but I'm pretty sure there was better candidates then him.

$153 million for Ellsbury: Barring a physical the New York Yankees has just signed 30 year center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury to a 7 year $153 million contract. Don't like this move for the Yankees. Ellsbury is a very good center fielder, but have become injury prone and it has effected his ability to stay on the field during the long baseball season. Ellsbury is not a homerun hitter, hitting double digit homeruns once in his career. Not sure if the Yankees are changing their on field philosophy, but they are known as the Bronx Bombers and can't have that nickname with a roster of players who don't hit homeruns. Another reason I don't like this move is the $153 million they just gave to Ellsbury, brings up the  question will this effect the Yankees from signing Robinson Cano back. For the Yankees I doubt it, but you never know with these baseball players and their contracts

Non- Sport

Gone 2 Fast: The death of Paul Walker was a shock and a sad tragic to everybody that knew the actor whether it was through the flims or personal. Everybody knows Walker  from the 2 fast 2 furious films, but he was also in flims Varsity Blue and Takers. we here at chip talk like to send our condolences to the fans, friends and family of Paul Walker. May he rest in peace.

My Heisman Finalists

On December 14, 2013 they will be handing out the Heisman trophy for the 78th time. The finalists for the award have not been announce yet. Jamie Winston became the leading candidate after a sub-par game from Johnny Manziel and Alabama losing to Auburn. Since we don't know the other candidates I came up with a list of players I would like to see in New York with

Carlos Hyde, RB Senior Ohio State Buckeyes

Most people would have Braxton Miller in this spot and I would not blame them, but with the way Kenny Guiton played filling in for Miller when he was injury early this season. I'm going with the Hyde who seem to improve the team once he return after being suspend for the first three games. Hyde has 1, 064 rushing yards in spite of only playing 9 games. He has had two career highs in rushing yards this seaon. One was against Illinois when he had 246 yards and 4 touchdowns adding a receiving touchdown that day. Then this past Saturday against the rival Michigan he ran for 276 yards averaging 8.4 yards per carry. He also have had seven straight games with over 100 yards on the ground.

Derek Carr, QB Senior Frenso State Bulldogs

You might see the the name Carr and say it sounds familiar and you would be right he is the younger brother of former number one pick David Carr. Derek is not like his brother, he might actually be a very good pro quarterback. Derek is on this list because this young man puts up numbers that you only see in video games.  He leads all FBS quarterbacks with 4, 462 yards. He has a 70.3% completion rate and has thrown 45 touchdowns with only 5 picks. He has also thrown over 6 or more touchdowns in agame twice this year. Threw for more then 5 touchdowns or more 4 times. Has thrown less then 250 passing yards once, while throwing over 400 yards   7 times this year. The lost the Bulldogs had this past Thursday knock them out of a BCS bowl game it was not cause a lack of effort from Derek Carr who completed 38 out of 50 passes racked up 519 yards and threw 6 touchdowns.

Jordan Lynch, QB Senior Northern Illinois Huskies

Jordan has put alot of stats this year. He is listed as the Huskies quarterback, but he is their best running back also. Even though he has only pass 2, 457 yards and had a game where he threw for only 39 yards (Western Michigan). He has run for 1, 755 yards third in FBS, which include a 321 yard game against that same Western Michigan team. Lynch is a touchdown scoring machine he has thrown for 22 touchdowns and rushed for 20. Who can argue with those stats.

Jameis Winston , QB Freshman Florida State Seminoles

Even with the alleged sexual assault Jameis Winston is the front runner for this year Heisman trophy. It all started his first game of the season against Pittsburgh when he pump out unbelievable stats like going 25 for 27  for 356 passing yards and 4 touchdowns. Because the ACC conference is weak this year Winston did not have that many big Heisman type games, but the one he did have he showed out. It was at Clemson where he out played  at that time the other Heisman hopefully quarterback Tajh Boyd. Completing 22 out 34 passes for 444 yards and throwing for 3 touchdowns. Winston has had a very good freshman year ranking in top 5 in FBS  in completion percentage and in touchdown passed. He also just missed being in the top 10 for passing yards. Jamies Winston is one game away from leading the Seminoles to the national championship game in January,  and two weeks from taking home the Heisman, being the second freshman to win the Heisman trophy.