2012 MLB Draft Thoughts

The 2012 MLB Draft starts on Monday.  Being that the Twins have the 2nd overall pick in the draft I have been paying quite a bit more attention to the draft than normal.   The general consensus seems to be that this is a down year talent wise with most of the top talent this year not quite measuring up to the top talent the past couple of years, there is no Stephen Strasburg or Bryce Harper available this year.  That being said, there is still some talent out there.  The following appears to be the consensus Top 10 available:

1. Mark Appel - RHP - Stanford University
2. Byron Buxton - OF - Appling County (GA) HS
3. Kevin Gausman - RHP - Louisiana State University
4. Carlos Correa - SS - Puerto Rico Baseball Academy
5. Mike Zunino - C - University of Florida
6. Kyle Zimmer - RHP - University of San Francisco
7. Max Fried - LHP - Harvard Westlake (CA) HS
8. Lucas Giolito - RHP - Harvard Westlake (CA) HS
9. Albert Amora - OF - Mater Academy (FL) 
10. Michael Wacha - RHP - Texas A&M University

As for who the Twins will be selecting at number 2 overall, using some dedcuctive reasoning, my educated guess is that it will come down to 1 of 3 players.  First off, I suspect that the Astros will select Mark Appel number 1 overall, he's got a high 90's fastball, prototypical size, decent out pitches and he's a Houston native, he would seem like a natural fit for the Astros.  If Houston were to surprise and pass on Appel, I think the Twins would probably also pass on him (he's a Scott Boras client and the Twins are notorious for staying away from Scott Boras clients).  I think you can also cross high school pitchers (Giolito & Fried) off the list, there are too many top college arms available with better track records to consider a high school pitcher at that point.  Wacha and Amora (from the list above) will probably go in the 5-13 range, I think it's very unlikely the Twins would reach on either of those 2.   That leaves 5 from my above list, given that Zimmer seemed to lose to some velocity towards the end of his college season and given that Gausman had better stats against a higher level of competition, I think you can rule Zimmer out too, if they are going with a college arm Gausman would seem like a better fit.  That narrows it down to 4, Buxton, Gausman, Correa and Zunino.  Of those 4, Zunino probably has the most limited upside, I think he can be a good solid catcher and the Twins could certainly use a catcher, I just don't see him having the upside of Buxton, Correa or Gausman.   So there it is, I think it's very likely that the Twins will choose between 1 of those 3 (Buxton, Correa or Gausman),  I can see them taking any of them too.  With the dearth of top of the rotation pitching prospects in their system, Gausman is mighty attractive, he can hit high 90's with his fastball and he supposedly has a couple very good out pitches, he'd also presumably reach the major leagues the quickest of those 3.   I'm sensing they like Buxton and Correa better than Gausman though, it'd be hard to pass on someone who can play and make an impact on every game as opposed to someone you'd be throwing out there every 5 days.   The Twins love toolsy outfielders and they don't come any more toolsy than Buxton, he is without a doubt the best athlete available in the draft, he'd probably immediately become the best athlete in the Twins system (Twins roster included).  Sports Illustrated did a real nice profile on him recently, he'd be hard to pass on if he's available.   The Twins are somewhat deep in toolsy outfielders though, so there is some thought that they'd prefer Correa.   Correa is a big, strong kid (he's only 17), I would imagine that he will grow out of the SS position at some point and move to a corner infield spot (I could envision him at 3B down the road with Miguel Sano at 1B), his upside is really unlimited.   If I had to take a guess on any of those guys, I'd guess the Twins end up selecting Carlos Correa.

Why Are Conservatives So Angry?

Bill Maher asks a good question.

POTpourri

• More GOP candidates showing some backbone in refusing to sign 'anti-tax pledge'. 
• Typical American worker would need to work 244 years to match average CEO pay.
• I like Sexy Gym Babes!!
• Dario Franchitti wins his 3rd Indianapolis 500.  
• George Will does not speak highly of Donald Trump. 
• Laura Vandervoort is freakin' hot!!!
• RIP Johnny Tapia.
• Why is Rick Scott afraid of letting ALL Florida voters vote?   
• Does the GOP really want to repeal Obamacare?    
• Izabel Goulart is looking fine these days!

Happy Memorial Day!

Nothing says summer like Victoria's Secret!!

Open Primary in AZ?

