sports thoughts

"USA" An American Sports Fan's Cheer

2011-05-04T14:22:00.000-07:00

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E...A...G..L...E...S... EAGLES !!!

It's a chant I have heard in the oddest of places since moving to the Philadelphia area some eight years ago.

It is the marching cry of the Philadelphia Eagles, the cities NFL home team. I hear the cheer around the wood shop, outside my office in late October. I hear it in Jim's Cheese Steaks on South Street. I hear it during summer concerts, at the Camden river front, along the Delaware.

And, alas, I hear it in Citizens Bank Ball Park, during home games for the Philadelphia Phillies.

These “out of context” cheers, misplaced and peculiar, have always made me smile. Yes, crazy, emphatic, drunken sports fans entertain me! The passion and vigor that brings on an EAGLE cheer, shows that the setting for the cry makes no difference.

Sure, the correct placement for such a cheer is Lincoln Financial Field, or "The Link" as Eagles fans call their home. But any substitute host will do to announce a crazy loud-mouth fan’s allegiance.

In my experience, it happens most frequently with the Philadelphia Eagles, but it also happens in other cities, and in other sports too. I remember being at a Yankee game in the late nineties, and in-between innings they showed the Kentucky derby on the Jumbo-tron. The crowed went nuts watching the exciting race. I remember Yankee right fielder Paul O’Neil being locked into the Jumbo-Tron, watching the derby results. But the Kentucky derby and Major League Baseball have virtually no similarities. This “out of context” horse race was just as misplaced and lost on me then, as an Eagles chant at a Phillies game, is lost on me today.

So when I was at Citizens Bank Park on Sunday night May 1st 2011, I immediately thought the chants of: “USA… USA… USA”, were of a sporting related / out of context nature.

It happens all the time, is what I figured!

ESPN’s Sunday night baseball program held the rights to the marquee matchup of the Baseball weekend between the New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies. The final game of the three game set featured Cliff Lee for Philadelphia versus Chris Young for New York. The game represented the Mets last chance to salvage at least one game of the three game set.

The Old Man / TOM / Georgie / Old Man Geo / Geo The Lumber Jack / Pain In The Back Side/, first inquired about Phillies tickets on Thursday afternoon April 28th. I was on my way to a Yankee game that night, and was not too thrilled about the prospect of a Sunday night game, only three days later, especially since I was scheduled to be in New York over the weekend. Never the less, Georgie was hell bent on going, and so I humored him by looking up tickets on Stub-Hub. Lower level seating was economincal enough on Stub Hub for me to pull the trigger and order up two tickets.
TOM met me at my place in South Jersey around 5:30pm on Sunday, and by 5:50pm, we were entering the park.

The skies were overcast, the temperature had a slight chill, and the game was an offensive struggle. Neither team could get anything going with the bats. Fly ball after fly ball would carry to the warning track, before then falling into a fielders glove and go as a recorded out. 15 total fly ball outs had occurred before the 9th inning alone. Against typical occurrence, the South Philly evening air was simply not carrying the ball over the fence on this night. As the ninth inning approached, the game was deadlocked at 1-1. Ryan Howard had just tied the game with an RBI single.

It was just as the eighth inning was concluding, when suddenly, out of the blue, a small cluster of young fans seated several rows behind me, and along the right field line began an enormous cheer. A man keeping score in front of me began cheering too. He was wearing head phones and seemed to have just received some type of news. I assumed the news was sporting related, but I was a bit lost since the game I was at seemed to be the only live action in the world of sports at the moment. Raul Ibanez, engrossed in one of the worst slumps of his life, hand just grounded out to end the inning. So I knew the cheers had nothing to do with the Phillies.
Ryan Madson, the Phillies temporarily closer, came in to pitch the top of the ninth. At this point cries of “USA..USA..” were beginning to resonate behind me, and in the bleachers as well. Ryan Howard fielded a Jose Reyes ground ball at first base, and recorded the first out of the inning. Then fans all along the third base line, started going crazy! “USA … USA” was the proud mantra of the moment! Like so many times before in Philadelphia I figured it was some sports reference, which was just lost on me. TOM was trying to figure it out too. He asked me if there was a hockey game going on. I thought about it for a minute. And said no. I knew the Bruins were playing the Flyers, but series was idol, and still wouldn’t make sense. Next I jokingly said: “What are the Mets all Canadian?” It was around this time; I looked down and discovered several texts messages awaiting me on my phone. They confirmed what we all now know, and what half of the Citizens Bank Crowd had learned.
One of the world’s most evil and brutal tyrants had been brought to justice. A man personally responsible for the innocent murder of thousands of civilians had been killed. The “USA” chants were in joyous approval of the capture and execution of Osama Bin Landen.

What seemed to be misplaced “USA” cheers weren’t misplaced at all! With the entire world just a little more safe, the yin and the yang in balance, and a symbolic victory for our nation’s basic ideals, how could Met fans and Phillies fans not be united in our cries of “USA”.

I have never before discussed my politics on this blog. Since it’s creation in 2006, I have used it souly as an outlet for sports entertainment, opinions and commentary. I will continue that even today. My political opinions are extreme and often unbalanced. And so, I will continue to make a conscious effort to keep them from this site. However, that aside, one inning later, when they put the now famous fan on the Jumbo-Tron who was wearing the USA jersey, I got on my feet and began to cheer!

How fitting to be in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, the home of the Eagle, our national bird, when the USA had one of its finest moments in the never ending war on terror.

2011 MLB Player of The Year

2011-03-30T19:08:00.000-07:00

The Ryan Dugan Player Of The Year is selected based on a players previous career statistics, overall team performance, and his potential to repeat the same level of athleticism in 2011, as he has over the rest of his career. I have to pick a man who is not only a team player, but a team leader. The player who most directly affects his team’s successes as a result of his individual performance. As Bob Costas once said “Unlike other sports where a team can continually give the ball to their best player, baseball is different. Babe Ruth, the greatest individual ever to play the game, only came to the plate once every nine times. It’s the individual within the context of the team that makes the game great.”

In the history of modern games, baseball may be the greatest example of a team sport. This makes it very difficult for me to select just one person who not only rises above the rest, but concurrently, elevates his team.

Traditionally I begin my process of selecting this one player by first eliminating positions, and situational players. Starting pitchers are usually the first to be eliminated simply because they work only once every five days, and its difficult for such a player to have great day-to-day impact on a teams overall successes. In fact, on this, the 12th anniversary of the Player Of The Year, only four times has a pitcher won the distinction, and only twice has it been a starting pitcher.

This past February, I was influenced tremendously by MLB-TV’s “Top 100 Players In The Game Today”. The top 100 MLB-players were broken down into a television series, where analysts and MLB-TV personalities ranked the best in baseball going into the 2011 season. I enjoyed their countdown immensely and agreed with most of it. (Although I would have ranked some of the players in slightly different order.) I used their top three finalists as a starting point to select my Player of the Year. Their three finalist were: 1. Albert Pujols, 2. Roy Halladay, and 3. Joe Mauer, in that order. I too finalized my “Player of The Year” pick down to these same three players, asking myself, which of the three affects his team the most dramatically?

My answer, and my 2011 Ryan J. Dugan Player of The Year: Minnesota Twins Joe Mauer.

I have already projected the Philadelphia Phillies to win the NL East. And I believe their starting pitching is so good, they could win the division with or without Roy Halladay. The St Louis Cardinals are going to get tremendous contributions from Albert Pujols this season, as they always do. And I have still projected St Louis to finish a distant third with or without Albert Pujols.

But, if the Twins were to lose Joe Mauer for any extended period of time, the Twins would drastically fall out of the AL Central playoff pitcher. Joe Mauer is a text book example of what I look for in a player of the year. He most drastically affects his teams successes. His contributions both offensively and especially defensively are invaluable to Minnesota!

Mauer has a .327 lifetime batting average in seven seasons. He has finished in the top ten in MVP voting in four in those seven seasons, winning it in 2009. But Mauer’s most critical contributions can be found defensively. He is arguably the best catcher in baseball today. His management of the pitching staff, and his leadership contributions make him the best of the best.

Joe Mauer is my guy in 2011! The Ryan Dugan Player of The Year.

