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Tis the season for wishing and hoping for gifts that you probably won't end up getting. So what better way to celebrate the holiday season then with a Five-Orite Friday Wish List Edition. These are the top five things I want to have happened for the upcoming year.
1. Kansas City Chiefs Draft a QB:
This has to happen right? I mean it is such a given its akin to candy in your stocking right? No matter what gifts you do or don't receive you know you will at least have candy in your stocking. The Chiefs have to finally draft a QB in the first round this year. Can you imagine if the Chiefs didn't draft a QB in the first round in April? What if they don't draft a QB at all? I kind of hope the Chiefs don't draft a QB this year in the draft. Simply because that means all that money I invested in that pitchforks and torches business would really start bringing in the dollars. HELLO KID'S COLLEGE FUND FOR STANFORD!!!!!
So it is safe to assume the Chiefs will draft a QB in the first round. So now the question becomes whom do they take with said draft selection. Even though there is not a sure fire number one prospect like Andrew Luck there are still many players to choose from this year. Here is how I rank this year's crop of QBs. Now these are my rankings and strengths and weaknesses based on what I saw from them this season. Take it for what it is worth.
Geno Smith: West Virginia
Strength - Insanely accurate on deep passes
Weakness - Disappeared in big games
Matt Barkley: USC
Strength - Has all of the polish and the arm of big time NFL QB
Weakness - Height, injury concerns, and he is a USC QB
Tyler Wilson: Arkansas
Strength - Incredibly tough, not afraid of being hit, makes strong throws in traffic
Weakness - Concussions and maybe not be able to shake the stink of this last season at Arkansas
Tyler Bray: Tenneessee
Strength - All the measurables of a high level NFL QB
Weakness - Questions of maturity and ineffective when forced to move around.
Landry Jones: Oklahoma
Strength - Mature and won a lot of games and broke many records at OU
Weakness - Lack of growth after staying an extra year
Those are all of the guys I look as potential first round picks in 2013. Obviously they all have their flaws but that doesn't mean that they can't become a really good player. One of those players will be on the Kansas City Chiefs next season.
2. Kansas City Royals Win 81 Games:
The Royals made a splash this off-season with trading Wil Myers, Jake Odorizzi, and Mike Montgomery to the Tampa Bay Rays for James Shields and Wade Davis two weeks ago. Royals fans might get an immediate return on this as the Royals could very well finish .500 or better for the first time since 2003. God...2003 really does seem like forever ago. It will be ten years ago this upcoming season since the Royals finished over .500. I would love nothing more than to see the Royals get back to the point and doing it in a way where the success should be able to last. Unlike the flash in the pan that was 2003.
3. Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Miami Heat Finals Rematch:
I want this to happen so badly. The series between these two teams last June was special for everyone who watched and soaked it in. We need to see it again. And again and again and again. Last year went by too quickly. We only got five games of these two superstar lead and super talented teams playing against each other. There needs to be seven more games of this and it needs to happen now. If these two teams meet in the NBA Finals for the next 3 years with Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant taking on LeBron James and Dwyane Wade everyone's life in the world would be better.
Kevin Durant and LeBron James are transcendent , once in a life time superstars. They are the two best players in the NBA right now and there really isn't any other players in their class. They are special in every since of the word and seeing them compete vs. each other for the ultimate prize is a no lose situation. Well....it is no lose for us. For them one of them will lose.
4. The End Of Conference Realignment:
This truly is a wish that has zero chance of appearing underneath the Christmas tree. Conference expansion/realignment is my least favorite topic in college athletics. It really makes me not enjoy college football at all. It will never stop but a boy can dream can't he?
Every summer there is another story about some team leaving this conference for that conference and it always seems like the Big 12 is getting shafted in some way. I just want it to end. If it can't end completely then can it at least take one year off?
5. Tim Tebow:
I wrote the two words that get all search engines firing. Tim Tebow. Much like the previous topic I hope the Tim Tebow phenomena would finally be put to rest. I never understood the infatuation with him to begin with and now it has got to a point where it is completely ridiculous. Please make it end as fast as possible.
One of my biggest problems with the Tebow-mania last year was that when Tebow was winning games running a high school offense it directly spit in the fave of the QB position in the NFL. It somehow cheapened the greatness of QBs like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, and Ben Roethlisberger. It takes special players to excel at the highest level they way they do. When Tim Tebow goes out there and completes two passes in a game and wins it insults everything it means to be a great NFL QB.
There is my Christmas wish list for 2012. Next week we will look back at the year that was 2012 Five-Orite Friday style. There might even be a few lists that go beyond the world of sports.
Follow me on twitter @craig_a_brenner and until next week peace out.