Have you heard about the Arizona Open Primary Initiative?   There was a nice write up on it recently in the Arizona Republic.   I'm all for it, something needs to be done to moderate the extremes of both parties and I think this would be a good starting point.   Anyways, to summarize:   
     
 
"Political moderates for years have bemoaned Arizona's partisan primary system. . . . . . . . . . . Voter participation is typically light, they complain, giving outsize influence to diehard party activists who often are either more conservative or more liberal than most rank-and-file party members and independents. And Democratic or Republican voters in districts dominated by the other party frequently have little or no choice once the general election arrives. . . . . . . . . . . Many centrists blame the status quo for the state's increasingly divisive political climate. This year, Arizona voters may get the opportunity to overhaul the process. An initiative drive aims to place on the statewide ballot a proposition that would establish a new kind of open primary in which the top two vote-getters would face off in the general election. . . . . . . . . . .All voters, including independents, could participate in the new "top two" primary, meaning the candidates would have to appeal to an array of voters beyond their ideological base in order to succeed. It would apply to all elections in the state except for nonpartisan municipal elections and the state's presidential-preference election. . . . . . . . . . . . "You're no longer voting for a nominee of the Democratic Party or a nominee of the Republican Party, you're winnowing down the number of candidates down to two," said David Berman, a senior research fellow at Arizona State University's Morrison Institute for Public Policy who has studied the issue. "So, it's not a partisan primary anymore. It's a system by which you screen candidates down to the top two". . . . . . . . . . . It's possible, and in some Arizona congressional and legislative districts even probable, that the top two vote-getters in the primary would belong to the same party. . . . . . . . . . . Unlike in city elections, the top vote-getter would not be able to avoid the runoff by clearing more than 50 percent of the vote in the primary. A general-election match-up is guaranteed. In the case of Arizona House of Representatives elections, where two seats are up for grabs in each legislative district, the top four contenders would head to the general election. More than just shaking up the election process, the 2012 initiative "is about trying to change the outcomes so that we end up with a more reasoned debate and more people are included in the process," . . . . . . . . . . .Today's partisan primaries require "ideological purity" and stoke hostility toward the other side, making bipartisan cooperation on major issues less likely. . . . . . . . . . .Twenty years ago, it was normal for people to cross the aisle and work with other people and look for common ground. People felt like they had a responsibility to people in both parties.  Today, politics is a team sport. It's not about the state. It's not about the country. It's about: What team are you on, the blue team or the red team?" . . . . . . .  . . . .The Open Government Committee championing the "top-two" primary system has until July 5 to submit 259,213 valid petition signatures to secure a spot on the ballot for the initiative. If voters pass the measure, the "top two" primary would go into effect during the 2014 election cycle."

You can read the full article here.   To find out more about the initiative, click here.

Trump on Romney

AZ Tidbits

• The birthers are back in Arizona. When will it end?
• LA Kings knock Coyotes out of NHL Western Conference Championship series. 
• You can follow the Diamondback minor league affiliates here. 
• Arizona Senator John McCain voted Least Popular U.S. Senator.
• ASU Baseball has now produced 100 major leaguers.  
• UA to break out Copper helmets in 2012.
• Romney continues to lead Obama in Arizona polls.  Too many stupid people in Arizona. 
• RIP Andy Harvey.  
• Does Mike Bercovici lead the ASU QB battle? 
• Diamondbacks extend the contract of Catcher Miguel Montero.

Obama Spending???

Be careful what you believe.   It's not always true.  Please be an educated voter.

POTpourri

• Phillip Phillips wins 'American Idol' Season 11.  Jessica Sanchez was robbed.
• Yet another study shows Fox News viewers least informed.
• Breaking Bad set to return July 15. 
• I highly recommend Fitness Gurls For Him.   
• RIP Bill Stewart.   
• Rush Limbaugh ratings take a hit. 
• You can catch the Anchorman 2 trailer here. 
• Gabrielle Anwar is looking pretty good these days. 
• Donald Driver wins 'Dancing With the Stars'.  
• It's good to see Audrina Patridge in a bikini again.

Maxim's 2012 Hot 100

You can find the complete list here.   Nice list, a few head scratchers here and there but overall not bad.  Bar Refaeli is well deserving of the number 1 spot.  No Marisa Miller though?   That's criminal.  And how does Emma Stone crack the top 10?   She's not unattractive by any means, but I don't know that the term "hot" applies either.  