The Player Of The Year Alumni

2000 Marino Rivera New York Yankees
2001 Pedro Martinez Boston Red Sox
2002 Jason Giambi Oakland Athletics
2003 Albert Pujols St Louis Cardinals
2004 Ivan Rodriguez Florida Marlins
2005 Hideki Matsui New York Yankees
2006 Albert Pujols St Louis Cardinals
2007 Johan Santana Minnesota Twins
2008 Matt Holliday Colorado Rockies
2009 Albert Pujols St Louis Cardinals
2010 Marino Rivera New York Yankees
2011 Joe Mauer Minnesota Twins

Manny "The Ass Clown" Ramirez

2011-03-23T20:19:00.000-07:00

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Since the time that I was just a boy, my uncle G.T. has expressed a strong desire to some day plan a trip to Cooperstown New York. Once there, our destination would be the Baseball Hall of Fame. In the Hall of Fames main concourse, the plan would then be to scout out the plaque of former Yankee, and stolen base king Rickey Henderson. Then the plan would evolve into befouling his plaque in a urinary relief exercise. (He wants to piss on Rickey’s plaque in layman's terms.) I, for one, have never fully understood my uncle’s horrid despise for Rickey. I had yet to become a huge Yankee fan in the late 1980’s when Rickey was in New York. But I’m sure my uncle was never a fan of Rickey’s flamboyant ego during his playing days. I also know that Rickey’s Yankee years surround controversy over his health. Rickey had a reputation , weather true or not, of faking injuries from time to time. Whatever my uncle’s reasons, I’m sure they are valid and legit enough for him to plan this trip.

Personally, I am all for it!

Not because I want to befoul Rickey’s plaque too. But rather because I have my own Cooperstown agenda!

I recently proposed to my uncle, that if he were to go to Cooperstown and befoul Rickey’s plaque, I would, at the same time, find the plaque of Manny “The Ass-Clown” Ramirez, and befoul his simultaneously. Now this trip is at least a few years off. It is souly based on the assumption that Manny will make the Hall-of-Fame. Which based on his steroid controversy, may keep him out. (One can only pray!)

The Los Angeles Dodgers were truly blessed the day they finally ridded themselves of Manny! Ramirez the former power hitting Red Sox slugger has spent the last two seasons in self-proclaimed Manny-Wood, aka Los Angeles California. The Dodgers had finally seen enough of Manny’s shenanigans, and traded him to Chicago the end of last year. This past winter, Manny signed with Tampa, and I project that the Rays will cut him too before the 2011 season ends. Manny deliberately had himself ejected in his last game as a Dodger last season. He quit on the Boston Red Sox, he quit on the Dodgers, he barely showed up for the White Sox. (One homerun and two Ribs in 24 games.) Now he starts a new season of stupidity in Tampa. The difference is now, Manny is in the twilight of his career. His age requires him to tread water twice as fast as everyone else, just to stay afloat. Trouble is that everything in Manny’s life has come easy and natural to him. Now that he has to maintain health, physical endurance, and stamina, without the God-given gift of a 20-year-old body, he will quickly lose interest, and resort to toxic distractions. I half hope that Manny does make the Hall of Fame. Just so I have something that represents him that I can use as a urinal!

The San Diego Save

2011-02-27T20:50:00.000-08:00

Each year, when creating my crazy baseball prediction magazine, I have one recommendation of literature from the “Ryan J. Dugan Book Club”. Not that such a club really exists. It’s really just my chance to “book drop” in a feeble attempt to seem superiorly intellectual. I pretend to know how to read, and pretend to recommend books to others. But the truth is, very few people read in America any more, and the few that do, are not going to take any tips from me! But this year’s recommendation pertains directly to the San Diego Padres who perplex me when it comes to baseball’s final key ingredient: The Save.

I stumbled into a book signing at Borders about a year ago when author Fran Zimniuch spotted me checking out his book. He told me I have a striking resemblance to Shane Victorino and from there we engaged in a serious debate of baseball. The coversation centered around Fran’s book, Titled: Fireman- The Evolution of the Closer. I of course have an undying infatuation for my favorite closer/player, and in my opinion the best of all time: Mariano Rivera. Fran, although placing Rivera on the cover of his book, seemed to disagree quite passively. Fran was more interested in the origins of the closer role, and his personal friend, and favorite closer: Lee Smith. I bought his book, he signed me a copy, and now I’m recommending it to others. Imagine that!

But our closer conversation alas brings me to San Diego California, and to two Padres closers who have, in recent history that left me baffled. The first closer I have issue with would be the all time saves leader Trevor Hoffman. How can a guy with such little talent accumulate such astronomical save totals? (601 lifetime saves - the all time leader) Hoffman has never had a vital save in a big game, I.E. Playoffs or World Series. And in fact Hoffman usually choked in any playoff spots he found himself in. Hoffman threw an average fastball, and an above average changeup. Yet he is considered statistically the greatest closer in the history of baseball.

Thier second closer I have issue with, would be their present day closer Heath Bell. Bell was second in NL saves a year ago , behind only Brian Wilson. Bell was an over-weight, bullpen right-hander, who spent eight years in the Mets minor league system. Then in 2009 he exploded on the scene. First as the USA closer in the World Baseball Classic. Then Bell went on to a 42 save season. His pervious season high in saves: two. I just don't get it!

After reading Fran’s book, the reader receives a fine appreciation for how complex the save role is in baseball. And yet the Padres, from Hoffman to Bell, have made it look easy. They get top credit in save conversation. Truely amaizing!

Lets Execute Jeffery H. Loria

2011-02-19T13:43:00.000-08:00

Last year, I wrote of my absolute distaste and despise for Florida Marlins owner Jeffrey H. Loria. I referred to him as: “A criminal of the worst kind!”

In the last 365 days, the actions, and my view, of Jeffery Loria have only gotten worse! In my humble opinion Loria should be in prison sharing a cell with Bernie Madoff! Or maybe an even better idea would be to give Loria the death penalty!

Last Spring, I made the case that the Marlins have been receiving millions of dollars from Baseball’s luxury tax and other MLB resources, and using those funds as the only means to pay for players salaries. Meaning that the Marlins have been pocketing the millions of dollars from ticket sales, concessions, parking, and personal club advertising, while having MLB front their entire player payroll. Pocketing revenue without spending any on the team,or signing free agent players, means a continued state of mediocrity for the Marlins on-feild product.

Trouble was, I had no proof. I could only speculate, based on some simple math, that the Marlins ownership was scamming their fans. The Marlins budget books were closed to the public, and only Loria knew for sure.

Jeffrey Loria was crying poverty!

Loria has always talked about what a struggling small market team he has in south Florida, and how those other means of revenue, (tickets advertising, concessions and parking) are actually in the red, and losing him money.

Loria’s cries of poverty have been abruptly followed by threats to move the team. Las Vegas or San Antonio were always suggested suitors. Loria’s only solution to keep the team in Miami, while making them profitable, was to build a new stadium, completely funded by the state of Florida. (After all, Loria was in the red! His organization had no money to help build a new stadium!) Loria took his poverty cries to the politicians of Miami Dade county. Loria finally convinced the state of Florida that a new stadium deal had to be publically financed, (paid by the tax payers) and he convinced them without ever having to open up the Marlins books, and show them his budgets.

WOW!

Then in August of 2010, the web site Deadspin.com, leaked all of the Marlins dirty laundry! (And man was it ugly!!!)

According to Dead spin, the Florida Marlins books showed a profit margin of 49 million dollars from 2007 to 2008. During that time the Marlins collected 90 million dollars from MLB resources. The clearly documented news devastated fans and tax payers in a struggling financially stricken state of Florida.

But by late August 2010, when the books were leaked, Miami Dade county had already approved the new Stadium deal, and the new Marlins home was being built. The total estimated cost for the new park is 515 million. Loria and the Marlins will pay absolutely none of that sum. The Florida tax payer, will pay for all of it.

Jeffery Loria has lied to his own fans, the politicians of south Florida, and worse of all, the tax payers, both fans, and non-fans of Major League Baseball. The criminal acts of this New York Art dealer, ( who’s personal worth is close to a billion dollars) is truly horrid. The ignorance of the political system in Miami Dade County is also guilty.

But this is what happens when the American people trust the wealthiest one percent of its citizens to always do the right thing when they are given all power and control of the nation. They abuse their power, take what they want, while making themselves more money , and losing all control of morality.

