Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day everybody! Today is a day to remember anybody we’ve lost really. But it’s an especially important day to remember those servicemen and women of the Army, Army Air Core, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard, past and present, that gave the ultimate sacrifice of their lives, in-service to our country. A lot of the times they give up not only their physical well-being, but mental and emotional stability as well, if their wounds aren’t physical, so every day Americans can live in freedom. For all those committed to the cause of liberty, I say thank you!

What’s Everyone Doing During Their Quarantine To Assault Life?

Just checking in… Making sure everyone’s doing okay. So what’s everyone doing during their quarantine to make the ultimate assault on life that I keep talking about?

2020 KC Chiefs Projected Special Teams Post-Draft

2020 KC Chiefs Projected Special Teams Post-Draft in my opinion:

K: Harrison Butker

P: Tyler Newsome

LS: James Winchester

H: Tyler Newsome

KR: MeCole Hardman

PR: Tyreek Hill

Dustin Colquitt was released after 15 years. A MAJOR change on Special Teams. I’m hoping we pick somebody up after pre-season cuts.

2020 Projected KC Chiefs Defensive Starters Post-Draft

Our defensive scheme is a 4 - 3 (4 Down Linemen, and 3 Linebackers) base 7 man front with a 1 gap Under Front alignment (Defensive Line shifts to the weakside, and the Strong Side Outside Linebacker moves up on the line of scrimmage. That makes the defense look like a 5-2 with 43 personnel. Sometimes, the Strong or Free Safety will drop down close to the line of scrimmage, and the defense becomes an eight-man front, or what’s known as the 46 (Brian Dawkins in Philadelphia, and probably Tyrann Matthieu in KC). Now everybody in the NFL does a little bit of everything because it’s the pros and a copycat league. But our defensive coordinator comes from the Jim Johnson tree (‘99 – ‘08 with the Philadelphia Eagles) and prefers a 2 High Safety alignment with Press Man Coverage, mixed in with Man Blitzes, Double-A Gap Blitzes, and Zone Blitzes depending on the situation also.

2020 Projected KC Chiefs Defensive Starters in my opinion after the draft:

LDE: Alex Okafor

LDT: Derrick Nnadi

RDT: Chris Jones

RDE: Frank Clark

LOLB (SLB): Damien Wilson

MLB: Anthony Hitchens

ROLB (WLB): Dorian O'Daniel

LCB (CB1): Bashaud Breeland

RCB (CB2): Antonio Hamilton

FS: Juan Thornhill

SS: Tyrann Mathieu

In the Nickel (5 DBs) against a spread offense, take out Anthony Hitchens, and replace with a Slot Corner. Charvarius Ward.

In Dime (6 DBs), take out Damien Wilson and Anthony Hitchens. Add another Safety, Armani Watts, along with Charvarius Ward.

2020 KC Chiefs Projected Offensive Starters Post-Draft

2020 KC Chiefs Projected Offensive Starters Post-Draft in my opinion:

NFL West Coast passing scheme, and zone running scheme, mixed in with college option, misdirection plays, and spread offense. Every team has 11 players on the field at one time. How many at each position varies due to the situation.

QB: Patrick Mahomes

RB1: Damien Williams (our pass receiving Running Back)

RB2: Clyde Edwards-Helaire (goal line and short-yardage Running Back)

WR1: Tyreek Hill

WR2: Sammy Watkins

WR3: MeCole Hardman

WR4: DeMarcus Robinson

WR5: Gehrig Deiter

WR6: Byron Pringle

TE1: Travis Kelce (pass-catching Tight End)

TE2: Ricky Seals-Jones (blocking Tight End)

LT: Eric Fisher

LG: Andrew Wylie

OC: Austin Rieter

RG: Laurent Duvernay-Tardif

RT: Mitchell Schwartz

As I emphasized pre-draft, we are still pretty set on offense. However, now the three changes are Byron Pringle, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, and Ricky Seals-Jones.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother’s Day to all the great mothers out there! …And sometimes, those single dads that have to play the role of both parents. :)

Brad Freeman's Favorite Martial Artists If I Ever Got in a Fight

Since I’m also into martial arts, self-defense, and combat sports on top of your regular 5 major sports, if I was ever in a life threatening situation where self-defense was required, here are the people I would take with me to watch my back during a fight.

