2009 Official Mock Draft

I'm a huge fan of the draft so here is my final mock draft. I didn't include any trades, but I definitely think we are going to see a few. Here you go

1) Lions- Matt Stafford
2) Rams- Jason Smith
3) Chiefs- Tyson Jackson
4) Seattle- Mark Sanchez
5) Browns- Aaron Curry
6) Bengals- Andre Smith
7) Raiders- Michael Crabtree
8) Jaguars- Eugene Monroe
9) Packers- BJ Raji
10) 49ers- Jermemy Maclin
11) Bills- Michael Oher
12) Broncos- Brian Orakpo
13) Redskins- Brian Cushing
14) Saints- Malcom Jenkins
15) Texans- Aaron Maybin
16) Charges- Rey Maualuga
17) Jets- Josh Freeman
18) Broncos- Clay Matthews
19) Bucs- Michael Johnson
20) Lions- Robert Ayers
21) Eagles- Knowshon Moreno
22) Vikings- Percy Harvin
23) Patriots- Chris Wells
24) Falcons- Peria Jerry
25) Miami- Darius Butler
26) Ravens - Darius Heyward Bey
27) Colts- Ziggy Hood
28) Bills- Brandon Pettigrew
29) Giants- Hakeem Nicks
30) Titans- Kenny Britt
31) Caridnals- Donald Brown
32) Pittsburgh- Max Unger

2009 Baseball Predictions- World Series & Awards

World Series Prediction

Chicago Cubs over New York Yankees

Yes, many of you might think this is a homer pick, but the Cubs were clearly the best team in the National League in 2008. Little has changed, and I still believe they will trade for Jake Peavy before it's all over. If that happens, it's lights out for the rest of the league. Imagine the rotation of Jake Peavy, Carlos Zambrano, Rich Harden, Ryan Dempster, and Ted Lilly. Their 5th starter would be better than many teams #1 and #2.

NL MVP- David Wright NL Cy Young- Dan Haren ROY- Tommy Hanson

AL MVP- Josh Hamilton AL Cy Young- CC Sabathia ROY- Matt Wieters

2009 Baseball Predictions- National League

NL East

1)Philadelphia Phillies...Don't love their SP, but compared to the Mets they're studs
2)NY Mets(Wild Card)...K-Rod can't be as good in 09 as he was in 08. Same for Delgado.
3)Atlanta Braves...Hate their bullpen and are loaded in the minors (Heyward and Hanson)
4)Florida Marlins...Good young pitching, but will probably trade Ramirez by years end
5)Washington Nationals...Highlight will be drafting the most dominate college player in years, Steven Strasburg

NL Central

1)Chicago Cubs...Will dominate National League again, but won't run out of gas in Oct
2)St. Louis Cardinals...Albert Pujols might be one of the top 10 hitters of All-time
3)Cincinnati Reds...Great young pitching and Bruce/Votto comeback isn't bad either
4)Pittsburgh Pirates...Decent young pitching (Maholm/Snell) but not much else
5)Milwaukee Brewers...Piss poor pitching will come to haunt them
6)Houston Astros...It's been a terrible spring and the season won't be much better

NL West

1)Arizona Diamondbacks...Bullpen scares me, but rest of the division doesn't
2)LA Dodgers...Pitching is a little to green to win the division this year
3)SF Giants...Highly underrated team, but won't score enough runs this year
4)San Diego Padres...Will probably trade Peavy and then seasons really over
5)Colorado Rockies...Decent young pitching, but in Coors it won't matter

NLCS...Chicago Cubs vs. New York Mets

NL Champions- Chicago Cubs

2009 Baseball Predictions- American League

I had a great year in 2008 with my pre-season predictions. I had the Phillies winning the World Series and even predicted the Rays to make the wild card. Her is what "Backtradamus" thinks will happen in the 2009 season

AL East

1) NY Yankees....Look for CC and Burnett to combine for 35 wins
2) Tampa Bay Rays (Wild Card)...Hopefully Longoria doesn't have a sophomore slump
3) Boston Red Sox...Dice K is extremely overrated and no way Pedroia has another 2008
4) Baltimore Orioles...Love Adam Jones, Markakis, and Wieters when the call him up
5) Toronto Blue Jays...This team seems to be getting worst every year

