Hitting the Links; 9/2/10

Since the posting on here has been embarrassingly infrequent, I am going to try to start up a number of running features to get myself going with the blog. The first one I will try to make a weekly thing, and it couldn't be simpler. Here are 10 links I have enjoyed, found funny, found interesting, or just want to share. Let's do this every Thursday, no?

1. Nyjer Morgan's HockeyFights.com profile

Did you know that Washington Nationals' centerfielder and noted crazy person Nyjer Morgan was actually a pretty good hockey player, who even played part of a season in major junior (proof here). That is the kind of information I'm here for.

This is topical, obviously, because Morgan added to that profile last night. Ironically, it was the second line brawl of his career, as the Skolney fight is listed as taking place at the same time as four others.

2. 1994 Stanley Cup Finals, Game 7

God. I. Love. Hulu.

With a pretty solid arsenal of classic games (although it could definitely afford to be expanded), and an outstanding lineup of games from the last few years, Hulu.com is actually a fairly underrated website for hockey fandom.

As for that particular game, New Yorkers will remember it fondly, but I love it for a couple of reasons. First of all, the early 90s/late80s might be my favorite era to watch, with the possible exception of the current one. The main reason for this, I think, is because I get to see guys I remember as old and a bit stiff, and see what they looked like. It is like seeing new players, except they are guys I know already. Messier from this game is a great example. He is flying, and was clearly a great player, except when I saw that I was surprised. I only knew him as the guy who was old and slow, playing for the Rangers in the 2000s. Turns out he was good, who knew?

The second reason this game is worth it is the pure level of talent here. Bure. Messier. Anderson. Leetch. There are HOFers everywhere. Brian Leetch, though, is the star. He is in every rush, but never gets beat in his own end. There is no one in the league like him now, and that is at a time when the young defensemen have rarely been better.

3. Hockey Curve Database

Probably only interesting to you if you play hockey, but hey, I play hockey, so it was interesting to me. That's all I got.

4. How to Win a Memorial Cup

This KILLED me. The one in front is Dale Mitchell, in back is Andrew Engelange, both are Leafs prospects.

5. Deadspin's Haters' Guide to the top 25

It is always hockey season in my mind, but today is really about the kickoff of College Football, so here are a few links to get you ready for that.

Speaking of having killed me, here is Deadspin writer/comedic genius Drew Magery's take on my home state, from the linked article:

"3. Boise State: America's Sweethearts, my ass. I'll be damned if I'm cheering from some dipshit team from the middle of Idaho. Let me ask you something: If everyone in Idaho died tomorrow, would you care? I mean, just DIED. A virus sweeps across the state and wipes out every last man, woman, and baby. Every Idahoan, dead in a puddle of their own shit and liquefied organs. Would you really give a crap? I say no. Oh, I'd turn on the news and say, "Oh, shit! All the Idaho people are dead. That sucks." Then I'd turn off the TV and eat a box of Teddy Grahams. I'd pretend to care in my mind, so that I wouldn't feel like the really shitty person that I am. But deep down? I wouldn't care. I wouldn't even care if I had relatives living there. If they were living in Idaho, they were probably relatives of mine that were all fucking weird and creepy and lived in a compound. Or they were insufferable outdoorsy assholes. Or they were rich fuckers who skied. Either way, Idaho is pointless."

As a''rich fucker who skis,' I agree. The whole thing is that funny.

6. Deadspin / SI Greatest Game Ever

More College Football from Deadspin, although this one is actually from Sports Illustrated, via Deadspin. It's a good read, and should get you ready for the CFB season.

7. 2007 Fiesta Bowl

My personal vote for the 'greatest game ever played. Bring it Hokies. (Also, could someone explain to me what the hell a Hokie is?)

In case that didn't get you fired up enough (yeah right), here are a few more to get you amped for Monday Night.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTGuEeLATV0

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jeron+johnson&aq=0

8. Chuck Klosterman BS Report

I had to include at least one BS Report in the inaugural links list, but none of this week's stuck out. This one is from about a month ago, but I really enjoyed it. Here is part 2.

9. Ottowa Gh0st 4

Dear YouTube, please stop shutting down his accounts. I recommend any of the Heatley stuff (Joe the ventriloquist is good).

10. Hard Knocks

Again, Hulu...what can you say. This time, it is what has to be my favorite show at the moment (and not by a little bit either). Hulu's only got episodes through the 2008 season, but it holds up well enough to be entertaining.

The State of the Original Nation

2010 is a precarious time to be a Boston Red Sox fan. For so long, the group defined by their likeness to the Chicago Cubs as the undyingly passionate clan that always seemed to come up short. This stigma/identity was driven home in 2003, the burden was lifted in 2004, and in 2007 we appeared to have a downright reversal. Two seasons later, the Sox have what fans wanted for 86 long years, but it has come with a sentimental price tag. Since, let’s be real, St. Patrick’s Day is less about Ireland than it is about Boston and, to a lesser extent, Chicago, there couldn’t be a better day to break down the state of the first team to have a Nation, and the only team deserving of the tag.

It may seem odd, to Pirates, Royals or Reds fans to describe Boston as a precarious place to follow baseball. After all, the Red Sox were one of eight teams to see post season action last season. They won two titles last decade. They sure as hell should contend this year. With that in mind, it is important to realize that I am not saying it is a bad time to be a Sox fan. Far from it. Their situation is better than at minimum better than 26 teams in the Major Leagues. It is a funny team to follow though.

Let’s start on the field. The Red Sox are good. There is even an argument to be made that they could be the favorite heading into 2010. One thing is certain, and that is that the Red Sox will not give up a lot of runs. Daisuke Matsuzaka was signed for ace money, but you would never want him to be an ace. A number 5, on the other hand? Yes please. The rotation of Beckett, Lester, Lackey, Buchholz and Matsuzaka is formidable to say the least, and almost unquestionably the best in the Majors. Behind them, you have a stellar defensive team, and a deep bullpen anchored by a shutdown closer. It is a team that is built to win a lot of baseball games.

It isn’t though, a team that is built to be fun to watch. A 3-1 pitchers duel is great. Once a week. Unfortunately, the 2010 Sox are built to win low scoring games, and that is pretty much that. At the plate, there really are only two or three guys that you might be excited to see, that being Victor Martinez, Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youklis. Manny’s gone. Bay’s gone. Papi isn’t gone, but he has reached the point where you almost wish he was, while you watch him flail, half a second late, at 95 MPH heat.

Really, what they are is good. It isn’t that they can’t score runs, they have decent hitting throughout the lineup, with guys who could crack at least the .280 mark at all nine spots, but they just don’t have anyone who you would pay to watch. It could be very effective, who knows. Between Ortiz, Martinez, Youkilis, Pedroia, Scutero/Lowrie, Beltre, Ellesbury, Cameron and Drew, there isn’t a bad bat in there, there just isn’t an exciting one either. Even if the Sox are winning this year, hell, even if they are putting up runs, it will be hard to call them a fun team to watch. There are far worse things that a team could be, but the fact is the Sox look a little bit boring at this point.

Then there are the off the field issues. It isn’t that the Red Sox are filled with bad guys, or that they are juicing in the club house, the things that usually make up the problems away from the diamond. The biggest issues that the Sox fans have this year have little or nothing to do with baseball. It is a question that haunts us every time we are confronted by an A’s, Giants or Mariners fan—Are the Red Sox becoming the Yankees?

There is the financial aspect. The Sox are a huge market team, not because Boston is a particularly large market, but the revenue pulled in by the Sox far outstrips most other teams in a sport with a cap that is softer than Ales Hemsky (my last 15 columns have been about hockey, I had to get one NHL joke in). That alone doesn’t make them the Yankees though. Compare payrolls, and there is still a long way to go. It isn’t just the monetary aspect though that has brought comparisons.

