Saturday, January 20, 2007

The Shark stays a Cub - forgoes NFL draft

I'm sure that puts a big grin on my buddy Brad's face, as the biggest Cubs fan I know, but I must say that I am a little disappointed that Jeff Samardzija is not going to play in the NFL.

I wanted the Shark to enter the NFL draft for mostly selfish reasons. I think he would have been one of the best receivers to come out of college in the last few years, and his presence near the top of the first round of the NFL draft would help recruiting.

However, I must begrudgingly admit that he probably made the safe choice. As a general rule, a baseball pitcher is going to be less injury prone than a receiver that gets hit almost every time he touches the ball. The money in baseball is potentially much greater than in the NFL, and he could have a much longer career.

My biggest concern is WHERE he signed on as a pitcher.

Now don't get me wrong, I am a huge Cubs fan. But I cringe when I hear the words "Kerry Wood" and "Mark Prior." The Cubs, famous for their curses, have been cursed of late when it comes to talented young pitchers. Hopefully, Jeff will be more Zambrano and less Prior.

Jeff, good luck in your career with the Cubs, and I wish you the best of luck.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Darn tootin' I'm happy!!! Go Cubs. I am real excited about this move becuase I know Jeff will bring the luck of the Irish with him to the windy city.

Anonymous said...

Re: the young promising pitcher curse.

To borrow from another ND blog (sorry I can't remember which one:)

Shark's Tommy John surgery is scheduled for early November.

Anonymous said...

It was from HLS.