Tramp Stamp Nation

Let's see.... how can I best convey to potential suitors the combination of my BoSox allegiance and my sex appeal?

1. Get Boston logo tattooed on the lower back.
2.
3. Mission Accomplished!

At Least It Wasn't 'He Hate Me'

Check out what Wizards G DeShawn Stevenson has been up to this offseason. Apparently channeling his inner 'V.Young' he became the most recent athlete to add his surname across his shoulders.

His plans include eventually adding his number (#2) below the name and, in his words, 'completing the jersey'. With today's movement of players through trades and free agency, let's hope he doesn't add the full Wizards logo to his chest...

Channeling Jimmy Bowden...

A huge offseason looms for the Washington Nationals. They are entering their fourth year in Washington (hey, so am I!) and are prepared to open the $611M HOK-designed Nationals Park in SE DC. They recently hired Stan Kasten (formerly of the Braves) and have developed a plan of building a team and farm system to compete for the long term. In compliance of that vision and financial flexibility, they dropped their payroll precipitously this past year from $63M to $38M.

Here's a look at some of the moves they should and will make this offseason:

First, they should continue to hold the long-term vision of running the club. They have no need to worry about selling seats and luxury boxes in the short term, as they will certainly have a two-three year novelty of fans attending a new park. That being said, revenues will increase and they can make bigger plays in free agency.

Let's look at their existing contracts for 2008

Nick Johnson ($16.5M over 07-09; $5.5M in 08)
Cristian Guzman ($16.8M over 05-08; $4.2M in 08)
Austin Kearns ($17.5M over 07-09; $5M in 08)
Brian Scheider ($16M over 06-09; $4.9M in 08)
Ronnie Belliard ($3.5M over 08-09; $1.6M in 08)
Dmitri Young ($10M over 08-09; $5M in 08)

Their biggest in-house free agents are Ryan Zimmerman and Chad Cordero. They should absolutely sign Zimmerman as he is the new face of the franchise. Cordero had a down year, and I'm in the camp that 'closers' are vastly overvalued. They should be firm in negotiations with him.

Just recently, the star of the 2008 Free Agent class, Torii Hunter stated that he is interested in playing with Dmitri and would give the Nationals a long look. He also specifically stated that playing in majority African-American city would be an enormous plus. The flexibility to go after player like Hunter is exactly why the Nationals showed fiscal restraint in the past year. I could see the Nats getting Hunter with a $50M/5yr deal, with a team option for the sixth. Torii and Dmitri could help recruit LF Milton Bradley, as they could certainly get him on the cheap after his mental antics and torn ACL. He could be had for $8M over 2 with extensive performance and plate appearance incentives.

On the pitching front, I think they should try to resign (or go to arbitration) with their own talent Patterson, Bergmann, Chico and Hill. On the hot stove, I could see them making a move for either Kyle Lohse or Jason Jennings. Both look to command a $30M-$40M deal over 4 years.

Here's the imagined lineup for the 2008 Nats:

CF Torii Hunter
2B Ronnie Belliard
3B Ryan Zimmerman
RF Austin Kearns
1B Dmitri Young
LF Milton Bradley (or, Justin Maxwell, who has been very impressive in AA Ball)
C Bryan Schneider
SS Cristian Guzman

SP Kyle Lohse
SP Shawn Hill
SP John Patterson
SP Jason Bergmann
SP Matt Chico

RP Saul Rivera
RP Chris Schroder
RP Jon Rauch
RP Luis Ayala

By the way, a fantastic resource for MLB contracts:

http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/

While I'm nitpicking the ESPN frontpage...

I'm a writer professionally, and have been for nearly three years. Admittedly a brief period, especially for someone plying a creative trade, nevertheless my opinion counts. So everyday, when I go to the ESPN front page and see something like this:

Why is everyone now noticeing Indians' TEAMWORK? It's how they got this far the whole year.

it makes me a little queasy. Why? Because Joe Sixpack here writing under the nom de plume OkinawaMarine has just been published at a more prestigious media outlet than I ever have, and all that within forty minutes of getting out of bed, and the guy is most likely on his second beer.

And let's talk about spelling. Where in Hell is the Ombudsman during all this? Le Ann Schreiber, get on the damn ball. I know our society is all about constant connectedness and armchair speculation, but for the love of God, let's at least put a spell check in there before you get your 15 minutes.

Also, I'd like to use this space to nominate Ian Frank as the official Norwood House Ombudsman. Vote in the comments section.

This just feels more racist than the logo.

• AP Photo/Tony Dejak

Am I wrong? It's like if there was a baseball team called the Brooklyn Black Guys and my roommate and I showed up to the game looking like Amos and Andy.
Not that I have a leg to stand on as a Seminoles fan, but this here just seems more egregious.

Seriously guys...

I think Dave should add a small wrinkle to each week's Pick 'em Challenge. Since he obviously has the time and the enthusiasm, I would love to see where we all stand (week-by-week and overall) if there was real money on the line. Choose an amount to bet on each game or pick a constant amount for each week. Say $20 per game. I guess you could choose to bet more or less on each game, but that seems very complicated to keep track of.

I think there are several good reasons to do this, not the least of which being a demonstration of the pure risk one takes when putting down real money. Also it would show how hard it is to dig out of gambling debt.

But, more to the point it would emphasize how much I'm HOUSING you all at this.

Vote YES on Dave wasting more time at work ...I think he's earned it.

According to my "365 Sports facts a year" calendar...

Today is Kordell Stewart AND Tim McCarver's birthday.
Come to think of it Ian, I would love to see THOSE two guys announce the National Spelling Bee.
That would be amazing.