Is it assumed that they will put out the largest offer to the biggest free agents in a class? Are the Sox now the fan base that expects to win every year? Most importantly, are they the bandwagon team that everyone jumps behind once the Lakers, Cowboys and Penguins/Red Wings seasons are over?

The first question is essentially an on the field one, however tangentially, and has been answered twice already. First of all, I named 15 of 16 principles for the Red Sox already (the 16^th being the bullpen ace, Papelbon). Of those 16, 7 are home grown prospects, and 3 were acquired in a trade. That leaves just 6 free agent acquisitions that will play a role of the Sox, which is 3 less than the Yankees, and 3 less than the notorious huge market-bad-for-baseball-player grabbers the Seattle Mariners.

Also, I stand by my statement that not even the Red Sox can spend with New York. In fact, in 2009, the Cubs and the Mets spent more than the Sox, but to get really “inside baseball,” $201M > $122M. So that’s that (and if it isn’t, the difference is simple to explain. The Yankees can spend money on whoever they like, and if they don’t turn out to be an asset, it isn’t a problem. They can just move on. The Red Sox can throw around a lot of money, but they have to be pretty careful about who they spend it on.) 9 teams spent more than $100m last year, and the Sox weren’t even second. To suggest that they are catching the Yankees in this respect, or that it is a two team race, is frankly ridiculous.

The next two things have to do with the fans, a more troublesome, less simply reconciled faux pas of the new Red Sox nation. In 2003, Sox jerseys probably wouldn’t have outnumbered A’s jerseys in the Coliseum (bad example, they probably would have), but now, they are everywhere, making up the majority of fans almost all of the AL ballparks the Sox visit. The dirty little not-so-secret of Red Sox nation is this. The kid sitting behind you in a brand new Youkilis jersey at US Cellular Field probably would have been wearing a Jeter one ten years ago. Phrases like “B is for bandwagon” run rampant, and really, we have little defense.

If I am going to get into Red Sox fans, though, first I should address myself. I’m not from Boston. I root for the Sharks, Cowboys and Boise State. I get a whole lot of ‘wait, why are you a Red Sox fan,’ and subsequently have to explain myself, before I start explaining the scourge of bandwagon jumpers in Boston.

In 1999, I was an Oakland A’s fan, living in the Bay Area. In the summer of 2000, I left California for Sun Valley, Idaho. I tried to stay with the A’s, but without being near the team, they were pretty uninteresting. Since I started the season in Oakland in 2000, I was able to stay pretty interested for a pennant race, but I started to lose interest almost right after I moved. It didn’t help that 2000 was the first summer that I visited Boston and went to Fenway Park. It was the polar opposite of Oakland Coliseum. Whereas Oakland was overly large, without character, empty, and, frankly, dead, Fenway was small, quirky, packed and most of all, electric, and this when the A’s were a much better team than the Red Sox. I was completely enthralled by the place, and the seeds for change had been planted.

By the spring of 2001, I still claimed an A’s allegiance, but it was harder to actually be an A’s fan. Players were gone, and I just wasn’t as excited about the green and gold as I once was. Still, I stayed with the A’s for that season. For the regular season, though, I was, without knowing it, on the market. I followed Red Sox, Devil Rays, Giants and Cubs box scores, not openly shopping for a new team, but almost without realizing it, looking, because even as they were winning 103 games, Oakland failed to fully capture my attention.

Once the playoffs rolled around, I put the green and gold back on, though, since they were still technically my team, and once the playoffs were on, I could actually watch them, unlike the regular season. Ironically, it was then that the final seed for the switch to the Sox was planted. When Jeremy Giambi didn’t slide. You know the play, probably for the guy on the other end of it, Derek Jeter, who stupidly wandered way out of position, had no chance to make a play if the batter got hung up between second and third, and became the luckiest athlete in the history of sports when a cutoff throw was missed, and he flipped the ball desperately to Posada, happening to catch a slow runner who couldn’t be bothered to hit the dirt in a damn playoff game (that’s how I remember it, anyways).

The thing is, when that series was over (which was basically when Posada’s glove hit Giambi’s calf), I was pissed. But I wasn’t upset that the A’s had lost. I was upset the Yankees had won. My hate for the pinstripes BY FAR outweighed any allegiance at that time (that would change). I already had the latent appreciation and enct for the Red Sox from the trip the summer before. When the 2002 season rolled around, we visited my grandparents in Tampa, catching a spring training Sox-Rays game. I put on the Sox hat I had from the visit for that one, and metaphorically, I never took it off.

(WARNING- the next couple of paragraphs could get defensive)

Some would say that this violates sme sort of sports purity, or that it makes me bandwagon. I would argue that it is perfectly understandable. I was 10 years old when I ditched the A’s, I didn’t even live in Oakland anymore and on top of that, I had only become an A’s fan a few years earlier when we moved to Oakland from Dallas. On top of that, by the 2002 season, the players that I had come to like for Oakland were long gone. Giambi was a Yankee. Tejada was an Oriole. Hell, Ben Grieve was a Devil Ray (a way bigger loss than I can rationally explain). I just didn’t have any connections to the team by the time I switched, so I let go and never looked back.

The allegation that it was a bandwagon jump, or that don’t get the mentality of pre-2004 Sox Nation is ridiculous too. In 2001, the A’s won 102 games, the Red Sox won 82. I switched. In 2002, the Sox won 93, the A’s won 103, and I stayed. The Mariners won 116 in 2001, were on TV in Idaho and were there for the bandwagon jumping. The Yankees also appeared to be in a dynasty, and were the logical choice if I was looking for a bandwagon. Rather, I felt the pain of the Red Sox, in the form of Yankee hate, I loved the atmosphere, the tradition and the hope that they kept, and the Red Sox turned out to be a fit. As for the attitudinal part, I was driven to the Red Sox by the source of their angst, Yankee hate, and I joined the fray at the height of the “curse”/beaten down era. I didn’t have the baggage, but then again neither do most Sox fans my age. If you don’t believe that I get it, say the name “Aaron Boone” around me, and you will.

So a 900 word egocentric detour later, I have established my credentials to talk about Sox fans, and it is a good thing because it needs addressing.

Clearly the Sox have become the focal point for many a bandwagon. The fact is there isn’t really a way to combat this. It is time to move on. We aren’t going to be the cursed, passionate guys who can’t quite climb the mountain anymore, but why should we want to be?

It is a paradox that Sox fans have to live with. For years, the Red Sox wanted to be just another team. Now, they are. The ‘problem’ is that they are good at it. They have a ton of money. They are well run. They have a great organization. When normal teams are successful, bandwagon fans go away. Ironically, the only way to get rid of the guy who doesn’t know who El Guapo, Jim Rice or Carl Yaztrzemski or Mike Stanton were, only knows about Bill Buckner in passing, and likes the Sox because his mom’s second cousin went to college in Boston, is to stop winning. I think we should deal with the bandwagon jumpers. The tradeoff is worse, if you ask me. I can answer questions about being a Red Sox fan from Idaho that I didn’t have to in 2002 if it means we get to play until October every year.