I say kill Loria!

Former President George W. Bush always said he supported the death penalty only because killing some one is such a powerful action it can be used to deter others from committing the same crime. The idea of the death penalty is to show other criminals the grave consequences for their actions.

Anyone who is going to ruin my national pastime, rob it's ball park fans, and steel tax money from school children, old ladies, and the infrastructure of our nation deserves to die! And maybe if we kill Loria, the fat cats on Wall Street will be detered from commiting similar acts of greed, if the consequece is your own execution!

NFL - The Commerical Capital of the World

2011-01-16T22:41:00.000-08:00

You know what bothers me?

What gets in my chest cavity, and causes me so much fury that I want grab something heavy, and throw it through glass?

Let me tell you what infuriates me to unbelievable extremes.

What drives me absolutely bonkers is television commercial advertisements.

What bothers me even more then television commercial advertisements is their constant interruption when I am trying to watch a live sporting event.

No live sporting event is ravaged with more crude interruptions at the most inopportune times then that of the National Football League.

Just when a game is about to start, and the players begin to leave the side lines to take the field, inevitably, Jim Nantz, or Joe Buck, or Al Michaels or Mike Tirico say: “We will step aside for a moment, …your big game is up next.”

Just after the networks live coverage has: “stepped aside”, I am bombarded with nonsense and advertisements about cell phones, and cars, and lipitor and old lady cleaning supplies. All of which I have no interest in spending even a penny of my hard earned money on! Then, just after my disgust for all these sales angels reaches it’s apex, I get the particular networks television-programming lineup. “Watch our crappy comedy this Tuesday”. Or, “watch our detective drama this Thursday”. Or “tune in for our reality T.V. series Monday Night starting at 8:00pm”.

And of all these garbage shows, I am not going to watch a single one of them anyway. Why: because all these shows themselves will be loaded with more TV commercials about cell phones and cars and lipior and old lady cleaning supplies.

Freaking infuriating!

Then my announcer of the week says: “welcome back”. I watch one team kick the ball off to the other team, and as soon as a member of the kicking team tackles the receiver, I get the same vomit all over again. Jim Nantz, or Joe Buck, or Al Michaels or Mike Tirrico say: “We will step aside for a moment, 14:57 left in the first quarter.” Three seconds off the clock between commercial breaks!

More useless advertisements about T.V. shows, and American cars that I wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole.

Then the game comes back on, and two plays later, a member of the defensive line sprains his ankle, and cant get up off the turf.

What happens next?

Not a side line report, or a pre recorded interview segment with the games quarterback, or some commentary with interesting or inside camera shots of the stadium.

Nope instead we get an injury time-out, and another commercial break.

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The NFL will receive just over three billion dollars from their television contracts this season. (Approximately 650million from NBC, 620million from CBS, 713million from FOX, and 1.1billion from ESPN.) And the NFL caters to these networks in every way imaginable. They let the networks call the shots once the game has begun. And the Directors in the production trailers hold more authority over an NFL game, then any head official does on the field.

While researching this subject matter, I found the following segment from Wikipedia.com and pasted it directly into this blog. I found the information truly appalling!

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Commercial breaks
During each half of a network-televised game, there are ten prescribed commercial breaks following the official kickoff. Two are firmly scheduled, and eight others are worked in during breaks in the play.[25]
Pre-scheduled commercial breaks:
· The end of the first (or third) quarter
· The two-minute warning of the second (or fourth) quarter
Other instances used for commercial breaks (eight total required per half):
· A timeout called by either team
· Instant replay stoppage
· Game stoppage after a score
· Game stoppage after a kickoff or punt (excluding the opening kickoff of each half)
· Game stoppage after a turnover
· Injury timeout
Two commercial breaks during the typical 12-minute halftime period are considered separate.

Networks are more apt to front-load their commercials in the first and third quarters, to prevent an overrun in the second and fourth quarters respectively. If a team calls a timeout and the network decides to use it for a commercial break, a representative from the broadcast crew stationed on the sidelines wearing orange sleeves makes a crossing motion with his hands to alert the officials. The referee declares it a "two-minute timeout."

Once a broadcast has fulfilled the 8 "random" breaks, game stoppages are no longer needed for commercials. The orange sleeve will hold his hands down in a twirl motion to alert the officials. If a team calls a timeout, the referee will declare it a "30-second timeout." Once any timeout in a half is declared a 30-second timeout, all remaining timeouts will be of the same duration.

Since the 10 total commercial breaks for the second half are to be finished prior to the end of regulation, commercial breaks are rarely needed in overtime situations. In many cases, overtime periods are conducted without any commercials. This also allows the extended broadcast to finish in a timely manner.

(Wikipedia.com)
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It blew my mind to read the NFL’s network policy written so clearly in stone.

I knew as an avid football fan that the NFL and the networks were raking us all over the coals. But it wasnt until I did a goggle search, that I found out just how badly.

Since the average commercial break is 45 to 60 seconds in time, that’s over 30 minutes of commercials during a typical three-hour game.

But wait,there's more.

Just because a Network has front loaded its commercials and has met their required breaks, does not mean they will not try to fit in more if the game allows them to do so.

What the fan is left with is a feeling of wonderment. Questioning weather him/or her is watching an NFL football game or "the home shopping network".

This is obviously tolerated by fans most of all on Super Bowl Sunday. This is when most fans look forward to new, interesting, and funny advertisements debuting specifically for the big game. However, even then it leaves the specifics of the game watered down and diluted so badly that the athletes themselves are drastically affected.

Consider that fact that while the average football fan spends 45 to 60 seconds, ten times a half, frustrated in front of their T.V. set, the average player is doing the same thing while standing in a huddle. The fans and the players waiting for the sponsors to finishs their harrasment.

At least in baseball a commercial break in between innings does not impinge on the action of the game. (Not that its any less infuriating for a fan.) In baseball the teams have to change positions. One team has to either enter the dugout or exit it. And in the NBA and NHL their clocks are also stopped much less frequently for scheduled time outs then in the NFL. Their games just don’t allow the opportunities to stop the athletes and cut away from the action. (Not that they dont try!)

But that’s just not the case in the NFL. The NFL is about production before sport!

Football players frequently struggle to find a rhythm or pace, or a reason or rhyme to the constant stoppage of play, as a result of the random commercial. Now although these warriors of the gridiron are probably as frustrated as I am, you will never hear a single one of them complain. And why should they?

Standing around doing nothing is what is paying their million dollar salaries, maybe even more so then what they are doing in-between these moments of killing idol time while the commercials play out.

Michael Vick & Wild Card Weekend

2011-01-08T21:12:00.000-08:00

I’m putting all my chips on one man and one team. I am boldly projecting the Philadelphia Eagles to return to a place of familiarity.

I am projecting the Philadelphia Eagles to make the NFC Championship game for the sixth time in the last ten years.

The team I am backing is of course the Eagles, but that afore mentioned “one man”, is their starting quarterback:

Michael Vick.

It’s a bold pick. Largely because the Eagles will be required to beat the Green Bay Packers this Sunday in Philadelphia. (4:15pm on Fox) Then they will be required to go on the road and defeat either the Atlanta Falcons or the Chicago Bears. From here on out, each team, in each potential game will be favored on paper over the Eagles. But with only two more victories, what was to be a rebuilding season will then be viewed as a tremendous success.

But it all starts and ends with Michael Vick.

Vick’s remarkable turn around story has been highly publicized since his return to the NFL last season. Signing with Philadelphia prior to the 2009, 2010 season, Vick was brought into the Eagles organization as a backup to quarterback franchise icon, Donavan Mcnabb. Watching primarily from the sidelines, Vick, would on occasion run a play out of the Eagles wildcat offense. Then when Mcnabb was traded to Washington prior to the 2010, 2011 season, highly prized rookie Kevin Kolb was scheduled to take over for the Eagles. Vick was to continue his backup role, with the occasional action as a running back / quarterback trick master. But a concussion suffered by Kolb in week one created an opening and an opportunity for Vick.

Then on Monday night, 11/15/2010, Vick scored a remarkable six touchdowns. He threw four into the end zone, and ran two in himself. (333 passing yards / 80 rushing yards) He flat out embarrassed the Washington Redskins. Looking so good in his victory, his performance propelled him into the League’s MVP conversation with Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.