AL Central

1) Cleveland Indians...Have plenty of hitting, and I think pitching will improve
2) Kansas City Royals...Will take a huge step forward this year
3) Minnesota Twins...Gardenhire may be the best manager in all of baseball
4) Detroit Tigers...Team is getting very old very fast
5) Chicago White Sox...I'm betting Ozzie gets fired before the year is over

AL West

1) Anaheim Angels...Look for Howie Kendrick to have a breakthrough year
2) Texas Rangers...Still have no pitching but Cruz,Davis and Hamilton might hit 30 HR
3) Seattle Mariners...I love Ichiro, but his stats are going in the wrong direction
4) Oakland A's...Love the young pitching, but a few years away

ALCS- Tampa Bay Rays vs. New York Yankees

AL Champion- New York Yankees

Best of "The Dan Back Show"- Celebrity Spelling Bee

This is a bit from my days in Alabama. It contains some of the best sound bites I used to use on the show. I had to cut it down a little bit because You Tube only allows 10:00 minutes, but I think it's worth listening to every minute.

Hope you enjoy.

Aaron "Benjamin Button" Back

If you haven't heard yet my wife delivered our first child on Tuesday March 10. His name is Aaron Tyler Back, and he surprised us by arriving 3 weeks early. He only weighed 5 pounds 10 ounces but measured a fairly decent 19.25 inches.

Here are a couple photos of the cute little guy and as you can see he looks a bit like his dad.











You can't really tell in these pictures, but since he was so skinny when he was born, he has tons of wrinkles all over him from not ever filling out. It's rather hilarious to see him twist his neck because he looks like one of the those old tortoises. In fact, I've started calling him "Benjamin Button" because if not for his face you might think that he was an old man with his wrinkly arms and legs.

Overall, he's been a fabulous baby. He hasn't totally figured out that he's supposed to sleep more at night than in the day. Once he gets that down, we'll be real happy. One bit of advice to any new parent. Try some of this stuff called "Gripe Water" if your baby gets a bit fussy for no good reason. All it takes is a few drops and this stuff makes baby all happy and usually gets rid of any gas.

We were given this stuff during our baby shower, so I'm not real sure how much it costs. But I can tell you right now I would pay over $20 a bottle for this magical stuff. This worked so well, I needed to make sure they didn't lace this stuff with Valium or some kind of narcotic. Believe it or not it's just Fennel, Ginger and a few other natural ingredients.

Great Moments in The Dan Back Show - Floyd Landis The Mennonite Cyclist

I thought it would be fun to put together some moments of my old radio show...sync them up to images and put them on the blog and You Tube for the world to enjoy.

I know the quality of images isn't great, but this was my first try at putting one of these together.

Hope you enjoy and please don't take the content too seriously.

Reality TV Roundup

Can't sleep tonight, so I thought it might be a good time for reality TV roundup. I'm a sucker for this garbage, so here is my take on some of my favorite shows.

The Bachelor

This show has been the talk of the Internet over the last couple of days. If you don't know what happened, let me give you the quick breakdown. Like they always do, Jason (The Bachelor) narrows his harem of women down to the final two. They whisk them off to New Zealand for romantic dates, blah blah blah and is on the fence on whether he should keep faux blondie Molly, or former Cowboys cheerleader Melissa. Then out of the blue the producers decided that it would be a good idea to bring back DeAnna (the chick that dumped Jason in the last season Bachelorette) and see if he would be willng to go back with her..

Let me start by saying I loathe this woman. She is an attention whore if I've ever seen one. This now marks the 3rd time shes been on this ridiculous show. It was pretty obvious to me that she definitely got on the Hostess Pie and Cake Diet, because when she walked out of that limo her booty looked like she had packed on some pounds. Nonetheless, the previews made it out to be much more dramatic than it really was, and in the end she only spent about 5 minutes on camera as he said thanks but no thanks. At least she got a free trip to New Zelaand out of the deal.

The show continues and Jason (who I'm pretty sure is a total dork in real life) decided to pick Melissa the cheerleader and proposed to her to boot. Nothing too dramatic or groundbreaking happens, just your typical Bachelor broken heart.

The real drama happened at the "After The Final Rose" show which takes place about 6 weeks after the taping of the show. Unlike most shows, they didn't have a studio audience, because as jackass host Chris Harrison said, "Your about to witness something so shocking that out of respect for those involved.....". For once, they didn't lie and the word "shocking" actually lived up to it's meaning as Jason breaks off the engagement and dumps Melissa on the show. Not only that but he tells her that he's still in love with Molly and would regret it for the rest of his life if he didn't try to get her back.