And no, that doesn’t make us the Yankees. For better or worse, every kid growing up without a team for the last 80 years (without a soul, at any rate), jumped on the Yankee wagon. They passed that along to their kids. Outside of the Tri-State Area, where many a legit Yankee fan resides, Bandwagon Nation still belongs to the Yankees, and a few pink hats won’t change that. We are responsible for some pink hats, for the annoying trend of every fan base labeling themselves "X Nation" (speaking as a fan of Boise State, one of the worst offenders), and we are responsible for...never mind (I still can't come to terms with Fever Pitch). But we aren't the first team to swoon in popularity, and we won't be the last. The fact is, this is an era, and it is one we should enjoy. Bandwagon fans suck. It sucks not being able to retort the bandwagon nation jabs, but it will pass. Real fans, I leave you with this: I, for one, will see you on the other side of this bandwagon era, and we can talk about how great it was together.

Anyways, this is my makeshift Red Sox preview. Last year, I was a bit out on baseball. I was invested in the Sox, I watched plenty of games, and I followed the league much more closely than most. I just wasn’t as excited as I usually am. I’m not sure why. Maybe it was the Sox being boring. Maybe it was because I wasn’t playing for the first time since I was six years old (intramural softball doesn’t count—kids, never leave high school). Maybe it was every other story being about steroids. Maybe it was because the Yankees being good. Whatever the reason, it is being put aside. I am back this year. Boring or not, precarious or not, I am ready for 2010. Let’s hope I can stay this excited.

A Bull On and Off the Mound

I don’t care if Roger Clemens took steroids.  I really don’t.  There is no way that I will be throwing down $20 to buy the upcoming book (supposedly detailing his use), off of amazon.com, and I probably wouldn’t even bother to waste my time reading it if it were free.  I don’t care if there are pictures of Brian McNamee holding up a current newspaper, while injecting Clemens with steroids while A-Rod looks on.  I’m not saying the book wasn’t worth writing, or that no one should read it, I’m just not interested. 

Do I think that he took steroids?  Yes, and he should probably be charged with perjury for lying about it, which is an actual crime, where as taking steroids is a BS crime, like jay-walking or drinking alcohol when you are 20 years old.

There are a couple of reasons for my lack of interest in Clemens’s alleged drug use.  First of all, he is retired.  If it were Johan Santana or Zach Greinke who were alleged to have used steroids, I may give it a look, but only because there would be actual ramifications for Major League Baseball if that were to come to light.  In Clemens’s case, he is out of the game, and seems to have no intention to overstay his welcome and come back, so there is really nothing that can come of finding out if he juiced. 

There is one question that keeps coming up when discussing the supposed ramifications of finding steroid use amongst retired players:  will they get into the hall of fame?  Let me go ahead and answer this asinine question; YES!  For f***s sake yes.  I hate Clemens as much as the next guy (assuming the next guy finds Clemens to be a smug, semi-illiterate douche), but of course he deserves to be in the hall.  Even though he was a backstabbing whore, Clemens was the most dominating pitcher in baseball for almost 15 years.  On top of that, steroids were not banned for most of his playing career.  To keep him out, even if he is found guilty, is stupid.

The second reason that I don’t care is also another reason why he should be in the hall.  I am sick and tired of people making it out to seem like the guys who did it clean “back in the day” did what they did because they worked their tails off despite being given the same physical gifts as anyone else.  That is crap.  Nolan Ryan was great because he was born with a million dollar arm, and so was Clemens.  Cy Young never touched a weight in his life, probably never did any sort of plyometrics, drank booze and smoked cigs.  Same for the hitters he faced, for that matter.  Babe Ruth was fat (they also never faced an African-American or Dominican player).  I’m not saying that using steroids is right or fair, but we need to take a step back and look at what really makes a pitcher great before we say that today’s numbers are “tainted.”

(2 side notes on that subject, first of all, this is especially true for pitching.  Sure, training can get you to the next level, but anyone who has seen Rich Garces or Bartolo Colon knows that it is at least 95% “who was born with the best arm.”   Also, if I hear one more person say “pitching was stronger back then” I’m going to throw up.  The number of people playing baseball was less than half of what it is today, meaning there are more arms to choose from, and therefore you have to be better now than you did then to make it.  On top of that, people know twice as much about mechanics, strategy etc, and ten times as much about arm conditioning than they did in the 50’s and 60’s.  The splitty wasn’t invented until the 80s for Christ sake.  I could go on, but suffice to say today’s athletes are better than ever before in every sport.  I can’t believe this is even up for debate.)

Having gotten sufficiently carried away about all that, it is time to bring it back around.  If I am so unconcerned with this Clemens book, and his subsequent interview (which I heard in its entirety on Mike and Mike), why am I wasting 1800 words on him?  Is it just because I wanted to take the opportunity to call him a “semi-illiterate douche”?  Yes and no.  Yes, in that I definitely wanted to take that opportunity, and no in that there is another reason.

I don’t know if Clemens thinks that everyone who follows sports is dumb.  Maybe he does, or maybe Clemens is just a certifiable moron.  Either way, he said something that is a) incredibly stupid and b) borderline insulting when he was on ESPN Radio Tuesday morning. 

Sure, athletes are no strangers to slips of the tongue, but this is not Drew Gooden overcoming a lot of diversity, Mike Tyson fading into bolivian (B?olivian) or Manny Ramirez making his own destination.   What Clemens said made Allen Iverson’s rant on practice sound like a masters dissertation on psychology. 

Clemens was explaining why he never could have taken steroids.  His reason was a family history of heart disease.  Of course there is somewhere between a 100% and 100% chance that this line was fed to him by the PR firm which he freely admitted was the reason he was talking to the press, but it didn’t take Dr. Cal Lightman to tell that he may have been less than genuine.

What Clemens said was this: “our family has a history of heart conditions…my stepfather died of a heart attack.”

What?

Seriously?

One more time.

“our family has a history of heart conditions…my stepfather died of a heart attack.”

Ok, I’ll give Roger the benefit of the doubt here, and…(searching)…(trying to think of an angle)…(reading the quote a 15^th time)…yeah, screw that, there is no way I can give him the benefit of the doubt.  Also, who am I kidding, I have no desire to.  Really, it comes down to one of two things, and neither is kind to Clemens.

The first possibility is a little bit farfetched.  That is that Roger Clemens doesn’t believe in genetics.  Okay, maybe he believes in them, but he has an extremely limited understanding of how they work.  Sure, Clemens’s step father was the primary “father figure” in his life, but Roger would have to be pretty dumb to think that this somehow transferred his health issues down to the rocket.  Then again, Roger was dumb enough to think that it was a good idea to go on a nationally syndicated radio show in order to refute a book that had received basically no press, when he was hardly getting any attention because of the revelations about Manny and A-Rod, thereby making it the number one story in the news cycle, and reminding everyone that he is a pompous, arrogant… well I think I have made my point.

Alas, as amusing as it would be for Roger to be ignorant enough to actually believe that his step father had somehow transferred his heart condition, there is a much more logical explanation.  Roger has lived a life of what we will call bulls*** (although you can feel free to substitute the second half of that term in your head as you read this).  You are probably thinking to yourself, of course he has, we know that he took steroids, and he has been lying to us about that for years, but it goes deeper than that. 

