A good friend of ours always says “Football Rules the Universe.” You know what? He’s right.

Today, we’re taking a look at all of the AFC North teams in our first-ever AFC North roundtable. We start with last year’s AFC North champions, the Baltimore Ravens.

Ravens Touchdown, our Baltimore Ravens Blog kicks off the six question roundtable with a very detailed analysis of the upcoming season:

What did the Ravens do this off-season to improve?

For starters, they got rid of Jamal Lewis - that’s a big step in the right direction. He was coming off a rather uneventful season (admittedly by his standards - he set the bar rather high), and it looks like the team wanted to go another direction (something that Jamal wasn’t able to do well with his size and ankles). He was an awesome back for a while (see also: 2003), but injury and fatigue caught up to him like most defenders, judging by his lack of separation/acceleration speed. 3.6 average yards per carry isn’t going to cut it in today’s NFL, and certainly not in the AFC.

The acquisition of Willis McGahee is going to be enormous. The U guys - Ed Reed and Ray Lewis - will all stick together, and with leadership like Reed and Lewis on the other side of the ball, I don’t think that there will be any problems with McGahee like there were in Buffalo. Hey, he’s already been to OTA’s, which is more than he did last year!

The Ravens had an above average draft, as they drafted for need. I really think that Ben Grubbs (1st round pick) will make an immediate impact - much the same way that Haloti Ngata did in his rookie season. For those of you who missed it, here are the draft picks:

1st round, #29 overall–Ben Grubbs, G, Auburn
3rd round, #74–Yamon Figurs, WR/KR, Kansas State
3rd round, #86–Marshal Yanda, G/T, Iowa
4th round, #134–Antwan Barnes, LB/DE, Florida Intl.
4th round, #137–LeRon McClain, FB, Alabama
5th round, #174–Troy Smith, QB, Ohio State
6th round, #207–Prescott Burgess, LB, Michigan

With BJ Sams on the mend, will Yamon Figurs compete for a starting role? Or will the Ravens split duties, having Figurs return punts, while Sams returns kickoffs? It’s too early to tell, but I have a good feeling that these questions will all be addressed in training camp.

Moving along, Die Hard Steel, our Pittsburgh Steelers Blog, chimes in with a pre-camp look at the Steelers:

What players did the Steelers lose that you wish they could have kept?

I think our fearless Blog Leader is trying to trap me into talking about OLB Joey Porter. Since he is my Blog Ambassador of Coin, I will swing at the slider in the dirt, and go with the easy answer.

Every Steelers fan will miss J-Peezy for one reason or another. If it wasn’t his abs-exposed verbal taunting of a selected opponent of his choice while he paced up and down the 45-yard-line like a caged animal during stretching, it was the way he was able to turn on the pressure nearly every down when he got into a three-point stance. People who don’t follow this team overestimate Porter’s impact on the field, and his leadership ability, though. ILB James Farrior has been the defensive play leader for three years. Porter has just been the loudest, most noticeable player on a great unit. He provided the nasty. It’s not as if that can’t be replaced.

I couldn’t imagine the team’s decision to release him was a pleasant one, but it was a no-brainer. I wrote a few months ago, the decision doesn’t come down to this season. Porter had one year left on his deal, and he had been bitching about getting another one all season. It was highly likely he would have been standing in line with Faneca venting to the microphone at the onset of mini-camp. Peez is too old, and his production had dropped enough where it was clear the team had no interest in giving him another five years at the money he was making. When he was cut, they had a draft coming up with some OLBs catching their eye, and they gave his back-up, James “Silverback” Harrison, an extension the previous season anyway. So, in short, Porter was cut long before they made it official. The real impact of his declining skill may not be felt this season, but in two years, the Dolphins will have a choice of their own to make.

I wish him the best, and I will miss the energy he brought to the game, but a team is not going to compete with an aging defensive player at a motor position making as much money as the Dolphins are now paying him.

Bengals Brigade, our Cincinnati Bengals Blog, has a look at what the Bengals are up to this season:

Going in to the season, what do you see as the Bengals biggest weakness?