A month later on Sunday 12/19/2010, at New Giants Stadium, with just ten minutes left in the fourth quarter, Vick led his team back from a three touchdown deficit. First he threw a 65-yard pass to tight-end Brent Celek. Then he ran a 4-yard touchdown in himself right at the two-minute warning. Lastly, a 13-yard TD pass to Jeremy Maclin, tied the game. That touchdown came just 15 seconds later, after an onside kick. In the end, it was Vick and the Eagles with a stunning victory and a NFL East division title.

Since the massacre in the meadowlands, the Eagles have not won a game.

Losing their last two home games (two weeks ago to the Minnesota Vikings, and last Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys) Philadelphia has frequently looked lost and shaken. Many fans, commentators, and analysts are projecting an Eagle collapse. They are claiming that the top defenses of the NFL have caught on to Michael Vick, and have figured out his mobile antics out of the pocket. They clam that the league has developed new and improved ways to isolate Vick. They also claim that Vick is hurt, that the hits are taking their toll, and that he is both physically and mentally depleted.

Personally: I don’t buy any of it!

Vick has made a remarkable comeback this season both on the field and off. It was just over three years ago, in the autumn of 2007, that the media world couldn’t get enough of Michael Vick and for all the wrong reasons. Vick was leading the news, and headlining the papers. After his trial and subsequent conviction for financing a chain of illegal and underground dogfights, Vick spent close to two years in prison. The criminal blemish shattered his reputation and destroyed his football career in the mists of his prime.

But Vick came back.

First he won over Commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL. Next he won over Andy Reid and the Philadelphia Eagles. Then maybe most amazing of all, he has progressively begun winning over avid animal lovers in the Philadelphia area. (At least those who also double as Philadelphia Eagles fans.)

Bottom line- Vick has shown a dedication, determination, and most important of all, a resiliency over the last 18 weeks in the NFL. The playoffs, as they always do, bring out the very best of the very best in professional football. Michael Vick will be no different this Sunday in his first playoff game in over seven years.

The 2011 Winter Classic

2011-01-02T13:23:00.000-08:00

The 2011 Winter Classic

It’s the first major professional sporting event of the New Year. It’s a holiday tradition, now four year’s old. It’s when the NHL brings professional hockey out doors for just one day, and celebrates the games origins as well as its present season. This year’s venue was Heinz Field in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, and a match up of two Eastern Conference rivals: the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals. One of the great many highlights is to watch a baseball field or football stadium convert over to an NHL hockey rink. Legendary parks like Wrigley Field and Fenway Park have been used in recent years, but this year, a home game for one of the sports most legendary franchises took center stage.

The game time changed at the very last minute in an attempt to accommodate the bleak weather forecast. Originally scheduled as a 1:00pm game, the NHL’s brass changed the game to prime time. 8:00pm on NBC was the new scheduled start, in hope that the precipitation would move out of the Pittsburgh area.

The backup plan would not pan out.

Mario Lemieux Franco Harris and Jerome Bettis (all three beloved Pittsburgh sports heroes’) dropped the first puck to begin the Classic’s Opening Ceremonies. After both Canada’s and America’s National Anthems were sung; the game was finally upon us.

The very first observation from Pittsburgh was the 46-degree temperatures that created very wet ice conditions. Then just minutes into the first period a stop in play occurred to repair a damaged glass panel above the wall. Then questions about the outdoor nighttime lighting were raised by the NBC announce crew. (Doc Emerick and Eddie Olczyk.) Then the rain started to pour down onto the ice. After five minutes of play, the nature of the outdoor event was still a bigger story then any of the action between the two-rivaled teams.

As the first period ended, neither team had scored, and after 28 shots on goal (Penguins 16 / Capitals 12) the Winter Classic was locked in a 0-0 no score. In fact the only real excitement in the first period at all, was an old fashion hockey brawl between Washington’s John Erskine and Pittsburgh’s Michael Rupp. The two men threw down their gloves and exchanged a furious cluster of blows before being separated. The fight would cost each player five minutes in the penalty box.

At 2:13 in the second period, an Evgeni Malkin break away, lead to his 14th goal of the season, and the first of the Winter Classic. The city of Pittsburgh went wild as the home team took the 1-0 lead.

Less then five minutes later, Washington responded with a goal of their own. On a Washington power play, Mike Knuble with a cluster of Capitals teammates in front of the Pittsburgh net, scored to tie the game at 1-1. Nick Backstro, and Mike Green, both had assists, as the wet cold Pittsburgh crowd became quite fast.

Then with just 5:15 left in the second, Penguin goalie Mark Andre Fleury was trying to clear the zone just behind his net. His attempt failed as the puck ricocheted to Washington right-winger Eric Fehr. Fehr’s snap shot, lead to his sixth goal of the year and gave Washington a 2-1 lead. Washington has 16 shots on goal while Pittsburgh had just 8, in the second period and the Capitals were beginning to pull away.

The third period was as offensively uneventful as the first period, with only one exception. That exception was Eric Fehr’s second goal of the game at 7:28 in the third.
With wind and intense rain, the ice began to puddle. And other then a very physical second half of the third period, no points were scored.

The fourth annual Winter Classic came to an end with the road team stealing away the victory. The Washington Capitals were the better team on New Years Day. But these two teams are very evenly matched. Both are elite of their Divisions, both have marquee players/captains, and both could see each other again in the post season.

Speculation regarding the 2012 Winter Classic has already begun. Every city in the U.S. and Canada want in on the NHL’s gem and prized possession. Rumored cities include: Denver, New York, Philadelphia, and Minnesota. Who ever gets the game one year from now, will get hockey’s most exciting, most publicized spectacle on the very first day of the new year.

Tim Lincecum

2010-09-09T23:20:00.001-07:00

-
I think I am clinically depressed.

And no, it’s not because the words don’t flow into this Sports Blog as effectively, or more important, as frequently as I would like. It's because the season I love more then life itself is all but over.

The 2010 summer has passed us by!

Sure it doesn’t officially end until September 21st. But truth be told, you can stick a fork in it! The last grilled hot dog has been consumed, the final firework observed. The brutal humidity that is almost too much to handle, has casually vanished, and it’s dark by 8:00pm again.

One of the very few things that bring me comfort this time of the year, is to look back and reflect on the season that has just past. Certainly one of my top 10 moments of the summer was my trip to Anaheim for the 2010 MLB All-star game.

It was there that I had an autograph experience for the ages.

---

I had all but given up on receiving any autographs in Angels Stadium.

The Old Man and I have been buyer’s, hunters, and collectors of autograph baseball memorbilia for almost twenty years now. We had received some very good autographs the day before at the All-star Fan Fest at the Anaheim Convention Center. (Autographs from Fan Fest included: Bob Feller, and Rollie Fingers) Coming into Tuesday, we were hungry for more. However the pageantry that was the All-star game provided no such opportunity for the fans to mingle with players and acquire personalized memorabilia in an All-star experience.

The players did arrive by way of red carpet before the game. Yet only four, of the some forty players and coaches, stopped to sign anything for any of the fans. They were: Robinson Cano, Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Bruan, and Andre Either. (Cano and A-Rod only signed for about a half dozen fans.) Restricted to our seats in the upper deck, TOM and I had no player access during batting practice. It didn’t matter much anyway; none of the players were larking anywhere near the stands.

The game was a fantastic display of Major Leagues Baseball’s very best efforts to produce a ball game. The pre-game ceremonies, the lineups and introductions were all fantastic to watch in person. The game was...well, a microcosm of the “year of the pitcher”. No real offense was to be found anywhere, as power pitching ruled the day. As the 81st annual All-star game ended with a 3-1 National League victory, it was Brian McCann’s two run double that proved to be the difference.

When the game was over, TOM and I found more of the same with regards to player access. Police and security had made fan contact to the players virtually impossible. Plus the players had other obligations. Travel arrangements, meeting with family, and post game logistics were all high priorities. Autographs and fan friendliness was indeed on the very back burner.

The Old Man and I departed from our seats in the upper deck. As we exited the Stadium, we had made the decision to make one final walk around the outside of Angels Stadium. Our objective was to let the crowd clear out, and to avoid traffic. Plus we were still soaking in this once in a lifetime baseball experience.