Top 10 TV Shows of 2011-2012 Season

The 2011-2012 television season has about come to an end so I thought that I'd list my favorite shows for the season. Breaking Bad (AMC) and Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO) are miles ahead of the pack as far as I'm concerned, unfortunately they both run really short seasons and can be hard to find. I was a little disappointed with the rest of the pack, I had a hard time naming 8 other shows to list. Parks and Recreation (NBC) does continue to improve and their cast is top notch, it's clearly number 3 on my list. Modern Family (ABC) slipped a little. 30 Rock (NBC) didn't come on until mid-season and then slipped some,  it has gotten old quickly.  The Office (NBC) had some good moments but the loss of Steve Carell proved hard to overcome. How I Met Your Mother (CBS) slipped some, I think it's time they reveal how Ted meets his kids mother. The continuing turnover in the cast of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS) has slowed their momentum and although still worth a watch, it's starting to get a bit stale. Big Bang Theory (CBS) had it's moments as did The Mentalist (CBS), but both are honestly on my list by default more than anything though.

I gave some thought to adding It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX) and The League (FX) to the list but both seem to have fallen into the trap of trying to out crude each other. Don't get me wrong, I love a good crude laugh now and then, but you've got to give me some meat too.

The new shows were pretty weak also, I enjoyed Prime Suspect but sure enough the geniuses at NBC decided to cancel it. Once Upon A Time was a very original new show, as was Grimm, both deserve a watch. Hopefully the networks up their game this coming season because the networks could really use an infusion of quality new shows.

I may need to start watching more cable, I hear good things about Justified (FX), Game of Thrones (HBO) and The Walking Dead (AMC), but have not watched any of them.    Anyways, here's my list:

1. Breaking Bad - AMC
2. Curb Your Enthusiasm - HBO
3. Parks and Recreation - NBC
4. Modern Family - ABC
5. 30 Rock - NBC 
6. The Office - NBC
7. How I Met Your Mother - CBS 
8. CSI:  Crime Scene Investigation - CBS
9. Big Bang Theory - CBS
10. The Mentalist - CBS 

Best new shows:    Once Upon A Time (ABC) & Grimm (NBC). 

Victoria's Secret Knockout Push-Up

Thank you God once again for Victoria's Secret.  

POTpourri

• Are some in the GOP finally standing up to Grover Norquist?  
• MLB.com does a nice job of ranking baseball's Top Prospects.
• You can find profiles of the top MLB 2012 draft prospects here.
• RIP Robin Gibb. 
• Have you perused TheSuperModelsGallery.com?   
• The GOP apparently is insisting about another downgrade of the U.S debt.  
• I'll Have Another wins the Preakness Stakes.  
• Get the fuck out Eduardo Saverin you ungrateful SOB.
• Nearly 33 million Americans live alone.
• Jennifer Lopez tops Forbes list of the Worlds Most Powerful Celebrities.

Marisa Miller could . . . . .

. . . . . sell ice to an Eskimo!

Truth of Income Inequality

I urge everyone to watch this video.  You may learn a thing or two. 



"One reason this policy is so wrong-headed is that there can never be enough super rich Americans to power a great economy. The annual earnings of people like me are hundreds, if not thousands, of times greater than those of the average American, but we don’t buy hundreds or thousands of times more stuff. My family owns three cars, not 3,000. I buy a few pairs of pants and a few shirts a year, just like most American men. Like everyone else, I go out to eat with friends and family only occasionally. 

It’s true that we do spend a lot more than the average family. Yet the one truly expensive line item in our budget is our airplane (which, by the way, was manufactured in France by Dassault Aviation SA (AM)), and those annual costs are mostly for fuel (from the Middle East). It’s just crazy to believe that any of this is more beneficial to our economy than hiring more teachers or police officers or investing in our infrastructure.

I can’t buy enough of anything to make up for the fact that millions of unemployed and underemployed Americans can’t buy any new clothes or enjoy any meals out. Or to make up for the decreasing consumption of the tens of millions of middle-class families that are barely squeaking by, buried by spiraling costs and trapped by stagnant or declining wages.

If the average American family still got the same share of income they earned in 1980, they would have an astounding $13,000 more in their pockets a year. It’s worth pausing to consider what our economy would be like today if middle-class consumers had that additional income to spend."

http://nick-hanauer.com

You can catch Nick Hanauer's appearance on the Lawrence O'Donnell show here too. 