In fact, bulls*** isn’t exactly the same thing as lying.  A Princeton professor summarized the difference by saying:

“It is impossible for someone to lie unless he thinks he knows the truth. Producing bulls*** requires no such conviction. A person who lies is thereby responding to the truth, and he is to that extent respectful of it. When an honest man speaks, he says only what he believes to be true; and for the liar, it is correspondingly indispensable that he considers his statements to be false. For the bulls***er, however, all these bets are off: he is neither on the side of the true nor on the side of the false. His eye is not on the facts at all, as the eyes of the honest man and of the liar are, except insofar as they may be pertinent to his interest in getting away with what he says. He does not care whether the things he says describe reality correctly. He just picks them out, or makes them up, to suit his purpose.”(Frankfurt, 1986)

(no joke, he even wrote a paper…here it is, I swear I’m not lying, or even…nah, that would be too easy)

Does this not sound like a perfect description of the last 10 years of Roger Clemens’s life?  He retired, only to come back and sign with another team not once, not twice, but three times.  Was Clemens lying?  Not really?  Was he telling the truth?  No.  The fact is, when he said he was retiring, he was just bulls***ing.  It wasn’t that he was deliberately not telling the truth when he said that he was gone; he was simply unconcerned with whether or not it was true.  I am convinced of this.  You can have a change of heart once, sure.  Twice, even.  But three times?  I, for one, am not buying it. (I, for one, am also aware that I use that phrase too much)

This is the saddest part about Roger Clemmens’s career.  The entire time that he was playing in the Majors, he could have cared less about the fans.  Obviously, I don’t know how he actually feels about the people that pay his salary, but almost everything that he has done suggests an utter disdain.  Clemens left Boston, and never looked back, signing with their most bitter rivals just a few years later.  After that, he retired, as a “Yankee,” only to weasel his way into an Astros uniform.  He couldn’t have been happier to play in front of the hometown fans, the only base that didn’t, on some level resent him, the only fan base that was really happy to have him, near his family no less, so when he came back out of retirement he... well, actually he signed with the Yankees because they offered more money. 

To Roger, telling fans that he was never involved in steroids was never a big deal.  It didn’t matter that it probably wasn’t true, because he didn’t have enough respect for his fans to feel as though he owed them the truth.

Saying that he had a family history of heart problems, when the examples he gave were either not related to him (the step father), or occurred after his alleged steroid use began (his brother, who, according to Clemens “had a heart attack in his 40s”), the fact that there was no way that this was a legitimate excuse never even occurred to Roger, and if it did, he probably dismissed it.  He wasn't lying, he just didn't care, and that is much worse.

It's Not Just You

Sitting around on a Monday night, halfheartedly watching Sportscenter after a phenomenal I saw something crawl across the bottom of my television set  that, to the average viewer would be relatively trivial.

MLB Brewers fire manager Ned Yost and name third base coach Dale Sveum as interim manager.

Sveum, that name seems familiar….

Where do I know that….

Wait a second, is that….

Good God.

Ladies and gentlemen, in the strongest nod to mediocrity since Sarah Palin was nominated to be the vice president of the United States, the worst third base coach in Boston Red Sox (nay, Major League) history, is now in charge of an actual baseball team.  In charge of one in a pennant race for that matter.

Ok, maybe mediocrity is the wrong word.  Sveum did capture the elusive third base coach triple crown in 2005.  He lead the league in RTOAP (Runners Thrown Out At the Plate), RTSBDS (Runners That Should’ve Scored But Didn’t) and HAGESF (Heart Attacks Given to Elderly Sox Fans).  I guess in the Brewers’ defense, they could have given Sveum a position he was worse suited to: Buss Driver (‘I know that the light is red, but I swear I can make it, screw it, I’ m going!’).

What did the people of Wisconsin do to deserve this?  And not just this, this entire year has been a disaster for the Cheese and Beer State (I know Wikipedia could have given me WI’s actual nickname, but that was more appropriate than the ‘Badger State’, although maybe more risqué than ‘America’s Dairyland’ as a nickname for the state that has a population of 5.6 million and is represented in the Senate by Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold.  Alaska is near Russia, nominate me for VP).  Forget the fact that you are in a pennant race.  Forget the fact that no team has fired an above .500 manager through 150 games since the Hoover administration. Forget even that the Brewers got rid of the manager that lead a mediocre pitching staff and a lineup featuring only one hitter over .280 to a tie for the wild card with two weeks left in the season.  The Brewers just hired a guy that any Sully, Mick or Murph could have tell you should be managing in A Ball.  So for Brewers fans, here is some definite proof-ish type stuff that the sports world has, indeed been turned upside down and you aren’t alone.

 _______________________________________________

Victor Zambrano threw a no hitter, at an Astros’ home game.  Despite being in a tight pennant race, the Astros agreed to play this game at Miller Park.  Apperently they don’t know how to use mapquest.

Aaron Rodgers is a better quarterback than Brett Favre, not in 2010, now.  Sure, it has only been two weeks, but you can put this debate to bed.  There are things that you can fake for a couple of weeks (a minor leaguer charging out to a .450 average after a call up etc), but the poise and ability that Rodgers has shown isn’t something that comes and goes.  The shocking part; I was right.  Not to say I told you so, everyone on ESPN and every other media outlet that thought the Packers were out of their minds and are now conveniently not mentioning their favoritism towards Favre, but… I F***ING TOLD YOU SO! (that felt good, moving on)

Matt Cassel is starting in the NFL.  Matt Leinart isn’t.  Two starting QBs went down in week one (Brodie Croyle and Vince Young), and every analyst agreed that their backups (Kerry Collins and Trent Green) were significant upgrades.  The best QB in the NFL went to a 1-AA school and he is one of seven (Romo, Warner, Jackson, Kitna, Flacco, O’Sullivan and Thigpen) that didn’t even play D1-A football.  There are 112 D-1 teams…how does this make sense?  Of the 10 best quarterbacks in the world, beyond the fact that two that theoretically weren’t good enough to start at Temple or Middle Tennessee St.,  one (Brady) is out for the year, one (Manning) is beginning to look like he peaked in 2006,one (Favre) spent 4 months of the offseason retired and one (Vick) is in jail for another 10 months.  Speaking of which, Marcus is going to go down as the well behaved Vick (old I know, but still funny).  This is how the best football league in the world is filling out the 32 highest profile jobs in sports?

I lost 6 fantasy points because DeSean Jackson dropped the ball too early as he celebrated into the end zone.  If I hadn’t won anyways, I may have put a hit out on Jackson.  Speeking of hits on fantasy NFL players, LT has 6 points in two weeks.  People are debating whether you can trade him for someone like Adrian Peterson.  Right now I might trade him for Darren Sproles… Norv Turner appears to agree.

I actually considered that some people from Wisconsin may still be upset given the second point that I made here.

 ____________________________________________________________

So if that doesn’t at least ease the pain Wisconsinites, don’t drink yourself into a Miller-induced stupor, or commit suicide by eating brats and cheese until you clog an artery, instead look on the bright side.  Your Brewers may not make the playoffs, but Rodgers looks miles ahead of Tavarius Jackson, the Badgers are poised to make a run at the Rose Bowl, if not the national championship, and if that doesn’t make you feel better at least Sveum isn’t your third base coach anymore.

Just A Thought

It’s the busiest time of the year on the sports calendar, so you would think finding a column out of this mess would be easy. There is certainly plenty going on, but when it comes down to it, nothing jumps out. Between the NFL Draft, MLB season, NBA and NHL Playoffs and everything else, you would think that there would be something that absolutely demands at least 1000 words, but nothing really jumps out. Take a look; the NBA and NHL playoffs haven’t developed a theme or even an intriguing story line (yet), the draft was sort of wild with all of the first round trades, but the class over all was pretty bland, and lets face it, April baseball is pretty damn boring. That isn’t to say that I don’t have any opinions I want to write, just nothing that I feel demands an entire column. So, since it is all that I have, here are a few random thoughts, opinions, facts, stats and downright lies that I have on my mind right now.

I’m not sure if this excites or scares the hell out of me. If pressed, I’m going with both.

Joe Pavelski is a gamer. So is Matt Carl. I wish I could say the same about Milan Michalek, but I’m not so convinced yet (an understatement).

I’m frustrated with Doug Wilson right now. On an unrelated note, let’s check out this Joe Thornton player card. Acquired: From Boston in exchange for Brad Stuart, Wayne Primeau and Marco Sturm. Back to Wilson...I actually calmed down for some reason, moving on...