I’m sure this will be a shocker to anyone that watched a Bengals game last year but the biggest weakness will be the defense. They did add some pieces and there is potential for them to play much better than last year but we’ll have to wait and see if it actually happens. There’s no one particular part of the defense that needs to get better than the others, it has to get better as a whole.

They’ll also be hurt by Chris Henry’s suspension. Several wide receivers are battling to get that 3^rd receiver spot behind Chad and TJ. Unless someone steps up, they could have some rough patches until Henry can come back.

Last but not least, The Brown and Orange, our Cleveland Browns blog, provides us a glimpse of what to expect this year from the lowly Browns:

Going in to the season, what do you see as the Browns biggest strength?

Their biggest strength this year will be their special teams as it was last year. However, this year we will be counting on them to put us in position to win games. Dawson will have to make 40-45 yard field goals. We will need big return yards from Cribbs and whoever punt returns if it is not him. This part of the team will have to shine the first part of the season if this team wants to start learning how to win.

So, there you have it. The first ever AFC North Roundtable. Links to the complete roundtable questions (with answers) can be found here:

• Ravens
• Steelers
• Bengals
• Browns

Next we’ll take a look at the AFC East. The Jets are getting better… but so are the Patriots. What are the Dolphins and Bills going to do?

Today’s featured blog is Bucs Blog, our Pittsburgh Pirates blog.  Josh Taylor breaks down the Buccos as they sail through the rest of the regular season, looking to ravage booty along the way (okay, so maybe not).

He weighs in on Jason Bay and Ian Snell:

Well, I’ve got good news, and I’ve got bad news.  The good news is: Jason Bay has started to show signs of life after a much-needed breakout performance.  The bad news: Ian Snell dropped his third game in a row and gave up six earned runs — including a home run for the fifth start in a row and the eighth in that span — in an 8-4 loss to the Mets last night at Shea Stadium.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I love Ian Snell, and I think he’s a talented pitcher with tremendous upside.  He’s done some things I’ve never seen a young pitcher do when taking the mound as far as his tenacity and his bulldog mentality.  However, recently he’s done things you see young pitchers do during their first call-up.  Snell said after the game, “I’m starting to break. I’m getting stressed out. I don’t know about these other guys, but I just want to win. I don’t want to be called a loser. Man, even my family calls our team losers, and I don’t want anyone to say that about our team.”

If you’re looking for great insight about the Pirates, look no further than the Bucs Blog!

Today’s featured blog is Met Manor, our New York Mets blog.  Larrbear breaks down what the Metropolitans are doin’ - and boy, does he do a good job.

Take, for instance, today’s post - a mash-up of Harry Potter and the Mets… or, what Larrbear learned from Harry Potter (and subsequently applied to the Mets):

Age is overated- Harry Potter has taught us that young people can do incredible things, and can mature right before your very eyes when afforded some responsibility. The Mets are young at some positions, and aging at others, but I think we’ve learned from Dumbledore’s incredible strength and Harry’s incredible courage that as baseball fans, we shouldn’t worry so much about age. After last year, I doubt anyone will be happy with anything less than a World Series appearance, so maybe now is not the time to worry about the future. The Mets have enough bats to carry them once Beltran and Delgado start to hit again, and arguably have the best starting rotation in the National League. This team has enough talent to win it all. We’ll worry about ages in the off-season. In the meantime, let’s trust Gotay and Milledge, and see what they can do for us.

If you’re interested in the Mets, you’ve got to check out Met Manor!

Hey, kids! Pack your bags! We’re heading to Bristol, Connecticut! ESPN just opened up the Fantasy Football Hall of Fame!

One of the wonderful things about working at the Sports Cartel is getting all sorts of fun press releases. My favorite, of course, is when I get pressers from ESPN. Like today, for instance.

The Worldwide Leader tried to make fantasy football more like real football by opening up a ‘virtual’ Hall of Fame that exists on ESPN’s colossally slow servers.