1. Bruce Lee (Wing Chun Kung Fu/Jeet Kune Do)

2. Muhammad Ali (speed stance Western Boxing)

3. Royce Gracie (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu)

4. Dan Severn (Judo/Sambo/Greco-Roman Wrestling)

5. Chuck Norris (Karate/Judo/Taekwondo/Brazilian Jiu Jitsu)

6. Ken Shamrock (Shoot Fighting)

*Bruce Lee, while not only being great on-screen, developed a fighting system for self-defense as well. Not to mention, he’s my favorite action/martial arts actor. Ali is my favorite boxer, by the way.

*Back in the nineties, when the Ultimate Fighting Championship was truly full contact, no holds barred except eye gouging, biting, and shots to the groin via a gentlemen’s agreement. The fights pitted 2 combatants of totally different styles, in tournament format, to answer the age-old question, which style is best. Royce Gracie/Dan Severn/Ken Shamrock’s matches against each other during the 1^st 5 to 10 events were utterly legendary in the martial arts community. Not going to lie, I go back and watch those fights periodically.

Now, as of January 2001 when Dana White took over, UFC is way different. It’s more cleaned up. Fighters mix different styles together to cancel out each singular art’s weaknesses. And mix them together for the strengths of each art for a given situation. Hence, the term mixed martial arts coming into a regular part of American vernacular. Also, it now has rounds, weight classes, and championship belts for each weight class, much like boxing, and more extensive rules centered around grappling, for the safety of the fighters, so the sport could more easily get sanctioning by the state athletic commissions.

Brad Freeman's All-Time Lifetime Basketball Team

My all-time basketball team during my lifetime.

Starting Lineup:
C: Shaquille O’Neil (Orlando Magic/Los Angeles Lakers)
PF: Karl Malone (Utah Jazz)
SF: Larry Bird (Boston Celtics)
SG: Michael Jordan (Chicago Bulls) *favorite player and team growing up
PG: Earvin “Magic” Johnson (Los Angeles Lakers)

Bench:
6. SG Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers)
7. SF Lebron James (Cleveland Cavaliers/Miami Heat)
8. PG/SG Steph Curry (Golden State Warriors)
9. PG Steve Nash (Dallas Mavericks/Phoenix Suns) *where I learned to pass from crazy angles
10. SG Dwayne Wade (Miami Heat)
11. C David Robinson (San Antonio Spurs)
12. PF Tim Duncan (San Antonio Spurs)

Non-Roster Players (in case somebody gets injured)
13. SG Ray Allen (Milwaukee Bucks/Boston Celtics/Miami Heat)
14. SG Reggie Miller (Indiana Pacers)

*The 92 Olympics in Barcelona Spain were the 1st time that NBA players were allowed to play in the Summer Olympics, instead of the mandatory college players. And yes, I owned and still own the “Dream Team” poster. I remember those players vividly, even though I was only 8.

*Being that the Kings had moved from Kansas City to Sacramento literally the year after I was born, I adopted the Bulls as my team.When leagues, have no teams tied to a certain city’s market, you get games from all around the country.

*While I appreciate Kobe Bryant, and Lebron James’s game, I’m not as awestruck because growing up I liked Michael Jordan, so I’ve seen it all before when it comes to what I like to call his 2 reincarnations. Plus, could Lebron or Kobe dunk the moon? I have the Michael Jordan: Space: The Final Frontier poster still. That’s the one where Jordan is dunking the moon over his head.

Brad Freeman's All-Time Legends Basketball Team

My all-time legends basketball team.

Starting Lineup:
C: Bill Russell (Boston Celtics)
PF: Wilt Chamberlain (Harlem Globetrotters/Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors/Philadelphia 76ers/LA Lakers)
SF: Julius Erving (Philadelphia 76ers)
SG: Pete Maravich (New Orleans/Utah Jazz)
PG: Bob Cousy (Boston Celtics)

Bench:
6. PG/SG Jerry West (Los Angeles Lakers)
7. C Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Milwaukee Bucks/Los Angeles Lakers)
8. SF Elgin Baylor (Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers)
9. PF Moses Malone (Philadelphia 76ers)
10. PG John Havlick (Boston Celtics) 
11. SG/SF George Gervin (San Antonio Spurs)
12. PG Oscar Robertson (Milwaukee Bucks)

Non-Roster Players (in case somebody gets injured)
13. PG Walt Frazier (New York Knicks)
14. C Willis Reed (New York Knicks)