Jeremy Roenick deserves to be on the first PP unit. Jeremy Roenick deserves to be on the first PP unit. Jeremy Roenick deserves to be on the first PP unit. Jeremy Roenick deserves to be on the first PP unit. Jeremy Roenick deserves to be on the first PP unit. Jeremy Roenick deserves to be on the first PP unit. Jeremy Roenick deserves to be on the first PP unit. Jeremy Roenick deserves to be on the first PP unit. Jeremy Roenick deserves to be on the first PP unit. Jeremy Roenick deserves to be on the first PP unit.

After typing that ten times, I’m starting to believe it, I’m 90% sure Ron Wilson did the same thing.

I’m just kidding, I hit ctrl+c, ctrl+v, and I still don’t believe it. It is the first intermission of game 2 and Cheechoo would have had 2 goals if he was playing with Marleau and Thornton.

Niklas Hagman is a (expletive) who cherry picks and flies the zone when the other team has pulled the goalie IN A FREAKING PLAYOFF GAME. It doesn’t get any lower. Congrats on the 2 goal game all-star.

Out of 7, 2 Sharks first round games were on national TV. Out of the first 4, only 2 of the second round are scheduled to be. I hate Versus more than I hate Al Qaeda. This may be its own column...

I tried, I really did, but I can’t hate on the Campbell trade. Yet.

Screw it, we blew 2-0 leads the last two years, I’m sure the Sharks are just trying to reverse the trend in a nice, symmetric style.

Contrary to the content of this blog over the past few weeks, I am capable of non-Sharks-related thoughts. (I’ll even prove it, besides I need to save some thoughts for the Thursday column)


The Rangers were done (for the series, not the game) as soon as the Pens came back from the 3-0 deficit, even if it took a 5-4 OT loss to drop game one.

Sidney Crosby is going to get better, and fast. Once he learns to keep his feet moving a little bit more, he is going to be unstoppable as he already skates through checks as well as anyone in the NHL. Once he learns to turn the corner and get to the net, he will be the best goal scorer in the NHL, as well as the best playmaker.

Read that sentence again, Rangers fans, and try not to quiver.

The Eastern Conference circa 2008 is no better than the NL circa 2007, I am convinced of it. The only way that an eastern team can win the cup is if the Western playoffs prove daunting enough that by the finals, the best team is completely worn down.
The best part about that theory is that it can never be proven wrong. No matter who wins the Cup, I will have been right.

I felt bad for Ovechkin, but really, I was just happy that the Philly-Washington game ended in time for the Sharks game to start on TV.


I don’t know, I just can’t get excited for the baseball season while the NBA and NHL Playoffs are going on. Call me in July.

Brandon Webb and Danny Haran are the best 1-2 punch in the Majors. Haran’s trade went largely ignored, but if Derek Jeter tells the media that he got an e-mail from A-rod but didn’t respond it is front page news. How am I supposed to believe that there is no east coast media bias?

Brad Wilkerson is hitting .189, Frank Thomas is hitting .164, Jason Botts has played 14 games in left field for the Rangers despite hitting .147, Barry Bonds can’t find work and this isn’t collusion. Yeah, ok.

The Rays just swept the Red Sox to move into a tie atop the east. I wrote it before, this isn’t a fluke, the Rays are for real.

I can’t decide who I’m more excited about, Tim Lincecum or Clay Buchholz.


I’ll shut up if it is just me (I am a Warriors fan, after all), but shouldn’t the Nuggets have thrown their last few games if they didn’t want to be in the playoffs? At least for the good of the NBA, I mean come on.

Note to Gilbert Arenas: just be quiet next time. (on second thought, don’t, for humor’s sake, keep talking)

Everyone seems to be taking sides on the wild MVP race, so I may as well throw my opinion out there. Wait, I watched about 5 NBA games this year, so I’m gonna go with Michael Jordan.

Isiah Thomas is being forced out of the Knicks organization right now. He better work out a severance package before his entire reign is remembered as an embarrassment.

I’m worried about Isiah, it is gonna be tough for him to get a job after failing so miserably in New York, but I’m even more worried about Bill Simmons. He isn’t going to have anything to write about.


The NFL Draft passed this weekend. It was as hyped as ever (naturally), but once it started there were only two players I could really get excited about.
If in 5 years, Matt Ryan is better than Glen Dorsey and Darren McFadden, I will sink all of my money into Home Depot stock (that is a bet, Mr. Blank).

The above statement has nothing to do with my rejection from Boston College, I swear.

The National Clever Sports Headline Writers Guild would like to thank Chris Long, Jake Long, the Miami Dolphins and the St. Louis Rams for their easiest day of work ever.

The NCSHWG? Really? Conan O’Brian read that and went “come on, that’s a streatch.”
I don’t care what anyone says, I like Pacman Jones.

If you have questions for Mel Keiper Jr. or Todd McShay in the next 4 months, please send them care of the Waikiki Sheraton, Honolulu, HI.


Going to Pizza Garden, coming back and writing a column while watching the Sharks game isn’t better than going to prom, but it isn’t $300 worse.

One last thing, an apology... Couples of Kent School, I am sorry for walking in on / third wheeling you guys, I really am, it’s just that I really wanted to watch that game.

A Giant Void, A Giant Step Forward

Heading down to spring training in Scottsdale, Arizona this spring, the San Francisco Giants are in a unique situation, and I’m not talking about the monster presence of free agent acquisition Aaron Rowand. There is a certain presence that, for the first time in 15 years, will be missing from the Giants camp, a presence that will leave a void in the organization for the entire season, the Giants 50^th by the bay.

There will be no Pedro Gomez this year, no swarms of reporters, both local and national, fighting desperately for any bit of information, even if the Willie Mays statue in front of AT&T Park has just as much to say. There will be no talk of records, or of history, and even if there is talk of steroids, the focus will be on baseball as a whole, not the suspicions regarding one man. Aaron Rowand will play left field. Benji Molina will bat cleanup. There will be no #25. There will be no Barry Bonds.

On the surface, this appears to be a loss for the Giants, and on a short term basis, it is difficult to look at it any other way. In his controversial but illustrious 22 year career, Barry Bonds has been called a lot of things. He has been called a liar, a cheater, selfish and a jerk. One thing that he was never accused of (reasonably, at any rate) was being a detriment to a baseball team.

As I have wrote before, on the field this argument is remarkably easy to make. Anyone with internet access could sight the awards; Bonds is a 7 time MVP, 14 time All-Star, 12 time Silver Slugger, he even has 8 gold gloves. They could list the statistics, a .298 career average, 2935 hits, 514 stolen bases; he also hit a few home runs. You could even make the case by listing only his records and be able to go on for a few minutes. He is the all time leader in home runs (career and single season), walks (career and single season), and he is the only player ever to go 500/500. Suffice to say that even in his 40s, Bonds was an adequate left fielder, a good middle of the order hitter and someone who, even when in a slump, created runs for the Giants by almost constantly getting on base (he lead the majors with a .480 obp last season at 42 years old). Some debate this with his diminishing abilities, but Barry’s contributions far outweigh any off-field distractions he may cause.

As his records, awards and stats show, any team would benefit from having Barry Bonds in their lineup. In the clubhouse Barry was becoming more of a leader for younger players like Barry Zito or Kevin Frandsen. The Barry Bonds of 2007 was much matured from the ego-inflated clubhouse disturbance that feuded with Jeff Kent during his San Francisco days and Andy Van Slyke in the Pittsburgh.