POTpourri

• JP Morgan proves that Dodd-Frank Act needs to be passed.
• LeBron James wins his 3rd NBA MVP Award. 
• Ron Paul suspends his Presidential campaign.  
• James Harden wins NBA Sixth Man Award. 
• Are we finally going to get filibuster reform?   Let's hope so.
• Stories like this, are why we should do away with the death penalty.
• RIP Donna Summer.  
• Find out which television shows received the axe here.
• American's Elect ends their bid to put a third party candidate on ballot.
• Kyrie Irving wins NBA Rookie of the Year Award. 

Celebrity Strippers?

You've gotta love when celebrities strap on the stiletto's and play strippers!

Spending, Taxes & Deficits Under Obama

Be careful before believing everything that Republicans are trying feed you. 

AZ Tidbits

• U.S. sues Sheriff Joe Arpaio for violating rights of Hispanics. 
• Nearly three fourths of the people in AZ support the Dream Act.   
• Realtor.com rates the Phoenix/Mesa as Top Turnaround Town. 
• ASU Undie Run 2012 in pictures here. 
• Governor Brewer signs bill that will limit contraceptive coverage in AZ.
• Paul Babeu ends congressional bid.
• Arizona Cardinals sign DE Calais Campbell to 5 year extension. 
• Please support the Open Primary Initiative in Arizona.
• Steve Nash wins Magic Johnson Award. 
• ASU and the Chicago Cubs break ground on new baseball field.

Kate Upton

More Kate Upton!

Gay Marriage

Earlier this week President Obama became the first U.S. President to come out in support of Gay Marriage, it took some balls, especially given that it's an election year and I applaud him for it, it was the right thing to do and I think that history will show that he was on the right side of this issue.  Why the uproar over this anyways?   If two people are in love and want to get married, who's business is it besides their own anyways?   What happened to all the small government ideologues who preached in favor of less government intrusion into the lives of it's citizenry?   Where have they all gone?  Shouldn't this be an issue that the Tea Party folks fight for?  Anyways, props to President Obama, this was long overdue.

SNL on Fox & Friends

Funny stuff from SNL. 

POTpourri

• Francois Hollande elected President of France. Sarkozy out.  
• Gary Johnson wins Libertarian Presidential nomination. 
• Check out the 50 Hottest Colombian women here. 
• RIP George Lindsey & Vidal Sassoon.
• Jaclyn Swedberg named 2012 Playboy Playmate of the Year. 
• Was Mitt Romney a bully as a kid? 
• The Minnesota Vikings get a new stadium.  Screw you L.A. 
• Will boosting domestic oil production drop gas prices? 
• North Carolina approves ban on gay marriage.  Again.
• Jermaine Paul wins "The Voice" season 2. 

Random Hot Girl Dancing

Phoenix Coyotes Big Day!

Wow, yesterday may have been the biggest day in the history of the Phoenix Coyotes franchise.  First, they defeat the Nashville Predators 2-1 to win their second round playoff series 4-1 thus moving into the conference championship for the first time in franchise history.   Second, they appear to have a buyer who wants to keep the team in Phoenix.  It's been a long, tough road to hoe for this franchise, they have had to overcome some really poor decisions to get to this point (hiring Wayne Gretzky and building the arena in Glendale come to mind as the biggest blunders).  Things are really looking up though, they are building a great deal of goodwill with their run this year, they've got a nice young nucleus, they've got a good GM and one of the best coaches in hockey.   Hopefully, the Goldwater Institute doesn't sandbag the franchise.  Beat L.A.! Beat L.A.! 

It's Even Worse Than It Looks

"It's Even Worse Than It Looks" by Thomas Mann & Norm Orstein.  Looks like another must read.  Keep in mind that this book is not coming from political partisans, Thomas Mann & Norm Orstein have a long respected history of centrism, they've studied Washington politics for 40+ years, and even they realize that the GOP is the problem. 

Here's an excerpt:  

"Six years ago, we wrote The Broken Branch, which sharply criticized the Congress for failing to live up to its responsibilities as the first branch of government. Based on four decades of watching Congress, ours was a sympathetic perspective, one that reflected our appreciation of the inherent messiness of the legislative process within the constitutional system. Reconciling diverse interests and beliefs in America's extended republic necessarily involves adversarial debates and difficult negotiations.

But there was no denying the impact of broad changes in America's wider political environment — most importantly the ideological polarization of the political parties — on how Congress went about its work. We documented the demise of regular order, as Congress bent rules to marginalize committees and deny the minority party in the House opportunities to offer amendments on the floor; the decline of genuine deliberation in the lawmaking process on such important matters as budgets and decisions to go to war; the manifestations of extreme partisanship; the culture of corruption; the loss of institutional patriotism among members; and the weakening of the checks-and-balances system.