This was train wreck TV if I ever seen it. Clearly this whole thing was setup, and even though I don't really care about these peoples emotions since they are stupid enough to believe this this whole falling in love and getting engaged in a month thing really works. I can even say it was jackass move to do this on TV. Melissa is totally shocked, calls him a bastard, and storms off. I'm not sure why she gave him the ring back, because if that was me I would have pawned that sucker off for the 20k it's probably worth. Come on, you just got dumped on TV in front of millions of people, I think she at least deserved that out of the deal.

As the show goes on and they bring out Molly who has no idea about what happens. When he tells her that he dumped his fiancee and wants her back, the look on her face was priceless. It went from "You can't be serious...this is a joke right" to "This is the greatest day in my life...I love you even though you dumped me on TV 6 weeks ago". So, they make out and the live happily ever after.....until the break up in 3 months.

American Idol

They made a few changes this season which I think have all worked out pretty well. The biggest thing has been the addition of Kara Dioguardi. She's the new judge and it's nice that Idol decided to add some eye candy to the show. She is not drop dead gorgeous or anything, but she is cute in the, "That's the type of hot chick that I can pick up" kind of way. The fact that she doesn't appear to be out of your average guys league is really what makes her hot. That the fact that she's sitting next to the drugged out Paula on a nightly basis.

As for the contestants, this is a very weak group. It's pretty clear that the producers are pushing stories behind these performers (Dead wives, Single Moms, Blindness) rather than their actual ability. So far, my two favorite people on the show are Jorge and Anoop. These guys have more hair on their eyebrows than most people have on their head.

This guy Adam Lambert has been the early favorite, but there are a ton of pictures circulating the Internet of him making out with dudes, so I'm not sure he is going to win the hearts of America.

My pick: Lil Rounds



Hells Kitchen

Again...great show, terrible contestants. Could they really not find any better cooks than they did for this show. I know the fact that they suck is why the show is so funny, but to think that one of these people is actually going to run a restaurant at the Borgata is pretty scary.

Even though the mean British guy has been played on American Idol, Gordon Ramsey's hissy fits are still gold. He reminds me a lot of Jack Bauer on 24, except that he's allowed to cuss. I never get tired of him telling the contestants to "Piss off" at the end of every episode. Classic.

I'm finding myself cheer for "Danny". He's from the Daytona Beach area and even though he's kind of cocky and still living in the 80's with that hair cut, he seems to most competent of all of them.

Survivor/Amazing Race

It's pretty early in the season to make a judgement on these shows, but I was tickled pink when I found out the real "Ned Schneebly" from School of Rock was a contestant on Amazing Race and Eddie George's wife and former SWV singer, was going to be eating beans and rice on Survivor. C-List celebrities never do well in these things so I guess I'm pulling for them right now.

Time To Say Good-Bye To Tax Free Internet Sales

Even though I would like to think of myself as an Independent, anyone who reads this blog can probably tell I lean to the right. I am not a fan of raising taxes and according to Obama, he's going to repeal the Bush tax cuts to help reduce the deficit which is ridiculously high right now. Even though he'll want to blame that on George W. Bush (whom some of the blame certainly belongs), he can't forget he just signed a bill that nearly spent just under $1 trillion in new spending. Much of that money is being dolled out to the states and rightfully so. Unemployment and loss of sales revenue have really hurt the state budgets and many states like California and Florida would be in a heck of a lot of trouble if they didn't get aid.

Instead of getting the aid from the US government, I think it is finally time that Supreme Court and the US government allow states to collect sales tax on internet purchases. Everything is going to the web and last year it was estimated that online sales hit $204 billion. That was an 8% increase from last year and I have a tough time believing we'll ever see a drop in that statistic.

Just like many of you, I love not having to pay for sales tax for online purchases, but that is a tax that I'm willing to pay. Much more so than a raise in income tax which would go toward more national government spending that will probably be wasted. Nationalized health care sounds nice, but I don't think it's practical. The state of Hawaii tried to have Universal Childrens Coverage, but the program was such a flop it was discontinued after 7 months. I think people have way too much faith in our government running such programs. Social Security is a government run program that is a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. They continue to put it off year after year, and sooner or later the money is going to run out and millions of people are going to suffer because of it.