We made our way around the stadium to the right center field exterior, where the Angels player’s parking lot is located. It was there that we witnessed first hand the madness surrounding the players exit. Fans of all shapes and sizes were present. A fan represented every team. Every jersey from every team could be seen from the well over 1000 fans waiting at the player’s lot. The Old Man and I had just sort of stumbled into the madness. Surround by bodies, screaming, and general disarray, I had seen enough and had turned 180 degrees around. The Old Man didn’t object to my change in course setting. If we were going to continue walking the Stadiums perimeter, we were going to have to bypass the crowd, and the barricades.

We began walking around this temporary alunimum mesh fence that was set up as an extension of the VIP parking lot. The fence’s entrance and exit were the only interest to the fans trying to catch a glimpse of each player. As soon as TOM and I moved toward the far end of the fence, the crowd thinned out immediately.

As we approached the far end of the fence, emerging in the darkness was what looked like a batboy signing autographs from within the fence.

I couldn’t see real well.

The darkness was strong, as we were well removed from the lights of the stadium. The parking lot had its share of street lamps, but for whatever reason, the area TOM and I found ourselves in, with this batboy kid, was very dark. Still, a small group of fans were swarming to the fence to get an autograph.

This skinny rail of a young man, looked like he was no older then 13-years-old, and was maybe 115 pounds soaking wet. He was not standing next to an insanely pimped out sports car. He wasn’t wearing a designer suit. He had no gold Jesus chain, or diamond ear rings. He didn’t have on a giant expensive set of headphones. There was no entourage with him. No crew of girlfriends. No wife and children.

These are all things I look to observe as a ball player comes and goes from the ballpark. This kid had none of those things.

He wore a pair of tight dark jeans and light gray sweatshirt with the hood covering his head. He had a burlap bag hanging off his shoulder and at his side. Standing right next to the fence, with just a single security guard, this young-man was taking baseballs from fans, and signing his name to them.

I thought to myself: “This is some kind of joke. There is no way this is an MLB All-star.”

As we got closer the crowd started to dissipate.

This was when I heard a fan who had just left the fence turn and say:

“Thanks for the Autograph Tim… Go Dodgers in the second half!”

His quote was met with a series of boos from the small crowd. Siding with Tim the crowd did not appreciate the fan’s snub.

I quickly asked another fan standing near the fence: “Who is that?”

The fan confirmed what I already knew.

It was San Francisco Giant All-Star Tim Lincecum.

I acted with lighting fast speed and pinpoint accuracy, pulling a baseball from one of the lower pockets of my cargo shorts. It was finding the proper pen that had stalled me. I began to panic as I saw Tim finishing up with the last fan at the fence.

As I have seen a million times before, a player will dictate the terms of his voluntary niceties at his own playful whim. If he decides he is all done signing autographs and you’re a seven-year-old kid crying your eyes out cause you didn’t get an autograph, well then too bad for you. If I was going to get a Tim Lincecum autograph, I need to work quickly before he decided to stop signing and walked away from the fence.

Finally, I was able to retrieve a Sharpe from my pocket. I handed Tim the baseball with perfect symmetry from the pervious fans exchange to mine. I could tell right away that Tim was different. He wasn’t signing autographs out of some imposed dutiful obligation. He wasn’t righteous or egotistical. He was signing autographs and talking to fans, because he wanted to. He was there because he wanted to be there, and because a rapport with the fans was important to him. He was so down to earth; I didn’t know what to make of it!

“Thanks a lot Tim! I’m a big fan.” I said, as he was busy touching my Sharpe to my baseball.

“You bet.” He replied.

“Can you sign one more for my dad?” I asked him.

Tom was struggling with the same issues I was, in trying to get his balls together in a very impromptu situation.

He gave me back my baseball and took the one from the Old Man.

“Were you eligible to pitch tonight Tim?” I asked him. I figured why not strike up a conversation with San Francisco’s pitching ace. After all, it was just Tom, Tim, a random security guard, and I clustered around the fence.

“Yeah I was. I just didn’t get called on. Wasn’t my decision… wasn’t my call.”

Was his reply.

“Well thanks again for the autograph. It’s really generous of you. And good luck in the second half. I really like your team to win the division."

As if I had to tell Tim!

It was so surreal! There's always this disconnect between my writings, my predictions, my conversations with friends and family. I talk about this stuff like I know something, but have no real contact with it at all. Yet here I was telling this baseball player, living and breathing right in front of me, that I liked his team on paper. Those closest to him, those that he calls teammates,… I like their numbers. I like them to collectively do great things.

Really…as if I had to tell Tim!

Just then, the Old Man replied. “Yeah he has you on his fantasy team.”

I was a flat out lie. but that’s just Tom. His comment annoyed me, and Tim could tell that I didn’t have him on my fantasy team. I could tell just by Tim's reaction to the expression on my face. To his credit, he just smiled and nodded.

“Well good luck to you Tim, and thanks again!” I said, as Tom and I began to walk away.

I wanted to say so much more! Suddenly I wanted to be Michael Kay. I wanted to be sitting in a YES studio in a comfortable chair, quizzing Tim Lincecum for a Center Stage interview.

I wanted to ask him so much more!

“Talk to me about growing up with your father teaching you pitching mechanics?”

“Tell me about your nick name the Freak. Do you even like it?”

“Where do you see yourself within the game within the next five years?”

All these questions eluded me while back in reality. I was stuck frozen in the moment. Trapped by my insecurities and struggling to reach out and push myself, I let the moment pass. Maybe it was the spontaneity of the whole scene. Maybe it was my struggle to still believe this was Tim Lincecum. (Based on my description, I would imagine you could see my struggle.) It was while all this was going on in my brain damaged mind, that I turned around and began walking back toward the fence.

“Hey Tim?” I called out.

“Do you mind if I get at picture?”

“Of course not.” He said, as he smiled for the camera.

“Thanks Tim… to be honest, I’m still a little star struck.”

I thanked him yet another time, before finally turning around to catch up with Tom.

The rest of the night was spent having Tom reassure me that it was indeed Tim Lincecum.

We looked at our signatures over and over. I looked up photos of his autograph on- line. And of course I looked back at his picture on my camera over and over again.

I will let you be the judge, as my photo of Tim concudes this Blog, and my baseball story from Anaheim California at the mid summer classic.

It was the last time I was truly happy!

First Pitch 2010

2010-04-11T19:27:00.000-07:00

2010 Texas Rangers

Special points of interest:

· Key Fantasy Player: Michael Young

Three Keys to Victory:

*Young Strong Pitching Rotation
*Josh Hamilton
*Building on the success of 2009

· The X-Factor: Josh Hamilton

· Over Rated: Nelson Cruz

· Seasons End: A first place finish in the AL West followed by a quick elmination from the playoffs. Another year to build on for Nolan & The Rangers.

1. Ian Kinsler 2B
2. Michael Young 3B
3. Josh Hamilton CF
4. Nelson Cruz RF
5. Vladimir Guerrero DH
6. Jarrod Saltalamacch C
7. Chris Davis 1B
8. Julio Borbon CF
9. Elvis Andrus SS

SP) Scott Feldman RH
SP) Rich Harden RH
SP) Colby Lewis RH
SP) Derek Holland LH
SP) Brandon McCarthy RH

RP) C.J. Wilson LH
RP) Frank Francisco RH

Nolan Ryan / Chuck Greenberg
A group headed by club president Nolan Ryan and Pittsburgh attorney Chuck Greenberg are in the final stages of purchasing the controlling interests of the Rangers from owner Tom Hicks.
An official announcement was made by Hicks Sports Group several months ago. The final transaction is expected to be in excess of $500 million. The agreement is still subject to approval by Bud The Used Car Salesman. There is also still some financing on the part of Nolan and Chuck that needs to be completed.

But the when completed, the deal will mark a historic day in MLB. Never before as a former player, the caliber of Nolan Ryan, become an owner of a Major League Baseball franchise. More former players are sure to follow. Perhaps even my boy friend Derek Jeter.

2010 West Pick
I’m sure there will be plenty of skeptics who will disagree with my picking the Rangers to win the AL West in 2010.

However, is it really that crazy a pick?

Last season the Rangers finished three wins from hitting the magic 90 wins mark. A record they haven't achieved since 1999. They were just ten games behind the LA Angels, and I believe if the injury bug hadn't hit the Rangers so hard last season, they would have been a lot closer then 10 games. Texas lost their center fielder, catcher and closer for significant stints a year ago.

