Shakedown Showdown

Well, these NFL playoffs have taken a complete turn from anything anyone expected. If you have a friend who is claiming that they "predicted" that the NFC championship would consist of the 49ers and Giants duking it out to play in February, slap them. Hard. Immediately. Because they will be lying to your face, and you deserve better than that. Maybe this underlying anger is stemming from the fact that the Saints were my prediction to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl or that I actually found myself hating the team from New York more than those overhyped cheeseheads. Whatever the reason, I am just happy America can still potentially see a rematch of the Harbaugh brothers on the sidelines of the NFL's final game.

Who, as true fans of the NFL as a whole, wants the Patriots to be in the Super Bowl... again? They will undoubtedly be the favorite against whoever they play, and if there is a rematch of the Giants-Pats from 2007, my brain might implode from the coverage ESPN will have about how the David Tyree catch was some magical act of God. And with Tebow-Mania finally over, you just know that will be their focal points for 12 hours a day for the two weeks leading up to the big game.

For those of you hoping for a shootout of Rodgers and Brees, you have been disappointed. For those hoping the two best teams in football would be in the Super Bowl together, you have once again been disappointed. For the sake of this sport, I really hope a team wins that I can actually root for (Niners, Ravens), because otherwise, I will have to resort to patiently hoping my squares match up at halftime for $100 instead of cheering on someone to score and garner bragging rights over their overvalued rival.

A Racial Sports Showdown

So while reading Deadspin (ie. the sports blogger's bible), I came across a question asked to one of my favorite writer's about an all-black NFL team vs. an all-white NFL team. I do not want to condone racism, nor can I dive further into this discussion because, if you look up "Drew Magary Deadspin" on Google, you can surely find the appropriate response. However, it got me thinking. What about baseball? What about if the all-Caucasian team played the all-Black/Hispanic team? Would it be a decisive blowout? Lets see if we can create a starting roster of position players, starting pitchers, and a closer to find who would have a clear advantage in this clash of the races.

Whites
C - Brian McCann
1B - Joey Votto
2B - Chase Utley
SS - Troy Tulowitzki
3B - Evan Longoria
RF - Hunter Pence
CF - Jacoby Ellsbury (yes, he is a small portion Native American, but gimme a break)
LF - Ryan Braun
SP - Clayton Kershaw
SP - Roy Halladay
SP - Cliff Lee
SP - Justin Verlander
SP - Tim Lincecum
CL - Brian Wilson

Black/Hispanic

C - Victor Martinez
1B - Albert Pujols
2B - Robinson Cano
SS - Hanley Ramirez
3B - Adrian Beltre
RF - Jose Bautista
CF - Matt Kemp
LF - Carlos Gonzalez
SP - C.C. Sabathia
SP - David Price
SP - Yovoni Gallardo
SP - Felix Hernandez
SP - Gio Gonzalez
CL - Mariano Rivera

Here are the rosters according to who I feel are the top at each position for their designated teams. And while I feel the Black/Hispanic team does have a clear advantage in power hitting, the Whites are far deeper in starting pitching. Even the fifth best starter on that team, whomever it may be, is still arguably better than the best starter on the Black/Hispanic team. If it came down to it, and this game could actually get played, which would be awesome to watch, I do believe that the Whites would take it by a very slim margin of a 5-4 score because pitching does indeed rule over the mighty bat.

This all being said, racism is bad, and should not be tolerated. This is strictly a hypothetical experiement and not intended to offend anyone. Go Equality!