While we observed some improvement after the Democrats regained control of Congress in the 2006 midterm elections, the most problematic features of the system remained. We thought them unlikely to abate absent a major national crisis that inspired the American public to demand that the warring parties work together. America got the crisis — the most serious economic downturn since the Great Depression — and a pretty clear signal from the voters, who elected Barack Obama by a comfortable margin and gave the Democrats substantial gains in the House and Senate. What the country didn't get was any semblance of a well-functioning democracy. President Obama's postpartisan pitch fell flat, and the Tea Party movement pulled the GOP further to its ideological pole. Republicans greeted the new president with a unified strategy of opposing, obstructing, discrediting, and nullifying every one of his important initiatives. Obama reaped an impressive legislative harvest in his first two years but without any Republican engagement or support and with no apparent appreciation from the public. The anemic economic recovery and the pain of joblessness and underwater home mortgages led not to any signal that the representatives ought to pull together, but rather to yet another call by voters to "throw the bums out." The Democrats' devastating setback in the 2010 midterm elections, in which they lost six Senate seats and sixty-three in the House, produced a Republican majority in the House dominated by right-wing insurgents determined to radically reduce the size and role of government. What followed was an appalling spectacle of hostage taking — most importantly, the debt ceiling crisis — that threatened a government shutdown and public default, led to a downgrading of the country's credit, and blocked constructive action to nurture an economic recovery or deal with looming problems of deficits and debt.

In October 2011, Congress garnered its lowest approval rating (9 percent) in polling history. Public trust in the government's capacity to solve the serious problems facing the country also hit record lows. Almost all Americans felt their country was on the wrong track and were pessimistic about the future. The public viewed both parties negatively, and President Obama's job approval rating was mired in the forties. The widespread consensus was that politics and governance were utterly dysfunctional. In spite of the perilous state of the global economy — and with it the threat of another financial crisis and recession — no one expected the president and Congress to accomplish anything of consequence before the 2012 election.

Paradoxically, the public's undifferentiated disgust with Congress, Washington, and "the government" in general is part of the problem, not the basis of a solution. In never-ending efforts to defeat incumbent officeholders in hard times, the public is perpetuating the source of its discontent, electing a new group of people who are even less inclined to or capable of crafting compromise or solutions to pressing problems. We have been struck by the failure of the media, including editors, reporters, and many "expert" commentators, to capture the real drivers of these disturbing developments, and the futility of efforts by many nonpartisan and bipartisan groups to counter, much less overcome, them. We write this book to try to clarify the source of dysfunctional politics and what it will take to change it. The stakes involved in choosing who will lead us in the White House, the Congress, and the Supreme Court in the years ahead are unusually high, given both the gravity of the problems and the sharper polarization of the parties.

In the pages that follow, we identify two overriding sources of dysfunction. The first is the serious mismatch between the political parties, which have become as vehemently adversarial as parliamentary parties, and a governing system that, unlike a parliamentary democracy, makes it extremely difficult for majorities to act. Parliamentary-style parties in a separation-of-powers government are a formula for willful obstruction and policy irresolution. Sixty years ago, Austin Ranney, an eminent political scientist, wrote a prophetic dissent to a famous report by an American Political Science Association committee entitled "Toward a More Responsible Two-Party System." The report, by prominent political scientists frustrated with the role of conservative Southern Democrats in blocking civil rights and other social policy, issued a clarion call for more ideologically coherent, internally unified, and adversarial parties in the fashion of a Westminster-style parliamentary democracy like Britain or Canada. Ranney powerfully argued that such parties would be a disaster within the American constitutional system, given our separation of powers, separately elected institutions, and constraints on majority rule that favor cross-party coalitions and compromise. Time has proven Ranney dead right — we now have the kinds of parties the report desired, and it is disastrous.

The second is the fact that, however awkward it may be for the traditional press and nonpartisan analysts to acknowledge, one of the two major parties, the Republican Party, has become an insurgent outlier — ideologically extreme; contemptuous of the inherited social and economic policy regime; scornful of compromise; unpersuaded by conventional understanding of facts, evidence, and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition. When one party moves this far from the center of American politics, it is extremely difficult to enact policies responsive to the country's most pressing challenges.