Now, with a fresh start, some new faces, and a winning year in 2009 under their belts, the Rangers are sure to be in a place to win the Division this year.

MLB First Pitch 2010

2010-04-11T19:16:00.000-07:00

2010 Detroit Tigers

Special points of interest:

· Key Fantasy Player: Justin Verlander

· Three Keys to Victory:

*Rookies To Gel
*Bonderman to Bounce Back
*Ordonez Renaissance

· The X-Factor: Austin Jackson

· Over Rated: Brandon Inge

· Seasons End: AL Central Champions

1. Johnny Damon LF
2. Scott Sizemore 2B
3. Miguel Cabrera 1B
4. Magglio Ordonez RF
5. Carlos Guillen LF
6. Austin Jackson CF
7. Brandon Inge 3B
8. Gerald Laird C
9. Adam Everett SS

SP) Justin Verlander RH
SP) Rick Porcello RH
SP) Jeremy Bonderman RH

SP) Nate Robertson RH
SP) Armando Galarraga RH

RP) Jose Valverde RH
RP) Joel Zumaya RH

Key Departures
One of the things I love to do over the long and painful baseball-less winter is to watch as much MLB-TV as I possibly can. The content is not always great. Very little new news is reported. Much of the programming is old ball games from years gone by. But it was during a weekend this past January, while watching game-1 of the 2006 World Series, I made a very interesting observation about the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers lost in five games to the Cardinals in 2006, but they were, none-the-less a very dominate American League team that year. However as the 2010 season begins, two key components from that 2006 team will be gone. Those two players are none other then Curtis Granderson and Placido Polanco. And who will they now be playing for? Well none other then the two teams who were in the 2009 World Series. (Granderson with the Yanks, and Polanco with the Phillies.) Their departure leave the two biggest question marks in the 2010 season for Detroit. In order to finish at the top of AL Central again this year, Detroit will be relying an awful lot on rookie Center Fielder Austin Jackson, and rookie Second Baseman Scott Sizemore. If they can fill the big shoes left to them, then the Tigers will win the central.

2009's Worst Pick
Last season I projected a massive drop in attendance, payroll, and thus quality in the Detroit Tigers. But when I am wrong I am wrong! Lee Jenkins wrote a terrific September cover story for Sport Illustrated. In his three page article, Lee sings the praises of Tigers owner Michael Ilitch. The founder and creator of Little Ceasers pizza, Ilitch is as committed to the city of Detroit as he is to his Tigers on the field. In a market where small teams are scaling back and on the defense, Michael is on the move. He added talent to his team while only mildly cutting payroll. He lowered ticket prices, working with season ticket holders in an effort to get them to keep their tickets. And he cut deals with corporate sponsors like Chrysler to keep them within the Tigers organization. It’s fair to say that Tigers owner Michael Ilitch is responsible for my worst projection of 2009.

MLB First Pitch 2010

2010-04-11T19:04:00.000-07:00

2010 New York Yankees

Special points of interest:

Key Fantasy Player: Mark Texieria

Three Keys to Victory:

Productive Outfield
Replacing Damon & Matsui in the order
Mariano Rivera

The X-Factor: Nick Johnson / Javier Vasquez

Over Rated: Robinson Cano

Seasons End: 28 World Series Titles/

Contract Extensions for Jeter, Rivera, and Skipper Joe Girardi

1. Derek Jeter SS
2. Nick Johnson DH
3. Mark Teixeira 1B
4. Alex Rodriguez 3B
5. Jorge Posada C
6. Curtis Granderson CF
7. Robinson Cano 2B
8. Nick Swisher RF
9. Randy Winn LF

SP) C.C. Sabathia LH
SP) Andy Pettitte LH
SP) A.J. Burnett RH
SP) Javier Vazquez RH
SP) Phil Hughes RH

RP) Joba Chamberlain RH
RP) Damaso Marte LH
RP) Mariano Rivera RH

The Captain
The Derek Jeter “3000 hits” watch begins with his very first at bat of 2010. Jeter, who currently stands at 2747 hits, is 49th on the MLB all-time list. Only Ken Griffey Jr. is ahead of Jeter in hits among active players. Jeter will likely accumulate 200 hits in 2010, which will leave him about fifty hits shy of 3000. Then, the 36 year old free agent will likely resign with the Yankees in the off season, and will have about five good years left in his career to compile as many hits as possible. When all said and done I predict that Jeter will finish just shy of 4000 career hits. That projection would put Jeter in third place on the all time hit list, behind only Ty Cobb and Pete Rose. Very very good company! Could Jeter beat Rose’s all-time hit record of 4256? Not likely. But it will be whole lot of fun watching Derek Jeter’s remaining baseball years in order to see where he finishes.

Free Agents
A combined 32-16 and a 3.70 ERA. A league leading 39 home runs, with 122 RBI’s and a 292 batting average. These are the combined statistics of the three most prized free agent signings prior to the 2009 season.

They are: C.C. Sabathia/A.J. Burnett /Mark Teixeira

Oh yeah! There is one more combination. A combined 62 million dollars paid by the Stienbrener family, and Yankee fans for their combined services last season. But few would argue that the money wasn't well spent. The players were available within the games system, the Yankees had the money within the games system, and the Yankees won the World Series within the system.

It hard to argue against the results. It’s likely the spending will continue, as will the winning. Next up another Championship.

“When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer."

MLB First Pitch 2010

2010-04-09T21:39:00.000-07:00

2010 San Francisco Giants

Special points of interest:

Key Fantasy Player: Tim Lienscum /Pablo Sandoval

Three Keys to Victory:

*Core needs to Gel
*Solid Bullpen
*Little help from NL West

The X-Factor: Pablo Sandoval / Aubrey Huff

Over Rated: Aaron Rowand

Seasons End: First Place Finish / NLCS trip

1. Eugenio Velez RF
2. Freddy Sanchez 2B
3. Pablo Sandoval 3B
4. Aubrey Huff 1B
5. Benjie Molina C
6. Mark DeRosa LF
7. Aaron Rowand CF
8. Edgar Renteria SS

SP) Tim Lienscum RH
SP) Matt Cain RH
SP) Barry Zito LH
SP) Jonathan Sanchez LH
SP) Madison Bumgarner L

RP) Sergio RomoRH
RP) Brian Wilson RH

Kung Fu Who?
Where you thinking what I was thinking last year? My big golden city thought of 2009 was: “Who the hell is Pablo Sandoval?” As it turns out Pablo is the 24 year old virgin superstar known as the “Kung Fu Panda,". Sandoval was a amateur free agent signing in 2003. Not a college prodigy or a number one draft pick; rather Sandoval flew below the baseball worlds radar until last spring. He finished last season with a .330 batting average with 25 homeruns and 90 Ribs. If the Giants are going to fulfill my 2010 projection, Sandoval is going to need to continue is quite dominance of the National League.

2010 Projection
I really like this team! I hate writing any baseball articles that make predictions based largely on my gut. I leave that kind of guessing to the OLD MAN. Throwing darts at a board full of baseball teams in order to pick my order of division rankings has burned me severely in years past. However based on nothing more then what I see on paper, I like to 2010 San Francisco Giants to win the National League East. I will give you my three gut reasons now.

First: 88 wins in 2009.
88 wins and a very respectable third place finish is nothing to shake a stick at. The Giants only finished seven games off the first place Dodgers last year.

Second: Deep Starting Pitching
Provided Barry Zito can continue to eat innings, and win as much as he loses, Crain and Lienscum will continue to carry this teams pitching rotation.

Third: New Acquisitions
Aubrey Huff, Mark DeRosa, and Freddy Sanchez (Sanchez acquired at the trade deadline in 2009) all round out a vastly improved lineup, and solidify a more quality defense.

That’s my case for a 2010 Giants Division Title.

