Business of Amateurs Screening on Tuesday, Oct. 20

Deflategate: What to Takeaway?

So as some of you know The Wells Report came out as a 243 report about what happened with the New England Patriots deflating footballs to give them a competitive edge. I don’t know what’s more crazy, the fact they actually wrote up a 243 page report or the amount of time media is spending on this issue. Sure, it breaks the integrity of the game but honestly, do you think the deflation of footballs has made Tom Brady one of the best quarterbacks of all time? When the Patriots played the Colts this past year, the footballs were under inflated in the first half. What was the score after the first half? 17-7. What about after the balls were inspected and the correct weight? 28-0. So, I don’t think the weight of the footballs is the only thing that makes Tom Brady a great quarterback, if at all.

After watching Garbage Time with Katie Nolan, she brings up a few quotes that people are saying about deflategate and I agree with everything she says. Woody Paige says “Tom Brady should be suspended for the entire season for #Deflategate”. Katie Nolan goes on to say performance enhancing drug users who are caught are suspended four games so it would be kind of ridiculous to suspend Brady for the entire season. The next quote she talks about comes from Mike Lupica which he says “There is no elevator video on which to convict Tom Brady on deflategate”. Obviously, this is referencing to the Ray Rice incident, and Katie Nolan just says this is irrelevant and insensitive. The last quote I found the most ridiculous which comes from Ben Volin. He says “Patriots fans defending Brady say there’s no direct evidence against him. Circumstantial evidence was more than enough to convict Hernandez”. So he’s comparing inflating footballs to a murder which in my mind is a little too much. Once again, yes it hurts the integrity of the game, but the fact some people are comparing this to the Ray Rice and Aaron Hernandez cases is taking this a little too far.

Who knows what we should exactly take away from this case. It’s the second case of the New England Patriots being caught cheating, so it shows they try to do whatever it takes to get a competitive advantage. Will it tarnish the legacy of Tom Brady? I highly doubt it. Will it tarnish the character of Tom Brady? I think it will because he hasn’t stepped up to the mistake and is putting the blame on others. America hates liars, just look at our views of Ryan Braun and Alex Rodriguez. They both lied about using performance enhancing drugs and now both their reputations took a hit. Tom Brady is a great football player, maybe not a good person, but a great football player.

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Alan Liang is a Drexel Sport Management major graduate with minors in Marketing, Business Administration, and Communication from West Windsor, NJ. Alan scores baseball games for Baseball Info Solutions and was on co-op with the Philadelphia 76ers in the camps department. Follow Alan on Twitter @AlanLiang29. 

Major League Baseball: 5 BOLD Predictions

Mookie Betts: Remember this Name

As the MLB season is about a week in lets make five bold predictions. I did this for the NBA season and it was fun, so I wanted to do it for the MLB season. It will be fun to come back at the end of the season and see if any of these are true. Baseball is probably the hardest sport to predict, so here goes nothing.

1.  Jake Arrieta wins the National League Cy Young award. If you have never seen Arrieta pitch, you are definitely missing out. He has an elite repertoire and is still learning how to pitch. He is on the Chicago Cubs and will get to learn from Jon Lester this year. Clayton Kershaw has stumbled out of the gate, but I know he will get it going. Arrieta will show the entire league that he is one of the up and coming super stars. Clayton Kershaw and Matt Harvey will be the two who are also in contention.

2. The Kansas City Royals repeat as American League champions and win the World Series. It’s crazy that all of these “experts” are calling the Royals to finish fourth in the division. They are off to a fast start and the team is clicking. They are full of young players who have a great deal of potential. They lost James Shields so it will be interesting to see how they replace him. Yordano Ventura and Danny Duffy will have to step up and they are both capable of it. They still have one of if not the best bullpen in all of baseball so they can make the game very short.

3. Mookie Betts will be in the conversation for American League MVP. Yes. Yes. You may think I’m crazy and unless you follow baseball, you might not even know who Mookie Betts is. You’ll probably just think of him as someone with a cool name. You have “experts” comparing him to Andrew McCutchen and obviously, McCutchen is a phenomenal talent. Mookie Betts tore up the minors and now he is hitting leadoff for a potent Red Sox offense. He will be a reason the Red Sox are relevant this year. Mike Trout and Miguel Cabrera are in the American League so he won’t win it, but he will surprise many people on how good he actually is. Call me crazy, but this kid will be a phenom.

4. Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez both play 140+ games this season. It’s always about health for these two Colorado Rockies. These two are two of the elite hitters in Major League Baseball but are always hampered by injuries. If they can both stay healthy, the Rockies have one of the most dangerous lineups in baseball. It also helps they play in the most hitter friendly ballpark in Coors Field. If these two are healthy, the Rockies might be able to contend for the playoffs even though the Rockies pitching is very weak. I am boldly predicting these two will stay healthy and will mash for the Rockies.

5. The Phillies are NOT the worst team in baseball. Seriously, how low can the Phillies go. It seemed like just yesterday they won the World Series, but can you believe it’s been seven years since then? But yes, the Phillies are not a good baseball team. The farm system isn’t very good. Everyone is old. How long will Phillies fans have to wait before there’s a relevant baseball team in Philadelphia again? Is it bold that I’m making this prediction? It’s hard to find a team that has less talent than the Phillies but there will be one that has a worse record! I’m not trying to be a debbie downer I’m just trying to be realistic. 

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Alan Liang is a Drexel Sport Management major graduate with minors in Marketing, Business Administration, and Communication from West Windsor, NJ. Alan scores baseball games for Baseball Info Solutions and was on co-op with the Philadelphia 76ers in the camps department. Follow Alan on Twitter @AlanLiang29. 