But for the Giants, Bonds’ contribution went beyond the playing field, well beyond the clubhouse. Barry Bonds has been the face of a franchise for fifteen years. He is, in all likelihood, the reason that the Giants still play in San Francisco. In short, the Giants were struggling to attract any attention, playing in dismal Candlestick Park and unable to garner interest from the city to build a new ballpark before Barry came along. Prior to bringing in the Bonds, the Giants were on the verge of a move to Tampa Bay (this and other elements of Bonds’ extremely intriguing life are masterfully chronicled in Jeff Pearlman’s “Love Me Hate Me; Barry Bonds and the Making of an Anti-Hero”). If Yankee Stadium is the “House that Ruth Built,” than AT&T Park is certainly “The House that Barry Built.” Now that Barry is gone, the Giants, lead by GM Brian Sabean, have a massive problem.

Rowand is a good player, in the prime of his career, and he will almost certainly match the production that the Giants saw from the left field position last year, if only because he will play more games than Bonds, but he will never replace what Bonds brought to the city and to the organization. This is in no way Rowand’s fault, the only free agent who could have even come close to representing the Giants as totally as Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, turned out not to be interested in leaving the city in which he can do no right.

The 2008 San Francisco Giants are, by and large, boring. Not only are they boring, they are old, the average age on the San Francisco roster is 33. While in his last few years with the Giants, with a dismal supporting cast, Bonds may not have helped the Giants win very often, he certainly served a purpose.

In 2007, the Giants ranked third in the majors in filling their ballpark. That number will in almost certainly plummet in 2008, and not because of a large alienated fan base for departed third baseman Pedro Feliz. It is impossible to imagine the Giants sinking to the verge of re-location as they were before signing Bonds. The Giants are as entrenched in San Francisco as The Fillmore, The Presidio or Golden Gate Park, but attracting the casual fan will be much more difficult, and forget about the scores of out-of-towners that came to see Barry over the past few years. The 2007 San Francisco Giants may have been largely a sideshow, but the 2008 version is in danger of becoming something much worse, irrelevant.

At this point, one could be excused for thinking that ties should never have been cut with Bonds. One may ask themselves why the Giants don’t simply bring Barry back. After all, Bonds is still a free agent who is looking to sign on with a major league team. While Bonds (through his agent) has expressed that he would prefer to sign as a designated hitter with an American League team, it is inconceivable that Barry would not return to the only town that has fully embraced him, and that he has made his home (especially if the price is right. It must be tempting for GM Brian Sabean, and as long as Bonds remains unsigned, there is a possibility that they could bring him in midseason should this team somehow find a way into the NL playoff race. In the end, though, through all of the reasons and temptations to the contrary, it is time for the Giants to part ways with Barry Bonds.

There are many reasons why the Giants need to start the post-Barry era, and the first is pretty simple. Even with Barry, hell, even with a 36 year old Barry, the 2008 Giants wouldn’t be a contender. Is it inconceivable that with a little bit of health and a little bit of luck, the Giants could sniff .500? No, but having lost two of their most productive hitters from a team that won just 71 games in 2007 (Pedro Feliz, who was second on the team with 20 HRs left for Philadelphia), being an average team is their absolute ceiling. Bonds may have been able to help this team reach that ceiling, but at this point in his career he is not about to push them over the ledge that would make them a contender.

And gone are the days when an average team could sneak through a weak NL West into the playoffs. Last year the D-Backs were a young team with a lot of talent. This year they are a year older and more experienced, meaning players like Young, Drew and Upton will be that much more effective. The addition of Danny Haran to Brandon Webb gives them the best 1-2 punch in baseball and makes them a legitimate World Series contender.

In Colorado, the Rockies stood pat on a team that was good enough to get annihilated by the Red Sox in the World Series. Joe Torre came west to the Dodgers, bringing Andruw Jones to a team with one of the strongest staffs in the league (Jason Schmidt could end up as their 4^th starter). The Padres would need steroid-era style resurgances from the likes of Jim Edmonds, Mark Prior and Trevor Hoffman and major production from players like Khalil Green and Kevin Kouzmanoff to have any chance, two things that they are unlikely to get, but overall they are probably a more complete team than San Francisco.

That means that going into the season, the highest that you could reasonably rank the Giants in the west is 4^th. So why spend $10 Million and turn your team into a tourist attraction to win 75 games instead of 65 (especially when to say that Bonds’ production will equal 10 wins is farfetched)?

The second reason is the most obvious, certainly the most publicized. With perjury charges hanging over his head, it is debatable whether Bonds will even be able to contribute in 2008. Bonds has played through distractions before, and well. These issues has been debated to death in all imaginable forums, but suffice to say that if signing Bonds is a risk, signing Bonds while he faces perjury charges is an extraordinary risk, say nothing of the distraction it could cause.

The third reason is simultaneously the hardest to accept and the most important. The Giants aren’t going anywhere with Barry, the franchise has centered around him, which has prevented its development. The attraction of having Bonds in the lineup has to end sooner or later. The bottom line is that it is time to move on for the Giants, and it is better to do it sooner rather than later.

So where does that leave the Giants? It is time to enter those two words that fans dread: rebuilding phase. Normally that is a process that is tedious, dragged out and unproductive. Ask any Royals, Rangers or Rays fan (if you can find one), rebuilding often means owners skimping on players and disregarding winning. But it doesn’t need to, especially not for a team with resources like the Giants.

Believe it or not, there is a core in place on this team. It is in their starting pitching. Barry Zito may not prove to be worth the $126 million the Giants gave him last year, but the other Barry still has ace potential, and he is only 29 years old. Much was made of his poor start last year, but less was said when he recovered to have a strong second half. Sure, 11-13 wasn’t exactly what the Giants were looking for, but much of that was due to poor run support.

Behind Zito, the Giants have three more young arms that are capable of keeping the Giants in a pennant race a few years down the line. Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Noah Lowry all project as number 1 or 2 starters and are just 23, 23 and 27, respectively. The first priority for the Giants’ front office should be to lock these three up long term. This may not make them a contender this year, or even next year, but it will ensure that they have one of the stronger rotations in the NL for the next 10 years if they can hold on to these three that long.

That should be the easy part for the Giants, fixing their problems in the field will be a little bit harder. The first step is obvious though, the Giants need to get younger. Guys like Dave Roberts (35), Ray Durham (36), Omar Visquel (40), Rich Aurilia (36) and Benji Molina (33, but a catcher with a much shorter “lifespan”) have been the fabric of this team for the last few years, and all of them have at least one more year in them, but they aren’t going to be a part of the Giants long term plans, and as with Barry, it is better to move on sooner rather than later.

It won’t be easy, especially with guys like Visquel, a possible hall of famer and Durham, who has been a part of the organization for a long time, but ties must be cut with these guys, because only through youth can the Giants rebuild.

2008 is going to be a year of transition, but 2009 should see the dawn of the new Giants. They can turn things over to young talent within the organization, but also build from the outside. Guys like Dan Ortmeier, Rajai Davis (who was actually the first piece in the rebuilding puzzle when he was acquired for Matt Morris at the deadline last year) and Kevin Frandsen will take over for Visquel, Roberts and Aurilia. Seventeen year old Angel Miguel Vilalona should make his MLB debut in the next few years, something the Giants are clearly excited about, having given him the largest amateur signing bonus in history.

Once they have figured out what they have in the system, it will be time to build. The A’s will almost certainly be shopping Rich Harden at deadline time, a guy that could give the Giants the best rotation in the league heading into ’09. As far as next winter goes, the Giants will need to sign at least one infielder that can come in and contribute right away. Keeping with the youth movement and finding a free agent will be tough, but Mark Ellis, Orlando Hudson and Cesar Izturis are three 2009 free agents to be that could be a good fit. The one thing that is certain is that the Giants will need to, at some point, be willing to pony up and attract at least one impact free agent (and I don’t mean the guys above). If that means trading Zito’s contract, so be it. This shouldn’t be a priority, though, unless it is critical for attracting free agents.