Back to the internet sales tax topic. What I would propose is a moderate 4.5% tax on purchases. I think that would be less than most state/county sales tax so consumers should still feel they are getting a deal. Based on last years sales, that would generate over $9 billion in revenue. It certainly wouldn't be easy to accomplish because tax codes vary from county to county, but it's worth exploring. I know it would only put a small dent into much of the budget issues across the country, but we have to start somewhere and I think this is a good place to find a new revenue stream.

Tattoos: You're Not Going To See Me With One Anytime Soon

I know a lot of people don't think about their future when they make decisions during their young and stupid days. There are definitely a hand full of situations in the past that I can look back and say "What the hell was I thinking!!", but most of those only came back to haunt me the next day, week or month. Tattoos are one thing that I never ventured into because I knew once I got it, I would be stuck with it forever.

The problem is people forget that just because it may look "cute" at 22 it probably is not going to be so attractive when you're 60? Sure that barbed wire arm band might be bad ass right now, but unfortunately there are not many old dudes with pythons that can pull that off. I would love to know what the retired granny's are going to say to their grand kids when they catch a glimpse of the ol' lower back "Tramp Stamp" tattoo.

When we were kids it made sense when grandpa would explain how Navy guys were on ships for months at a time, and decided to get anchor tattoos to fit in with the other sailors. How would one explain to Little Johnny about why you got a Dale Earnhardt tattoo? Because you were a "hardcore fan"??? Give me a break.

Take this rather large back tattoo for example. What would prompt a women to get such a thing? If you don't know what 1 Corinthians 13 is it's a biblical passage said at thousands of weddings a year that talks about the meaning of love. Lovely passage, but I'm just not sure about getting it tattooed on your lower back. Think for a second about when someone would actually be able to read this.... I can't speak for all the men out there, but that REALLY doesn't seem like the best time to be reading bible passages if you ask me.

Since we've moved to the Daytona Beach, I have found a number of people here to be a quite a bit less sophisticated than what we ran into in Sarasota (Nothing says classy like a Strip Club called "Biggins"). I can't remember seeing a tattoo parlor let alone 2 dozen of them within a 3 mile radius like we have here. If I had to put a number on it I would say 70% of people between age of 18-35 have some sort of tattoo or exotic piercing. There is "ink" everywhere you look. Heck, we even have a minister in our child birthing class with a huge cross tattooed on his leg. You know you are in the tattoo capital of the world when even the clergy are sporting tats.

I don't dislike people for having them and I do live with the belief that people should be able to do to their bodies what they want. I do wonder though what our society is going to look like when all these young tattoo clad people become old. Even though the granny at the top of the page is rather extreme, I think a number of people are going to look pretty silly.

Here is a You Tube clip on tattoos from a daily Czabecast that Steve Czaban did a couple days ago. He nails it and if you aren't familiar with him, you are missing the best sports talk host in America today.

Will this Stimulus really work? I have my doubts

Normally I don't agree with this guy but he wrote a pretty interesting column on this "Stimulus Package"

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/17/cafferty.stimulus/index.html


"The first is the Democrats promised to post the bill a full 48 hours before the vote was taken to allow members of the public to see what they were getting for their money. Both parties voted unanimously to do this ... and they lied."

I really don't understand how our Congress can pass a $790 billion spending package without the lawmakers being able read it first. That in its own right should be deemed illegal. I was really hoping once Obama took over we could see a more bipartisan-less pork political world. Clearly that is not going to happen. I know Obama has "reached out" and I give him some credit for that, but after his Republican Commerce Secretary stepped down it makes me think that his nomination was more of a gesture and political grandstanding, than it was the beginning of change in Washington. The fact that he pulled the Census out from under him because of pressure from minority groups tells me he doesn't even trust a Republican HE appointed.


"Far from being only about jobs, infrastructure and tax cuts as promised, the stimulus bill stimulates a bunch of other stuff as well. Eight billion dollars for high-speed rail lines, including a proposed line between Las Vegas and Los Angeles. This little bit of second story work wasn't even in the House version of the bill. It started in the Senate as a $2 billion project, and came out of the conference committee costing a whopping $8 billion. Gee, now who would that benefit? Oh yeah, the Senate majority leader is from Nevada."


Pelosi and Reid are exactly what is wrong with Washington. I loved it when (D) Heath Shuler (Former NFL QB Bust BTW) came out and said what need to be said. Unfortunately too many lawmakers are of one mind....Do what my party tells me to do.