From the presser:

On July 25, ESPN.com will unveil the ESPN Fantasy Football Hall of Fame (FHOF) – to recognize and honor the fantasy heroes of yesterday, today and tomorrow. Every football season, marquee players dominate — Tomlinson, Manning, Owens, Harrison, Alexander. They are the perennial NFL superstars who will likely end up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame someday. But in fantasy football, it’s often unsung players who come out of nowhere and help General Managers win their league championships. It is in this spirit that ESPN.com has created the Fantasy Football Hall of Fame.

ESPN Fantasy Football experts analyzed the performances of fantasy standouts for the last 10 seasons and identified 48 players who have earned a place in the inaugural class of the FHOF. The Hall recognizes those players who have recorded the best Fantasy Football seasons of all time as well as the surprise performers — from third-stringers and injury replacements to waiver wire pick ups and other relative unknowns. They might only have had one stellar season (or even a few stellar games), but the impact they had on the millions of fantasy football teams, leagues and players around the country is enough to earn them a spot in fantasy football history, and eternal gratitude from their owners.

I was so excited after reading the release, I wanted to rush over to the embedded link immediately (espnfantasyhalloffame.com) and wait 10 minutes for the page to load all of the ads, flash and insanely un-usable content… but couldn’t. I was redirected to GO.com instead.

Oops.

(A friendly tip for all of you traditional media PR types: you may want to double check your URLs before throwing out a press release to bloggers. Not having your site live just cost you a few thousand visitors who would be promoting your new site on influential sports blogs - not ripping it.)

So, not being able to access the ESPN Fantasy Football Hall of Fame got me thinking - am I really missing anything? I quickly arrived at my conclusion - definitely not. Having a Fantasy Football Hall of Fame is akin to Jostens selling Fantasy Sports Championship rings: pointless.

We here at the Sports Cartel love division rivalries. Our beloved Cardinals just lost a heartbreaker against the Cubs in a game where Kip Wells didn’t get whiplash from looking at balls soaring over his head — and that doesn’t happen often.

Anyhoo…

We’re looking to knock out the rest of our MLB offerings so in-division bloggers can get together and duke it out before, during or after games. If you’d like to blog about one of the following teams, we’d love to bring you on board:

That’s it. Six teams remain.

If you’d like to write for any of the teams, just drop us a line and we’ll get you set up!

Today’s featured blog is a real doozy - the Young Athlete Guide. Coach Selby breaks down everything from stretching to proper ways to heal various sports-related injuries, and does it in a manner that is concise and easy to digest — no medical jargon here!

Selby breaks down a very common injury - the knee - and offers solutions that will lead to prevention of many injuries in young athletes. If you are a coach of any youth activity, you’ve got to read this blog!

It is funny about the knee when it comes to injuries. Most knee problems happen way before they occur. From what I can see, the knee is the most complicated joint in the body. The knee is located between the ankle and the hips. Both of these joints influence the actions of the knee. It could be summarized that if there is a knee problem it most likely can be related to these two joints: hips and ankles. Because of its sliding and rotary nature, the knee requires specific training designed to work with how the knee’s natural functions.

In his second of many Summer Training Tips, Coach Selby explains the importance of sleep on a young athlete:

For athletes who train and play hard— the more sleep the better. During sleep the body is able to full recovery from its energy output. During sleep ones attentiveness is dormant and there is no alertness. What is built up is what is called nerve energy. Nerve energy is the energy that make us go. We are electrical being and we need our batteries charged daily. And sleeping is the easiest and simplest recovery method to do. Getting as much sleep as possible is the best suggestion. For an athlete the more sleep the better however, 4 to 8 hours is great. Some athletes do not sleep well during competition. So I suggest that they conscious sleep for 20 to 40 minutes.

Conscious sleep?

Conscious sleep, meditation, active rest, deep breathing or what every name you call it is vital for athletes to learn. This recovery method allows for the athlete to not only get deep rest to all the systems of their body but to review (mental rehearsal) elements of their game in their mind. When an athlete does not have time to sleep, conscious sleep is the next best thing. During this time an athlete is able to relax- breath and to focus on their up coming performance. The challenge is getting athlete to sit down and to relax. This goes back to practice, if they are taught this method during practice, than it will naturally become a part of their routine. The same affects from this activity occurs as if one was sleeping. The nervous system relaxes, the cardio vascular system relaxes, the respiratory system slows down and the muscular system gets a chance to rebuild, recover and relax as well. This method is great between play.