MLB First Pitch 2010

2010-04-09T20:36:00.000-07:00

The 2010 St Louis Cardnials

Special points of interest:

Key Fantasy Player: Albert Pujols

Three Keys to Victory:

*Starting Rotation Health
*Top of the order Table Setters
*Albert Pujols

The X-Factor: Kyle Lohse

Over Rated: Yadier Molina

Seasons End: First Place Finish NL Central
Winners of the 2010 National League Pennant

1. Skip Schumaker 2B
2. Brendan Ryan SS
3. Albert Pujols 1B
4. Matt Holliday LF
5. Yadier Molina C
6. Ryan Ludwick RF
7. David Freese 3B
8. Colby Rasmus CF

SP) Chris Carpenter RH
SP) Adam Wainwright RH
SP) Kyle Lohse RH
SP) Brad PennyRH
SP) Rich Hill LH

RP) Trever Miller LH
RP) Ryan Franklin RH

Matt Holliday
On Thursday October 8th 2009, the St Louis Cardinals were three little outs away from tying their Division Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers at one game a piece. The Cards were up 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth inning. A pop up retired Andre Ethier. Manager Tony Larussa brought in closer Ryan Franklin. A fly ball to center retired Manny Ramirez. With one out to go, Left Fielder Matt Holliday dropped the third out on a fly ball by James Loney. After the error, three consecutive batters reached base before Mark Loretta hit a game winning single to center. 48 hours later, the Cardinals 2010 season was over. The error in left cost them everything.

Holliday and the rest of the St Louis Cardinals are eager for redemption. And this team is certainly good enough to attain it this October.

Big Mac Hitting Coach
On Monday, January 11, 2010 at approximately 3:00pm, Mark Mcgwire, (former Cardinal first baseman and current hitting coach) officially and formally came out of the closet. No, not that closet! He became just the latest former slugger of the steroid era to openly admit to using drugs. Now as I have said it a million times. I am done writing on the topic of roids. However I will say that I am thrilled to see Big Mac in the Cardinals dugout as a coach. Mcgwire himself has said, he has a rolodex of information he is just dieing to pass on to hitters. He will get his chance this season. I for one am excited to see his influence on the 2010 Cardinals.

2010 Cardinals
I am officially on the St Louis Cardinals band wagon! I am a firm believer that with two dominate starters, the best 3/4 batting order in the National League, and a very solid closer, the Cardinals will easily win out the National League Central. They do need a little help from the starting rotation after Wainwright and Carpenter. And offensive production beyond Pujols and Holliday is a must too. However the 2010 Cardinals are still my pick to win the National League Pennant.

MLB First Pitch 2010

2010-04-09T20:24:00.000-07:00

The 2010 Philadelphia Phillies

Special points of interest:

Key Fantasy Player: Chase Utley

Three Keys to Victory:

*Middle of the batting order continued production.
*Bull Pen Bounce Back
*Roy Halladay

The X-Factor: Cole Hamels

Over Rated: Jimmy Rollins

Seasons End: Another Divisional Title.
The loss of Jayson Werth in the off season.
End of the Phillies five year run going into 2011?

1. Jimmy Rollins SS
2. Placido Polanco 3B
3. Chase Utley 2B
4. Ryan Howard 1B
5. Jayson Werth RF
6. Raul Ibanez LF
7. Shane Victorino CF
8. Carlos Ruiz C

SP) Roy Halladay RH
SP) Cole Hamels LH
SP) Joe Blanton RH
SP) J.A. Happ LH
SP) Jamie Moyer RH

RP) Ryan Madson RH
RP) Brad Lidge RH

Roy Halladay

It’s going to be hard for me to make the case, but here I go! The Philadelphia Phillies made a terrible move by acquiring the best pitcher in baseball: Roy “Doc” Halladay…….Let me try to explain.
When I first heard of the news that the Phillies had traded for Roy Halladay, just before Christmas in 2009, I was elated! First and foremost, I was thrilled to get Roy out of the American League, and away from the Boston Red Sox. The Yankees had to face Halladay four painful times last year. Now, in the 2010 regular season, the most they will face Doc is once.
But the real reason for my excitement was the idea that Doc Halladay, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels would all be pitching on the same team that also harbors the best offense in the National League. Then my co-worker/informant filled me in on the details. The Phillies had lost Cliff Lee in the three way deal to the Seattle Mariners. There went the rotation depth, I thought. But that part still didn’t bother me. Trading an ace for an ace makes sense if one ace is remarkably better then the other. A straight up Lee for Halladay deal would have been a synch. But where the deal really went sour was the loss of both top prospect, Kyle Drabeck, and lefty ace, Cliff Lee form the Phillies.
Kyle Drabeck was Philadelphia’s highest regarded pitcher on the minor league level. He was selected 18th overall in the 2006 amateur draft by the Phillies. Kyle is also the son of former Pittsburgh Pirate Doug Drabeck. Most scouts and baseball minds believe Drabeck is a future ace, and will be Major League ready by the second half of this year. The simple math of acquiring one pitcher, while giving up an ace and a top prospect is just too steep a price to pay. What’s worse will be watching Kyle Drabeck possibly develop into the games next Roy Halladay.
Now don’t get me wrong, the Phillies got a dominate ace who is going to win a ton of games for them this year when the signed Halladay. But at the same time, they already had that with Cliff Lee. They upgraded for sure, but at what cost? Cliff Lee and Kyle Drabeck in a rotation would have been better then Roy Halladay all alone.
You can be sure that die hard Phillies fans will be watching the Toronto Blue Jays box scores out of the corner of their eyes for the next few years. (Maybe even longer.) It’s bad enough what Joe Carter and the Jays did to the Phillies in the 1993 World Series. Now Drabeck’s dominance may be the next chapter in the Philly agony from north of the border.
The bottom line is any combination of two starters would have been far better then just Roy Halladay alone. Weather it was, Halladay & Lee / Halladay & Drabeck / or Lee & Drabeck, the Phillies should have never settled for such a high trade demand.
Phillies got gypped, and only time will tell how badly.

Jayson Werth

2010 is going to be the biggest year of Jayson Werth’s life!

The Philadelphia right fielder is in the final year of his two year deal with the Phils. Before 2009 Jayson had never played in more then 134 games in any one season. He was mainly a platoon outfielder with raw power and limited production. But as the 2008 World Series push unfolded, Werth became a intrical part of the Phillies Championship. Last season he became the Phillies everyday right fielder, and went wild! Werth hit 36 homers with 99 Ribs in 2009. He made the All-star team, and became the perfect man to hit behind Ryan Howard in the batting order.

Over Werth’s short 7-year- career, he had made a combined 6.3 million dollars (excluding 2010’s totals). If Werth is as good this season, as he was in 2009, he could make double his total career earnings on the free agent market in 2011 alone.

The trouble for the Phillies is that if Werth is that good, his services will be signed to another team in 2011. The Phillies are not in a financial position to sign Werth to a lofty multi-year deal.

So with each big hit, and each towering homerun hit by Werth in 2010, it will be bitter sweet for Phillies fans. Sweet that they are getting so much production from their power right fielder, who came from obscurity. But bitter knowing that his production will lead to his services away from Philadelphia.

This year's Phillies

Overall this team is in the middle of one of the most remarkable runs in National League history. Excluding the Braves of the 1990’s, Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine of 1975 /1976 was the last NL franchise to appear in back to back World Series. The Phillies have a great chance this year to make it three in a row. That feat hasn't been accomplished since the St Louis Cardinals did it in the mid 1940’s. I like the Phillies to continue to dominate the NL East in 2010. I am projecting them to fall short of the Fall Classic. But they are sure to be right in the mix come October.

Saints Win Super Bowl XLIV

2010-02-08T20:42:00.000-08:00

It started on Sunday January 31st 2010 at 7:57pm Eastern Standard Time.

“I’m Scott Pelley. The Super Bowl is on CBS next week. We will be back in two weeks with another addition of 60 minutes.”

The weekly journalistic news program that has marked our times since 1968 had literally taken a back seat to the biggest non-holiday date of the calendar year:

The Super Bowl

From Sunday January 31st to Sunday February 7th the typical hype, excitement, and impatience grew more and more with every passing day. The theme affectionately known as Super Bowl week played out in Miami Florida. First, the media of news writers, television crews, journalists, and NFL insiders arrived in down town Miami. Then the players touched down from their charter flights in the sunshine state.

Tuesday February 2nd was media day.

The player/ reporter event was moved in doors on account of the unusually wet and cold Florida weather. The hot topics: Manning’s second Super Bowl, Dwight Freeney’s injured right ankle, and of course the City of New Orleans, and its Saints fans. The parties, dinners, live events, and social gatherings, continued until Friday, when the players went into seclusion. Super Bowl weekend arrived and the nights and days went by with their usual pace: sometimes fast, sometimes slow.