"In order for us to get the confidence of America, it has to be done in a bipartisan way," Shuler said in Raleigh following an economic forum, according to the AP.
"We have to have everyone — Democrats and Republicans standing on the stage with the administration — saying, 'We got something done that was efficient, stimulative and timely.'"
Here's the kicker: "I truly feel that's where maybe House leadership and Senate leadership have really failed."
"In order for us to get the confidence of America, it has to be done in a bipartisan way," Shuler said in Raleigh following an economic forum, according to the AP.
"We have to have everyone — Democrats and Republicans standing on the stage with the administration — saying, 'We got something done that was efficient, stimulative and timely.'"
Here's the kicker: "I truly feel that's where maybe House leadership and Senate leadership have really failed."

Do people really think a $13 a week tax cut will stimulate anything? Does waiting until after 2010 to spend $100's of billions seem like stimulus? As much as I loathed the thought of bailing out the banks, we learned after the fact that if they didn't really have a choice because if they didn't life today would be much different. Maybe I'll be wrong again, but I have my doubts that spending this $800 billion is going to stimulate the economy enough to make much of dent. And let's not forget it sends us almost another trillion in debt.

My Day At Daytona

I'm a person who is always looking to experience new and different things, so when we moved to the East Coast of Florida, I knew I had to make it to the Daytona 500. I'm not a huge race fan, but the 500 is the one race a year I always made a effort to watch, and with the speedway only 15 minutes down the road I thought it would be worth checking out.

Here are some observations from my day in Daytona.

*I know it sounds cliche, but it is 100% true. You can not understand the speed of the cars until you see them first hand. It puts in perspective how amazing it is when these guys walk away from wrecks. After seeing this live, I'm amazed more guys haven't been killed on the track.

*The sound is deafening, so you're best to bring some ear protection. I was shocked at the yokels and even worse, their kids showing up at this event without anything covering their ears. Nothing says great parenting like ruining your kids ear drums.

*We rented this track scanner/mini TV called the Sprint Fan View. It cost $50 to rent and you can plug two headsets into it. Not only can you watch the race from different angles you get access to the radio broadcast and the drivers talking to their spotters and crew chief. It's definitely worth the money and their was nothing better than hearing Kyle Busch say "Tony (Stewart) must have just taken the lead because I see all the fans giving him the finger". Great stuff.

*NASCAR could be the best bang for your buck in all of sports. I say this because not only did I get my ticket to the "Super Bowl of Motor sports" for $55. You can bring bring your own cooler of drinks (including booze), and all the food you can stuff in a clear plastic bag. Parking and the shuttle to the track is free and fast. In fact, I'm shocked they don't charge $5 for parking. They would generate a ton of money and I can't imagine that anyone would stop coming to the race over such a small expense. I'm not complaining I just think it's bad business.

*If you like to people watch, this is a great place to go. It was "necks galore" on Sunday and they are always entertaining. I'm regretting that I didn't take more photos of the yokels because some of them were hilarious. Especially the woman weighing in at 3 bills showing plumbers crack. So sexy.

*I wasn't surprised that Dale Jr. was the favorite of the fans, but I was shocked at how universally HATED Kyle Busch was. I guess they hate him because he's good....kind of like they did Earnhardt Sr. when he was kicking ass and taking names in the 90's.

*Although the parking is free, it was pretty horrendous getting out of the lot. Since I live locally, I decided my time was better spent playing poker at the dog track across the street for a couple hours rather than sitting in bumper to bumper traffic. It worked out well for me as I nearly got my ticket paid for from my holdem winnings and the ride home was a breeze.

*Unfortunately the race got shortened by rain and I didn't even get to see an exciting final lap. Despite that, I would highly recommend people checking it out at least one time in their life.

The Video That Nearly Made Me Cry At The Gym

Unfortunately I can't imbed the actual video in here, but spend the minute or so and watch the video on the link below.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/29030653#29030653

I nearly lost it watching this on the elliptical machine at the gym this morning. In a time when all the news is doom and gloom, the economy sucks....blah blah blah....this really made me forget all that and focus on how amazing this kid with Downs Syndrome must have felt at the end of that game.

Good job NBC and the Today Show. You hit a Home Run with this one.

Give me a break Pelosi!

Bush was not a great president, but how this woman is still speaker of the house is ridiculous. She says dumb crap like this all the time. 500 Million people will lose their job every month? What?

Super Bowl Prediction

So here is the Super Bowl Prediction

Steelers 28 Cardinals 13

MVP- Troy Polomalu