Selby’s got you covered like an Ace Bandage on your bum ankle. With lots of practical, real-world advice and help at your disposal, what’s keeping you from bookmarking the Young Athlete Guide?

Today’s featured blog is D.C. Longball, our Washington Nationals blog.

While the Nationals are going through growing pains… Bryan Woodward, our resident Nationals expert, isn’t. He’s been a fan of the Nationals since he defected from Philly Phandom in 2002 and hasn’t looked back since. He sums it up best:

I am overall just a die-hard avid Baseball fan with outstanding knowledge, not only of how the game is played, or the Major Leagues, I have great knowledge of the Baseball World here in the United States. From Rookie Ball to the Majors, I know my stuff, and plan to share with you my love and passion for the sport, as well as some insight to your Washington Nationals now and your Washington Nationals future!

The future for the Nationals looks promising. Make sure to stop by D.C. Longball and be a part of it!

Well, I was watching.  After all, we’re big-time Cardinals fans here at the Sports Cartel.

Peaspan was out of town, but he recorded his thoughts on the magic day (2 games after he originally predicted the 10,000th loss) on Philly Dugout:

The Phillies’ 10,000^th loss was never that close, and that’s probably a good thing.  The Phightins were true to their name and held off for a few days before succumbing to the inevitable milestone losing to the Cardinals 10-2. Not so quick, but more or less painless since this one was out of reach by the 5^th inning.  Today was probably the best time to do it as after the game, they get to head out of town to San Diego and LA, and more or less avoid the media and fan backlash. 

 Unfortunately I had to be out of town on the day itself, but I’m sure ESPN did a phenomenal job filling in for me and told everyone that was watching 10,000 times the significance of the loss.  In my fearless prediction that the Phils would lose the other night I outlined some of the more painful losses I had witnessed just this season so I invite and encourage the rest of you to post your comments of your most painful Phillies memories or what you did to celebrate the occasion as a form of collective therapy.

Peaspan was right — Joe “did you know I played baseball for the Big Red Machine™?” Morgan and Jon Miller didn’t disappoint, with at least 30 references of 10,000 losses in 3 innings.

Even better than seeing our beloved Redbirds crank out home runs at an alarming rate (ADAM KENNEDY?  WTF, Mate?!) was seeing the ESPY’s delayed about 10 minutes.

As an aside, what’s up with influential (*ahem*, give it to me, please *ahem*) sports bloggers being Cardinals fans?

Today’s featured blog is South Side Baseball, our Chicago White Sox blog.

It’s got to be tough being a White Sox fan — just two seasons ago, they had the world on a string, wrapped around Ozzie Guillen’s very odd finger. They were mashing home runs, they were playing small ball… and now, I don’t even think you can consider what they’re playing to be any form of ‘ball.’

Oh, to be a tortured White Sox fan.

Who could handle such a blog? None other than Andrew Reilly, our resident Sox expert.

He kicks the second half of the season off in style with a recap of the travesty that is the All-Star game:

Inside-the-park home run, schminside-the-park home run. The real highlight for the Sox-crazed among us came in the bottom of the 9th. Former Sox manager Tony LaRussa decides that rather than put in Albert Pujols, arguably the greatest hitter in the game today, the guy who LaRussa himself could play anywhere just an hour earlier in his interview with Fox Sports, he would rather let former Sox outfielder Aaron Rowand record the last out for the National League.

In all, Rowand and his former outfieldmates Carlos Lee and Magglio Ordonez went a combined 0-for-5 with 0 walks, 0 runs and 0 RBI.

Obviously there’s still a little bit of South Side Baseball in those guys, even years after their departure.

It could be worse - Albert Pujols went 0-for-0.

At any rate, make sure you check out South Side Baseball for all of your White Sox needs!

Aside from what’s turning out to be a really, really bad rendition of the Star Spangled Banner (SF fans can boo Padres players, but not Chris Isaak?), we’ve got a really, really good discussion going on about the All-Star Game in the Sports Lounge forums.  Why don’t you join us?