The Dominican Dream: Baseball

Robinson Cano, Jose Bautista, David Ortiz, Albert Pujols, Jose Reyes are only a handful of the players that make up 10% of players currently playing on MLB rosters. That does not even include the 25% of minor league players that also hail from the small island of the Dominican Republic with about 10 million people. As fellow 'The Sports Complex' contributor and study abroad classmate Alan Liang discussed his amazing and once in a lifetime experience in the Dominican Republic in yesterday's post, he touched on some prominent topics often overlooked by baseball fans. In this article, I plan to delve further into the topic of the baseball culture and how the Dominican Republic has turned into an "incubator" for MLB talent, as NYY Assistant GM Jean Afterman stated in our brief discussion during a visit to Yankees Spring Training.

My Study Abroad Reflection: Dominican Republic

Yankees Academy

Once in a lifetime opportunity. That is what I will say about this study abroad trip to Tampa and the Dominican Republic to study baseball player development.  If I had to describe this trip in one word….awesome (Dr. Giddings favorite word. No one could even count the number of times she said “that’s awesome”). I just wanted to reflect on our trip with this post as this class was my last class as an undergrad. Our first stop was in Tampa where we visited the Yankees and Phillies Spring Training facilities, George Steinbrenner Field and Bright House Field. We had tours of the facilities and although they were interesting, they were not as interesting as what we learned in the Dominican Republic in my honest opinion.

NFL Free Agency Frenzy

NFL free-agency has only started one day ago and the entire league has been turned inside out! This drastic change in player landscape throughout the league in just one day has fans on the edge of their seats just waiting for the next unexpected and major announcement! This has definitely been one of the greatest off-season's for the NFL and we are only one day removed from the start of free-agency.

Sam Hinkie Loves his Assets

Sam Hinkie watching possible future Sixer? (Dayton Daily News)

This NBA trade deadline was one of the craziest deadlines of all time. It seemed like it was going to be fairly quiet, but then all of a sudden a storm of trades happened. With the likes of Goran Dragic and Brandon Knight being two of the bigger names on the move, the Philadelphia 76ers decided to jump in quickly on the action but trading Michael Carter-Williams and K.J McDaniels. Some Sixer fans probably were there scratching their heads as to what has happened. You would think Michael Carter-Williams and K.J McDaniels would be two building blocks of this team but we know Sam Hinkie loves assets.

The Calm Before the Storm: March Madness

Selection Sunday is a little over a month away. It’s by far my favorite event of the year since I really enjoy watching college basketball. The atmosphere is crazy in the arenas, it’s fun seeing the upsets, and of course the most important thing for a lot of people during this time is the bracket. We all want to be expert bracketologists but March Madness is one of the best sporting events of the year. There are always different storylines and just like any other year, this year is no different. Who will be the Cinderella this year? Well we all know what the first storyline will be. Kentucky’s pursuit of perfection. They are filled with McDonalds All-American players so it will be interesting to see who takes the last shot in crunch time. Besides Kentucky’s pursuit of perfection here are some other teams to keep an eye on.

It's Almost Baseball Season...kind of

Brand New Padres Outfield (NY Post)

We are about two months away from baseball season and there have been a number of offseason moves that will impact Major League Baseball. From the likes of Jon Lester to the Cubs, Max Scherzer to the Nationals, this season will be quite an interesting one. Our hometown Phillies will likely still be one of the bottom feeders as it is probably time to blow that team up as they began to with trading Jimmy Rollins and Marlon Byrd. They still have a decent one, two punch with Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee in the rotation, but the offense will probably struggle this year. With that being said, other than the Phillies it’s time to take a look at a few teams who made big moves this offseason.

Sport for Thought: 2015 NFL Free Agents - Game Changers

This season's class of free agents can shake up the power landscape in the NFL like no other season. Big name players are available on both sides of the football, and their is a significant chance many of these players may not return to their current team.

Offensive players: Demaryius Thomas, Julius Thomas, Dez Bryant, DeMarco Murray, Peyton Manning and Randall Cobb.

Defensive players: Ndamukong Suh, Gerald McCoy, Justin Houston, Darrelle Revis, and Jason Pierre-Paul.

Public Relations and Rebuilding: Phillies vs. Sixers

Sam Hinkie, 76ers GM (Philly.com)

As we sit a little over a month away from pitchers and catchers reporting and near the halfway point of the NBA season, the Sixers and the Phillies each find their respective immediate futures rather bleak. The Sixers sit at 7-30 as of Wednesday morning, and winter projections have the Phillies trending further below their 73-89 record from a season ago.


Despite the current mutual futility, it feels as if the Sixers are closer to a significant upswing than their neighbors across the street. Part of this feeling stems to some degree from the honesty and public relations savvy with which the respective managements have approach the rebuilds.

The Catch That Wasn't a Catch

Throughout the NFL playoffs we have seen some really good games and it’s been a pretty exciting postseason. We get a treat of seeing a Russell Wilson vs Aaron Rodgers match-up as well as a Tom Brady vs Andrew Luck match-up. These are four of the premier quarterbacks in the NFL going up against one another. Okay maybe they aren’t going necessarily going up against each other, but it will be fun to watch four potent offenses. With that being said, one of the main topic of discussion with these playoffs will be the Dez Bryant catch that was not a catch. The rule needs to change as it took away a great play in a big moment of the game of the Packers vs Cowboys game. No one knows what the outcome of the game would have been if the call was not overturned but this rule is something that needs to be looked out after the season.

Full 90: Prince Ali: FIFA’s Last Hope at Salvation

This week it was announced that FIFA vice president Prince Ali bin Al Hussein will challenge Sepp Blatter during the governing body’s presidential election on May 29th. FIFA has been infested with controversy and corruption, especially with respect to the Qatar and Russia World Cup bids.