A Week's Worth of What I love - WWE, Dolphins, Kings, more

Upadate***Thursday, March 15th

It's a great time of year to love the things I love. The NHL is wrapping up its regular season and heading into the playoffs, the NFL free agency, draft and MLB season are just around the corner and most importantly Wrestlemania 28, "the Grand-Daddy of them all" is mere days away. Here's a look into a week's worth of happenings.

WWE: The Road to Wrestlemania

- The Rock v. John Cena is heating up on our television screens and on our social platforms. Bringing their feud into the social space has added an entirely new dimension to their program. While Cena has got the "one-up" on The Rock on back to back episodes of Monday Night Raw Supershow, I expect the Rock to "bring it" for tonight's Rock Concert v. Cena's Battle Rap. As far as the in-ring product is concerned, from what we saw of  "The Great One" back at the Survivor Series, I feel they will deliver a Wrestlemania Moment. 


***Aside from the "We Will Rock You" finale of the Rock Concert, I was thoroughly amused from both Cena & Rock's outings. I'm under the impression, the Rock won't be on Raw this coming week, so we'll see where the war of words leads us on the go home episode of Raw leading into 'Mania.

Many are getting after the Rock, most notably Arda Ocal of Aftermath on The Score, for reading lyric sheets on paper and on the TitanTron. Ocal has mentioned how the Rock is "phoning it in". I don't think that's the case at all. Although I do concede the "We Will Rock You" finale was awfully cheesy and unnecessary, I would say whether he's reading lyrics on a music sheet and potentially not even writing his own material, it doesn't matter. The Rock's performance on Monday was fantastic and the delivery of the "Cleveland Rocks" song was indication why the WWE has lacked the type of performer The Rock is. Cena is a legit star but no one on the current roster can have fans eating out of their palms like "Dwayne" can. 

- Speaking of the Rock and John Cena. Who could have ever imagined when the Rock called Cena "Fruity Pebbles" last year, that it would lead to a cereal endorsement for Cena. I doubt it would have ever happened if they didn't integrate social media into the drawn out program of two wrestling mega-stars. Engaging the fans into their program on the social space certainly was a big factor in getting Cena that endorsement; it's a really cool story.

- Looking elsewhere into the Wrestlemania 28 card, while nothing will receive the hype as the year-long program between the Rock v. John Cena, CM Punk and Chris Jericho will be escalating their war of words in the go-home episodes of the Raw Supershow. While I think and hope the Rock v. John Cena will translate into a great match at the "showcase of the immortals", I know Punk and Jericho will deliver a 5-star classic if given a good amount of time, which I think it will. Jericho's return shows his presence isn't replaceable. He's been a breath of fresh air onto the Raw Supershow over the last eight weeks. He's a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer

Miami Dolphins: Live and Die by Peyton Manning

- A few weeks back, I wrote about a growing optimism for Miami Dolphins fans. With the hiring of Packers offensive guru, Joe Philbin, as the team's new Head Coach and the search for a true franchise Quarterback, things were looking sunny for the team from the, "Sunshine State".

Particular to the QB search, I detailed three viable solutions to the decade-long plague that has tortured Dolphins fans alike. Whether it be the newly-minted free-agent, Peyton Manning the jaw-dropping and Heisman-winning prospect, Robert Griffin III or the up-and-comer, Matt Flynn, the Dolphins had several options to solve their QB problem. In a span of three days, all three options may have vanished.

On Saturday, March 10, the Washington Redskins traded a boat-load of draft picks to the St. Louis Rams to move up two spots and secure the ability to land Griffin III. A day later, despite being heavy favourites by many analysts and fans, the Miami Dolphins seemed to have fallen out of the Manning sweepstakes.

So what about Flynn? While as of writing free-agency has yet to start and Flynn is still available, I just don't see how they can sell fans on Flynn after a public pursuit of Manning. Holy consolation prize Batman! I was a Flynn booster; despite his low ceiling for potential, I really thought Philbin and staff could mold him to be this decade's Matt Hasselbeck (also a former Packer and West Coast Offense disciple). However, if the Dolphins do swing and miss the home-run  opportunity to sign one of the greatest QBs of all-time, I cannot fathom how Dolphins front-office turn around and try to sell to Dolphin fans the "seeing-eye single" that is Matt Flynn.

Dolphins will do anything they can to "bring his talents to South Beach"

I'm a solutions guy though and have come up with a FOURTH solution to the QB conundrum. Ryan Tannehill. The Texas A & M product is bolting up draft boards and has the potential to be a true franchise QB in the league. His ceiling is higher than Flynn's. He is a raw QB product, a converted wide-receiver with only 30 starts on his belt. I'd advise the Dolphins live with incumbant Matt Moore for another season and groom Tannehill to take over in 2013. Certainly not what Fin fans want to hear, but it's a better solution than the band-aid option of Matt Flynn.

 ***It looks like the Miami Dolphins are a dead horse in the Manning sweepstakes. That leaves two pivotal pieces and three teams in the QB carousel. The Seattle Seahawks, Cleveland Browns and Miami Dolphins will be jockeying for the rights to sign Matt Flynn or draft Ryan Tannehill. Dolphins fans, be prepared to enter the 2012 with Matt Moore as the starting QB for the Miami Dolphins. 2013 may end up being the year they make a legitimate push to land their franchise QB. With that said, I'm absolutely shocked GM Jeff Ireland has been rewarded the opportunity to rebuild the Dolphins. He's had 4 years at his first attempt and failed completely. Ireland should have been shown the door with Coach Sparano.

L.A. Kings: Disappointment is only the start

2011-2012 was supposed to be the year the L.A. Kings made the "big jump" into the elite of Western Conference teams of the NHL. Suffice to say, that hasn't happened, AT ALL! If it wasn't for the over-hyped Washington Capitals and the all-of-a-sudden stumbling San Jose Sharks, the Los Angeles Kings would be the NHL's most disappointing team.

The Kings currently sit tied for 8th place in the Western Conference; if the playoffs were to start today, The Kings would be hitting the golf courses early. Scoring has plagued the team all year; they currently sit 29th in the league in goals for. If the Kings can't pull it together over the last 13 games, it may and SHOULD spell the end of GM Dean Lombardi's impressive run with the franchise.

Despite the MVP season Quick is having, the Kings are a  massive disappointment

Lombardi is one of the reason's why this franchise has rebounded to respectability after a decade of bottom-feeding. The drafting of Drew Doughty and the trade for Mike Richards are at the hands of Lombardi. However, when the team struggled to score goals early in the season and went on a hideous losing streak, he fired former Head Coach Terry Murray. Who did he hire as Murray's successor? Darryl Sutter. Those of you in the NHL circles would know that explosive and high-scoring offenses aren't the first things to come to mind when you think of Darryl Sutter. Suffice to say, the team has yet to find any scoring touch. That is on Lombardi. He HAS to live and die with Sutter.

If the Kings can't scramble to make the playoffs, I don't see how they retain Sutter as Head Coach. Subsequently, that would end the Lombardi experiment. For your sake Dean, I hope the Kings can turn it around. However, you may want to peak at the schedule, it doesn't look likely.