Vegan, Vrbata and Vince McMahon

Is that enough "V's" in the title for you? In today's blog I will talk about Prince Fielder signing in Detroit, Radim Vrbata's all star snub and the Royal Rumble. Bet you never thought you would see all of that in one blog....
 
As baseball free agency is coming to a close and spring training is about to be upon us, I had to wonder if Prince Fielder was ever going to sign. Anywhere. Today, we got that answer, as he agreed to sign with the Detroit Tigers. Yes, the Tigers. Not the Nationals, not the Rangers and not the Brewers. The Tigers, who seemingly came out of nowhere, are going to sign Fielder to a nine year, 214 million dollar deal. I had written about Prince a couple weeks ago and a comment was made about Prince's weight, and why that could be a factor in getting him signed to such a long deal. While I agreed with the commenter, the Tigers didn't. There had been plenty of speculation about Prince signing a shorter deal and trying the free agency market again. I have to say in regards to thay, it would have been awful for Prince. If he was ever going to get this much money and this many years, he would have had to have gotten it now. And he did.

Now the Tigers have more power than before. With the loss of Victor Martinez for the season, this was their answer. It is unknown if the Tigers had any intentions of going after Prince before V-Mart's injury, but in the age of the "mystery team", who knows? They now have a first baseman for years to come, and now have the problem of figuring out where to play Miguel Cabrera. Not a terrible problem to have, but i can only guess that they will swap DH and 1st base from time to time. Congratulations to the Tigers for the huge signing, and I wish the best for your team.

Now I will switch gears to over to the National Hockey League, and discuss the 2012 NHL All Star Game. With any all star game in any sport, it unfortunately turns into a popularity contest and there are snubs. There always is and always will be. While the NHL has there game scheduled for Sunday and things could change, I would like to point out one of the biggest all star snubs.

Call me a homer all you want, but I feel that Radim Vrbata, of the Phoenix Coyotes, should have been a part of the original roster selections. He is second in goals in the Western Conference, and is absolutely having a great season, and by definition, should be an all star. I feel that he is not there because of where and who he plays for. Put a Penguins Jersey on him and I bet he is one of the first ones chosen. Now, I could sit here all night and talk about bias, but I'll save that for another day. With the talk of Vrbata, I would like to ask, what is the main purpose of hockey? My answer is, to score goals. Radim sits at number eight overall, and second in the western conference, with 23 of them. I certainly hope to see him get the call next week as a replacement for an injured player, but feel that it shouldn't have required that to get him there. As a fan, I'll take it.

Vince McMahon has had struggles as of late getting the ratings that I feel the WWE deserves, and I have noticed him trying different things. He is capitalizing on the "hatred" of John Cena, giving others opportunity for success, and has even brought Mick Foley back. Their next pay-per-view starts the road to Wrestlemania and I am hoping this will draw more people in as it has to be one of the more exciting matches that the WWE has to offer. They are having their 25th Royal Rumble this coming Sunday, and I am pumped for it. I am hoping to see surprise returns, storylines begin and end. While I have a few thoughts of who could win the rumble, I will try to make a solid prediction right now. My prediction for the winner of the Royal Rumble will be Wade Barrett. The guy has great mic skills and does very well in the ring, so I think he could be the one to win the rumble and go on to Wrestlemania to challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship.

Here are some links from folks I recommend:

@CJNezra gives us a look at the funniest tweets from Twitter about the Prince Fielder signing on Idiot Sports Talk.

@FuckFordDenny looks at why chanting "Cena Sucks" doesn't carry the weight it used to at Smart Marks Unite.

@baseblogjj recaps the Ryan Braun MVP acceptance speech and how he was received over at BaseBlog.

Until Next Time.....
Carl Farris

Follow Me on Twitter @Farris08