So what about 2008? The Giants will play their spring training schedule in Arizona, before heading up to San Francisco to take on the NL, just like any other year. But it won’t be like any other year, at least not any of the last 15 by the bay. Even with Rowand or Roberts out there, left field will seem empty. The cleanup spot will (with all do respect to Molina) seem anti-climactic. The beautiful ballpark by the bay may even at times seem empty, with a team that has no clear attraction for casual fans. 2008 will be a tough year for the Giants without Barry Bonds. But it will get better, and besides, it is time to move on.

OV Sports 2008 Way-To Short MLB Preview

Sure, you could pour over rosters, stats and scouting reports to get ready for the 2008 MLB Season. Sure, you could look for previews with previews with fancy extremities like “graphics,” “player profiles” and “actual research,” but it probably won’t get you any more prepared for the 2008 season than my makeshift 2008 season preview. Or maybe not. Either way, here it is, featuring all of the insight and analysis that I can think of off of the top of my head while sitting in class.

PART III- AL West

1. Los(T) Angeles Angels of Anaheim, California

The Angels helped themselves out this offseason by picking up Torii Hunter as a free agent. They overpaid for him, but Hunter was a blue chipper in this off-season’s shallow free-agent pool (he is a good hitter, but not a great one who has one of the best gloves in the game). Besides, there are no real consequences to overpaying Hunter. Moreno has plenty of money, what is it going to cripple their cap room? Only other interesting note out of So-Cal (AL) is that the Angels are going with a shortstop by committee. Maicer Izturis and Erick Aybar are each expected to play about 80 games to replace Orlando Cabrera. I know that isn’t that interesting, but there really isn’t that much to say about this team (hence the lame city joke).

2. Seattle Mariners

Ichiro and co. probably have the best squad to be trotted out in the Pacific Northwest since the 2002 team that reeled off 116 wins. The Mariners gave themselves one of the stronger tops of the rotation in the AL by adding Erick Bedard to Felix Hernandez. The back end remains a question mark, however. An unchanged batting order will look to build on the success that they had last year. If they are able to, with one of the strongest bullpens in the league, the Mariners should be able to contend once again out west.

3. Texas Rangers

I’m projecting the Rangers to move up in the standings (albeit from last to third) not because of their getting better, but because of the fire sale in Oakland. There still isn’t a whole lot to like about this team, but there are a few bright spots. Michael Young is capable of winning the AL batting title, he should be the best hitter in their lineup this year. Jared Saltalamacchia (props to myself for only missing that spelling by one letter without looking it up, I had “Saltalamachia”) is a good young catcher who should continue to develop into the .280/30/100 range. Also, Arlington area police should be on notice, as the Rangers have put together an outfield with the most criminal potential since Albert Bell retired by combining Josh Hamilton with Milton Bradley. It is to bad that Minnesota beat them to Delmon Young, he would have been a perfect fit.

4. Oakland A’s

Over the years the Athletics organization has shown a lot of confidence in their minor league system. They have avoided going after top tier free agents, or even resigning players the felt were asking for too much. The A’s have always been content to bring home grown players up to replace them, and for the most part they have had success. Billy Bean is bringing that confidence to a whole new level this year by letting a AAA team play the entire big league schedule. Eric Chavez can be excused for not recognizing most of his teammates, only Chavez, SS Bobby Crosby and 2B Mark Ellis remain from the batting order the A’s finished 2006 with. Clearly Bean didn’t think the 2007 A’s had a chance to contend if kept together. He traded them out of contention for the west this year by dumping Kotsay, Haren and Swisher, getting only one major leaguer in return (reliever Joey Devine who has pitched just 19.2 innings in his career). It is hard to imagine that Billy Bean doesn’t have a plan for this team with all of the prospects he has brought in, but 2008 is going to be a rough year in the 510.

OV Sports 2008 Way-To Short MLB Preview

Sure, you could pour over rosters, stats and scouting reports to get ready for the 2008 MLB Season. Sure, you could look for previews with previews with fancy extremities like “graphics,” “player profiles” and “actual research,” but it probably won’t get you any more prepared for the 2008 season than my makeshift 2008 season preview. Or maybe not. Either way, here it is, featuring all of the insight and analysis that I can think of off of the top of my head while sitting in class.

PART II- AL Central

1. Detroit Tigers

Cabrera, Renteria, Jones, and Willis. Add that to Ordonez, Sheffield, Polanco, Rodriguez, Granderson, Guillen, Inger, Verlander, Bonderman, Robertson and Rodgers, and you have your 2008 preseason favorite. The Tigers added three former all-stars and a career .280 hitter who has averaged 21 HRs a year for his career (Jones, who will likely bat in the 8 hole) to a team that won 88 games a year ago. Andrew Miller should be a top 2 pitcher in the Marlins rotation in a few years, but shipping him to Florida for Oakland's pride and Cabrera (he has 138 career homers, 2 silver sluggers and is a 4 time all star AND HE IS TWENTY FOUR YEARS OLD!!! I'll be lucky to be out of school by the time I'm 24! This isn't the NBA, either, he is 6 months older than the rookie of the year last year!) and I’m not saying that Indians fans should be sending the Marlins hate mail. But I understand if they are. 119 losses seems like a lot more than four seasons ago.

2. Cleveland Indians

6 of the 8 playoff teams from a year ago were ultimately content (or forced) to stand pat on their lineups from 2007. For no team is this more true than the Indians, who’s major acquisition this hot-stove season was...well...they really didn’t have any acquisitions. I guess the good news is that they didn’t lose any components from a playoff team. They probably won’t be able to hang with Detroit, but the Indians should compete for a wild card birth. Even if they do join the pennant race, the biggest story on the shores of Eerie this year will likely be the Indians struggle to re-sign ace CC Sabathia.

3. Chicago White Sox

Following a dismal season, the White Sox should be able to bounce back at least a little bit in ’08. Nick Swisher was an excellent pick up, Swisher is a great player and the White Sox got him for practically nothing. Frankly I’m shocked that it went as quietly as it did. Kudos to the White Sox front office for taking advantage of the A’s “EVERYTHING MUST GO!!!!” sale. Having said that, I feel like they could have done more (maybe make a run at Brandon Inge, who will see limited time with the acquisition of Cabrera by Detroit). They will need to if they want to become a contender once again.

4. Minnesota Twins

As recently as two years ago, the AL Central had four teams that could contend for the division title. This year, heading into spring training it looks to be a two horse race. Delmon Young is a good long term acquisition for the Twins, and Morneau and Mauer will still be anchoring the lineup, but the Twins lack secondary offensive production. The loss of Tori Hunter will hurt their run production. Unlike previous years, they don’t have the pitching to make up for any offensive shortcomings. They get Francisco Liriano back, but losing Matt Garza and Johan Santana will be more than the Twins can overcome. This team has 70 wins written all over them.

5. Kansas City Royals

This team is a long way from even sniffing .500. Rebuilding year number 24 is under way in Western Missouri. They don’t have pitching, and can really only expect to get production from two spots in their lineup, maybe not even that. The front office of this team either isn’t interested in winning or else just doesn’t get it. It is extremely difficult to find something nice to say about this team. The one positive is that they have two good young players in Mark Teahen and Alex Gordon. It is hard to get excited about this though. Both have yet to show production at the Major League level. Even if they do, they won’t be able to carry the Royals into contention alone, and it is impossible to imagine that this organization will be able to surround them with enough talent to be competitive. The Royals are the laughing stock of MLB, and there is no end in sight.

