BOSTON SPORTS BLAST

OK, free agency for the NFL will begin at 12:01 am on Saturday. Why is everyone so upset about Adam Vinatieri testing the free agency waters? Like Johnny Damon, he knows it is his last chance to score the big contract. I do not hold it against him. Let him go out, determine his value, and the Patriots will decide what he is worth paying. Plain & simple. As great as he is, he is still only a kicker.

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Following up on my blurb about the Truth and his resurgence, Bill Simmons (aka the Boston Sports Guy) churns out a nice article, in almost a Simmons flashback (i.e. very few references to crappy television shows that no one watched in the seventies or movies that no one cared about in the eighties and no one cares about now. One or two is fine, every other sentence is a bit much) writing about the Celtics, Paul Pierce, Danny Ainge, and his Dad. Nice to see he still has the touch (and has come around to supporting Danny Ainge FINALLY): http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060310

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Just in case anyone cares, the Helmet-Headed One, Mel Kiper Jr., has the Patriots picking Ashton Youboty at 21, an underclassman cornerback from Ohio State. A potential big time cornerback, Youboty would be a development. I do not think Belichick is a big fan of development projects, often preferring to draft players who can step right in and play. When I think of Bill Belichick and his development projects, I think of undrafted free agents or picking up young veterans from the scrap heap, not drafting them. Of course, if my last developmental draft pick was Bethel Johnson, I would be a bit gun-shy myself.

More on Youboty: He began the season as the nickel corner before moving to the starting line-up after an injury to the starter. Once entrenched, there was no replacing Youboty who immediately showed his top-level skills. He has good size (almost six feet tall) and great hands. As a sophomore, he shut down top receiver Braylon Edwards of Michigan. In doing some research on him, I can see why Kiper had him slotted to New England: he reminds me of another Ellis Hobbs, except bigger. Youboty is a ball-hawk corner and is physical against the run.

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