Recognizing these two realities and understanding how America got here is key to taking the right steps to overcome dysfunctional politics."

Eli Manning on SNL

He does have a sense of humor, who knew.

POTpourri

• I'll Have Another wins the 2012 Kentucky Derby.  
• Floyd Mayweather Jr defeats Miguel Cotto.
• RIP Junior Seau & Adam 'MCA' Yauch.
• Newt Gingrich ends his Presidential bid.  
• Milena Taborda is ridiculously hot!  
• The Scream sells for $120 million. 
• Does it get any better than Candice Swanepoel in a bikini? 
• Economy has recovered all private sector jobs lost since Obama took office.
• Check out CJ Miles Tumblr page, you won't be disappointed. 
• One night Stand do's & don'ts here. 

Kate Upton Does the Cat Daddy

Too sexy for YouTube?   Works for me.

Do Not Ask What Good We Do

"Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives" by Robert Draper.   This one looks like a must read.   Why am I not surprised that this course of action was plotted out on President Obama's inauguration night.  It really is pretty sickening how far our democracy has sunk.  What ever happened to country before party?    I'm starting to think that we are doomed as a country.  

"As President Barack Obama was celebrating his inauguration at various balls, top Republican lawmakers and strategists were conjuring up ways to submarine his presidency at a private dinner in Washington.

The event -- which provides a telling revelation for how quickly the post-election climate soured -- serves as the prologue of Robert Draper's much-discussed and heavily-reported new book, "Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives."

According to Draper, the guest list that night (which was just over 15 people in total) included Republican Reps. Eric Cantor (Va.), Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), Paul Ryan (Wis.), Pete Sessions (Texas), Jeb Hensarling (Texas), Pete Hoekstra (Mich.) and Dan Lungren (Calif.), along with Republican Sens. Jim DeMint (S.C.), Jon Kyl (Ariz.), Tom Coburn (Okla.), John Ensign (Nev.) and Bob Corker (Tenn.). The non-lawmakers present included Newt Gingrich, several years removed from his presidential campaign, and Frank Luntz, the long-time Republican wordsmith. Notably absent were Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) -- who, Draper writes, had an acrimonious relationship with Luntz.

For several hours in the Caucus Room (a high-end D.C. establishment), the book says they plotted out ways to not just win back political power, but to also put the brakes on Obama's legislative platform.

"If you act like you're the minority, you're going to stay in the minority," Draper quotes McCarthy as saying. "We've gotta challenge them on every single bill and challenge them on every single campaign."

The conversation got only more specific from there, Draper reports. Kyl suggested going after incoming Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for failing to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes while at the International Monetary Fund. Gingrich noted that House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) had a similar tax problem. McCarthy chimed in to declare "there's a web" before arguing that Republicans could put pressure on any Democrat who accepted campaign money from Rangel to give it back.

The dinner lasted nearly four hours. They parted company almost giddily. The Republicans had agreed on a way forward."

May Flavor of the Month . . . . .

. . . . . is Sandra Valencia.   Sweet!  

AZ Tidbits

• SB 1070 hits the U.S. Supreme Court.  
• ASU's Brock Osweiler & Omar Bolden selected in 2012 NFL Draft.
• UA's Nick Foles, Juron Criner and Trevin Wade selected in 2012 NFL Draft.
• Several undrafted Sun Devils & Wildcats sign free agent contracts.
• Rating the Cardinals draft here.  
• Buying Facebook Friends?  Really Wil Cardon?  That's kinda pathetic. 
• Is Craig Jamison going to buy the Phoenix Coyotes?  Let's hope so.
• Pool season returns to Scottsdale! 
• Check out The Nation's look at the Arizona Private Prison fiasco here. 
• Criminals over homeowners???  Really Arizona?  

POTpourri

• Were the Charlotte Bobcats the worst NBA team ever? 
• People names Beyonce the Most Beautiful Woman in the World. 
• Ryan Tannehill's wife vs Matt Kalil's girlfriend?  Tough call. 
• Jimmy Kimmel a big hit at the White House Correspondence Dinner. 
• Chandler Harnish is Mr Irrelevant.  Now Mrs Irrelevant awaits a phone call.  
• Count me as a fan of Bree Morgan.  She's a hot girl! 
• You can find every 2012 NFL Draft pick here.
• NFL Draft grades can be found here.  Vikings here.
• Where have you been hiding Michelle Hunziker?  More here!
• Do Republicans have bad brains?   That'd be my guess.