OV Sports 2008 Way-to-Short MLB Preview

Sure, you could pour over rosters, stats and scouting reports to get ready for the 2008 MLB Season. Sure, you could look for previews with previews with fancy extremities like “graphics,” “player profiles” and “actual research,” but it probably won’t get you any more prepared for the 2008 season than my makeshift 2008 season preview. Or maybe not. Either way, here it is, featuring all of the insight and analysis that I can think of off of the top of my head while sitting in class.

PART I- AL East

1. Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox are coming off of their first division title in 11 years, and there is no reason to believe that they can’t do it again, maybe even take a third championship in 5 years. You know, other than 110 years of history. They didn’t pull the trigger on any major deals, but the Red Sox kept their core together. Plus they added Sean Casey, who may not help the Red Sox much on the field, but the notorious nice guy will give Manny someone to go to soup kitchens with, although Casey will probably go to work.

2. New York Yankees

What a splash! The Yankees signed the biggest free agent of the offseason. Adding A-Rod to this lineup will make them an instant contender. Plus you have to consider shedding one of the most successful managers in baseball addition by subtraction. I guess 9 consecutive division titles just don’t get it done anymore. In other Yankee news, the Yankees are going to have Jaba Chamberlain start the season in the bullpen, but will look to move him to the rotation, because clearly it doesn’t make sense to keep him in one role for the entire season.

3. Tampa Bay Rays

In all seriousness, this team has built up an arsenal of prospects over the years. I think that this will be the year that they finally make the jump to contender. There is way too much talent on this roster for them not to become a winning team in the next few years. Although giving up Delmon Young may have been difficult (or maybe not considering his unpopularity and discipline issues), but adding Matt Garza to Jamie Shields and Scott Kazmir gives the Rays something they have never had before, a solid pitching staff. In any other division, the Rays have the talent to contend for the division title. More importantly, as Barry Bonds has shown us by pointing to the sky after HRs, God cares deeply about baseball. The Rays dropped the “Devil” from their names and renounced their satanic allegiance. Look for the omnipotent creator of the universe to reward the Rays with solid middle relief and consistent two out hitting.

4. Toronto Blue Jays

I refuse to recognize the Troy Glaus- Scott Rolen trade on the grounds that they are the exact same player. My question for JP Ricciardi is this; why bother? (Apparently it was to remind people that there is still a baseball team in Canada.) BJ Ryan is hoping to be ready in time for opening day. This is great news for the blue birds. Ryan will be great for their bullpen until he goes back on the DL in mid-June.

5. Baltimore Orioles

Any time you have the opportunity to trade a genuine ace, a legitimate Cy Young candidate who could lead the league in Ks for an unproven outfield prospect with a career .230 major league batting average, that’s a move that you have to make. Kudos though to the Orioles front office for dumping Miguel Tejada on the Astros the day before the Mitchell Report.

....Tomorrow, the AL Central

Defending the Indefensible

November 16, 2007- (Sigh)...here goes....I’m going to do the unthinkable, the impossible. I’m going to try to defend Barry Bonds. (Staring at a blank screen) Well...(the blinking curser is mocking me) this might be it. I have defended Barry for 10 years since the knock on him was that he wasn’t a nice guy, through steroids, BALCO and 756, but I don’t know anymore. After all this time, I may not be able to defend the home run king.

As a ballplayer it is easy. Steroids or not, Barry was the greatest talent, in any sport, that I have seen play in my lifetime. Bonds tops a list that includes greats like Gretzky, Jordan and Farve, the best of the best. On the field it is easy to defend him. I can use the same argument I always have. Even if he took steroids, Barry Lamar Bonds was able to hit more balls squarely than anyone I have ever seen. The man was simply a freak (and a force) of nature when it came to hitting a baseball. He could have hit a fraction of the homeruns that he did, and still have been a hall of famer.

It was more than that though; Barry could do whatever he wanted on a baseball field. Early in his career, Barry was criticized as a poor defensive player, all he did was improve his game and win eight gold gloves. People said he couldn’t come through when it matters, then he put the 2002 Giants on his back and carried them within a few outs of a championship. Barry Bonds should have gone down as the greatest player in any sport never to win a championship. But he won’t.

The end is not near for Barry. It is here. This is the last straw for number 25, and it isn’t right. It just is. I don’t know enough about the indictment (or the law in general) to tell you what it means. To myself (and I believe to most people), Barry is no more or less likely to have cheated or lied today as he was before this indictment. All I know is that the man I grew up watching swat baseballs into McCovey Cove faces thirty years in prison, and because of that, he has played his last baseball game. If there is a small upside it is that Barry’s last game was as a Giant. It wouldn’t have felt right watching Barry make a couple of last trips around the league as a DH for the A’s, Angles or, god forbid, Yankees. But this is a small consolation. Deep down, I think that any true baseball fan has to be disappointed by this. Nothing will change the fact that Barry Bonds is the all-time homerun leader, Barry has never been suspended, and never will be, for taking steroids. In the eyes of Major League Baseball, Barry will remain innocent, and yet even if he gets off, proven innocent, he will never be remembered that way.

On Thursday, November 15^th, 2007, Barry Bonds’ legacy lost a long fight and died. At this point, the best that Barry can hope for is to be remembered not as innocent, but as having “gotten off.” Speculation and mistrust have shrouded Bonds for too long for an innocent verdict to clear this anti-hero’s name. Then there is the other possibility. Conviction. As a Bonds fan, it is unimaginable, the home run king spending thirty years behind bars. This is not Ali evading Vietnam, or even Tyson being convicted in his prime, this is much bigger. While Ali and Tyson (or more recently Vick) found trouble away from the field, what Barry stands trial for is, in the eyes of the public at the very least, linked directly to baseball. While the official charges stem from obstructing justice by lying under oath, the significance of this accusation lies in steroids.

To the federal court system, Barry Bonds stands accused of lying to a grand jury, but to the American public, particularly baseball fans, he has been accused of something much worse, cheating. Few would openly admit it, but as far as his legacy is concerned, this is the worst crime an athlete can commit. Morally we would like to believe that this bothers us less than OJ’s murder case of Tyson’s rape case, or even Vick’s dogfighting case, and if you aren’t a fan, it probably does. But not if you have followed baseball for the last decade. While dog fighting rape and murder are horrible things that no one wishes to happen, knowing that these people participated in them doesn’t change what they have done on the field. That is not the case with steroids. Fans feel as though they are the victim. Our memories of what we have seen on the field are attacked. It is personal. I am not saying that shooting anabolic steroids is worse than rape or murder, or even that they are in the same ballpark, but no one can pretend that rape and murder don’t happen. Sports fans are often naive enough to think that the games we love are innocent. The surprise is what hurts. With few exceptions, we don’t know the athletes we root for off of the playing field, so knocks against their character are much less personal for us than something that tarnishes what we have seen. Again, none of this is right, it just is.

As a fan, I want to see Barry ruled innocent, I want to believe in 73 and 762. I want to remember standing for every Bonds at bat this summer, hoping to see 755, not caring about anything that the man at the plate had done outside of the walls of AT&T Park. The romantic in me feels differently though. Bonds is, if nothing else, a tragic figure. The man with all the talent in the world, but that rarely even seemed happy. The man that went through what may have been the most impressive baseball career ever, essentially alone. Barry will never ride off into the sunset, innocent. Maybe it is the most fitting end for such a sad story, Barry, alone, in a cell, unable to enjoy his accomplishments. I don’t want to see this. Deep down I am still a Barry Bonds fan and I will keep rooting for him. But I can’t defend him.