Never Fear, Fed is Still a Superior Swiss

This is supposed to be a quick post. It will almost assuredly not be. Oh well.

One of the major stories in tennis this year as been the surprising mortality of the normally god-like Roger Federer. The Swiss star, he of the 12 slams including 5 straight Wimbledons and 4 consecutive US Opens, struggled with relative unknown Janko Tipsarevic in an epic early round match at the Australian Open (that kept me up until 3:30 in the morning) before exiting in surprisingly meek fashion against eventual champion Novak Djokovic. Recently, he suffered a 1st round lost to Andy Murray. Now, Murray has beaten Federer before, but Murray hasn't exactly torn things up lately and Fed, well let's just say that Fed doesn't lose very many first round matches, or matches, period.

Federer is now perilously close to losing his #1 ranking to his eternal rival, Rafael Nadal. Why such an uncharacteristic lapse from the man who is well on his way to being the best tennis player ever? I had thought it was just burnout. He's tired of the tournament scene so he hasn't been playing much tennis. Consequently, he's rusty and needs to play his way back into form. The Aussie Open can be attributed to adjusting to the new court surface and Djokovic's strong play. It turns out that I had it all wrong.

Reports surfaced on ESPN.com recently that Federer suffered a bout with Mono during January. Um, yikes! Suddenly, his play at the Australian Open becomes altogether more explicable and his run becomes impressive rather than disappointing. Now that he's well, he's still rusty, hence the first round loss to Murray. I'm just relieved that it wasn't because Fed just wasn't good enough that he struggled down under. In a world where little makes sense from day to day there is one thing that you can still hang your hat on. Roger Federer is still awesome. Here's to getting lucky slam 13 on the red clay at Roland Garros and forever shaking the notion that he can't get it done at the French Open!

Now, some thoughts on the early goings on of NFL free agency presented in ever popular "winners and losers" format.

WINNERS

Miami Dolphins--Despite being initially puzzled by the release of Zach Thomas, I have to say that I'm very impressed with the way Bill Parcells has gone about rebuilding the Dolphins. The Phins began free agency with a flurry, landing WR Ernest Wilford, OG Justin Smiley, QB Josh McCown, and DT Randy Starks among others. All of these guys are under 30 and none of them broke the bank. Parcells rightly realized that this team has a long way to go and wisely eschewed pricey, highly hyped free agents, for cheap, young ones with upside.

Buffalo Bills--Yes, this is a homer choice. No, I don't care. The Bills desperately needed help on the defensive line and they got it in the shape of Marcus Stroud. The Bills had plenty of cap to fit him under and extra picks to deal for him. Will they get the Pro Bowl version of Stroud that was once the best DT in the league. Probably not, but if they get anything close it will be better than what the Bills played with last season. DT Spencer Johnson will compete for the starting spot at the 3 technique and OLB Kawika Mitchell will replace Keith Ellison at the "Will" LB spot and along with the return from injury of MLB Paul Posluszny should dramatically enhance the Bills' LB performance. Now, if the Bills would only sign Bryant Johnson, almost all their major offseason needs will be filled

WINNERS-ISH

Cleveland Browns--Just looking at the list of players, it's no doubt that they had an impressive offseason. WR Donte Stallworth, DT Shaun Rogers, DT Corey WIlliams, re-sign QB Derek Anderson, re-sign RB Jamal Lewis. That looks very good on paper. However, Corey Williams cost a 2nd round pick and Rogers cost a 3rd and CB Leigh Bodden. That's a pretty stiff price for two DTs who have never played in a 3-4 and of whom one is a noted loafer (Rogers). Combined with the Quinn trade, the Browns have no picks in the first 3 rounds of this years draft, which makes it highly unlikely that they will find a contributor for the draft. Most teams still have the draft to improve after the free agents are all picked over. The Browns are pretty much done. To justify the money and picks spent on these players they need to go probably 12-4. That's a hight burden for them. Those kind of big moves make sense if the team is close to a Super Bowl win, but the Browns, as I see it, are not close.

New York Jets--They've certainly spent a great deal of money, but let's look at how they spent it. OLB Calvin Pace is awful expensive for a guy who has never been a real dominator. Damien Woody is a solid offensive lineman, but he's on the wrong side of his career to give a big deal to. Kris Jenkins actually has been a dominator but that was a while ago and he's never played in a 3-4. He might turn out to be a terrific 3-4 NT, but the Jets paid a big time premium to find out. Alan Faneca, at least, is a All Pro level player with still a few good years left, but overall they spent too much for a team that is so far away from championship caliber.

LOSERS

Tampa Bay Buccaneers--GM Bruce Allen has done a solid job building a team and I totally respect the strategy of building through the draft...but they're $40 or so million under the cap and have to get up to the salary floor and yet have done next to nothing in free agency. I'm not saying they should go out and spend for the sake of spending, but the Buccaneers have been alarmingly inactive.

Oakland Raiders--Overpaying slightly for S Gibril Wilson is perhaps forgivable. He's a young defensive stud that would be a major asset to any secondary. But $7+ million per year for DT Tommy Kelly, who is coming off a major knee injury? $9+ million per year for WR Javon Walker who has never really played a full season of dominant football? Those are just laughably ridiculous deals.

Chicago Bears--First, the Bears resign Grossman. Then they let Bernard Berrian walk and release Mushin Muhammad. Who do they replace Muhammad and Berrian with? Perpetual underachiever Brandon Lloyd and a far past-prime Marty Booker. The Bears offense is now set to be worse than it was last year and that's saying something.