Then on Sunday February 7th 2010 the final day of the NLF season had arrived.

The NFC’s New Orleans Saints versus The AFC’s Indianapolis Colts

The preparation and build up all coming down to just one Sunday afternoon. For the two teams of ninety total players, and the millions watching around the world, the game was sure to play out one of two ways: One team would go home World Champions, the other in the agony of defeat.

At 6:10pm the madness and preparation went into overdrive. The game, just minutes away. The New Orleans Saints won the coin toss, not an uncommon occurrence for the NFC. The National Anthem had been sung, the final analysis had been discussed, and the last bathroom break, soda break, and snack break were over. Super Bowl Forty Four had begun.

The first position would show no reward for the Saints. Drew Brees did attempt one of his traditional long passes. But the results of the Saints first drive of the game, would be a “three and out”. Peyton Manning on the other hand, had no trouble moving the ball. His very first play of the Super Bowl was an 18-yard slant route completion to tight-end Dallas Clark. The Colts first drive would result in 11 plays over 5:53 minutes, and a Matt Stover 38 yard field goal. The Colts drew first blood, and the score was 3-0 halfway through the first quarter.

Score: Colts-3, Saints-0

Brees and the Saints once again looked lost on offense. They did convert a first down on a Reggie Bush catch, but soon after, they punted the ball back to Indianapolis.

It was on the Colts ensuing drive that Peyton Manning began incorporating Joseph Addai and the Indy running game into the Super Bowl. Powering down the field, Addai had two carries for 27 yards, during a series that concluded with a Colt touchdown. Manning’s 18 yard pass to Carcon was good for the first touch down of the day, and a 10-0 Colt lead at the end of the first quarter.

Score: Colts-10, Saints-0

It was looking early on as though a blowout was well underway.

However the Saints were not about to just roll over. It was a pair of unanswered field goals before half time, which kept the New Orleans Saints well within striking distance before “The Who” took the field to perform. The game could have been a lot closer, but Sean Peyton elected to try a fourth a goal play at the one-yard line. The Colts defense held, and so six points was the most New Orleans could muster up on offense through 30 minutes. It was safe to say, that when both teams departed from the field at half time, that Super Bowl XLIV was very much undecided.

Half Time Score: Colts-10, Saints-6

The second half started off as casual and nonchalant as any second half ever does. Twenty-Two total men lined up on the field, as the Saints prepared to kick the ball off to the Colts. But just then, in one of the most shocking plays in Super Bowl history, the Saints started the third quarter doing something that had never been done in Super Bowl history. The entire Saints team was in on it. Sean Peyton had tipped off the officials too. But the 106 million watching around the world were in shock! More importantly the Indianapolis special teams was in shock.

The New Orleans Saints, led by kicker Thomas Morstead attempted an onsides kick.

Morstead’s kick caught an entire nation off guard. The ball dribbled 12 yards before a cluster of players, both Colts and Saints, piled on top. The end result was a successful onsides kick and the ball belonged to New Orleans. Drew Brees then threw a series of short passes that ended with a Pierre Thomas touch down.

The Score: Saints-13, Colts-10

The first lead of the Super Bowl for the Saints would not last very long. Peyton Manning working a no huddle offense, charged his team down the field in his typical machine like fashion. Before anyone knew what happened, Joseph Addai was in the end zone for yet another Colt touchdown. The Colts re-established themselves and re-took the lead.

The Score: Colts-17, Saints-13

The Saints were still playing the roll of underdog. They added a Garrett Harley field goal to come within one point, 17-16. However the feeling that the game was going to come down to the last five minutes of the fourth quarter began to resin ate with everyone. And with the game on the line, Peyton Manning is Quarterback most everyone would want.

Drew Brees once again found the end zone. This time it was Jeremy Shockey, with the short pass catch good for six points.

The Score: Saints-22, Colts-17

I knew right then and there that the aggressive coaching of Sean Peyton would lead to a two-point conversion attempt. Brees threw yet another of his of his standard Super Bowl short passes. This time the pass was to Lance Moore. Moore caught the ball just outside the end zone, and just in front of the right pylon. Moore bobbled the ball as he fell to the ground. The ball was in the end zone, but it came to its rest out of Moore’s hands and on the turf. The initial call was an incomplete pass, but the ruling was overturned, after a video challenge, and the points were good.

The Score: Saints-24, Colts-17

“No problem.” I thought. The Colts have Peyton Manning: The greatest Quarterback of a generation. The Colts were sure to charge down the field and score. The game would be tied if nothing else. But with just less then six minutes left in the game, there was still plenty of time to determine a winner. Then in a move as shocking as the on-sides kick that started the second half, Peyton Manning did something I never would have expected. Driving down field, just six yards for the red zone, Manning sought out one of his favorite targets: Reggie Wayne. In an attempt to hit Wayne near the 20-yard line, Manning’s pass was read perfectly by Saints Cornerback Tracy Porter. As the ball flew through the air, Porter made it his destiny to steal it away from Manning and Wayne. Porter caught the ball with both hands at his chest. As if the interception alone was not dazzling enough for Saints fans, while equally devastating for Colt fans, Porter returned the intercepted pass 76 yards. The play concluded with Porter standing in the end zone having scored the game deciding touchdown. New Orleans went nuts! The game was all but over. Even the great Peyton Manning couldn’t lead his team back from such a devastating series of events. (Especially after just throwing the interception of a lifetime.) The final minutes of the game played out uneventfully.

When it was all over the Saints had won their first ever Super Bowl.

A team that was in shambles just five years earlier is now on top of the NFL. This was a franchise in rags. A team temporarily transplanted to Texas as a result of Hurricane Katrina. When the wounds of the deadly Hurricane began to heal, it was determined that the fate of the Saints would remain in New Orleans. But the fate of New Orleans remains in question even still today. A city that wanted so desperately to rally behind a winner in order to continue to help heal the wounds left behind from Mother Nature and a government that had failed its people had gotten its wish. New Orleans has something to celebrate. New Orleans has its Super Bowl Champion Saints.

Wild Card Weekend / Wild Card Road Trip

2010-01-30T17:00:00.001-08:00

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Maybe it was all the buzz I kept hearing on sports radio 660am (WFAN). Maybe it was the animated shouting of Mike Francesa, informing Jets fans that their victory over the Colts was a gift. Or maybe it was the rallying cries of Craig Carton, who all week long was coordinating a Jets prep rally, while planning to cross the Brooklyn Bridge in a Speedo. Carton was already proclaiming victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in wild card weekend. Maybe it was Chad Johnson informing the media his knee was fine, after he worked it out over a recent evening of sexual activity. (The story was featured in the New York Post). Or maybe it was just all the playoff hype and excitement that can be found in late January when the NLF’s playoff season kicks offs.

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Whatever the reason, I decided to take a look on Stub Hub to see what playoff tickets were going for in Cincinnati’s Paul Brown Stadium for the Jets/Bengals wildcard game. NFL tickets are always ridiculously expensive. Even prices for a regular season game tend to be out of control. So when I fired up my computer I was expecting to see the same outrageous prices I was accustomed to. To my immediate shock, decent seats in the upper deck and end zone were available in Cincinnati for as low as $40.00. I was stunned! Surely this was not what I was prepared for! I could never see an Eagles or Giants game for $40.00 bucks even in the preseason, let alone the playoffs. About the same time that my eyes were discovering these ticket prices on Stub Hub, my fingers began texting my Misses. On a complete whim, I wrote: “do you want to go to Cincinnati?” Well I should have known better. One of the things she loves most about me is my spontaneity. Actually it’s a love hate thing, but in the case of an NFL cross-country road trip, it was all love this time.

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I began thinking about the long strange season for both these NFL teams I was about to see.

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The 2009/2010 Cincinnati Bengals were well documented on the HBO series “Hard Knocks” (a multi piece documentary commemorating their preseason and August practice schedule) to kick off the season. The stern leadership from owner Mike Brown, the dominating personality of head coach Marvin Lewis, and the usual antics of Chad Johnson, were all captured very intimately. The Cincinnati Bengals overcame tremendous adversity over the long football season. They overcame injuries, tragic deaths within the organization, a shaky second half, and a losing reputation throughout the league. (The Bengals have not won a playoff game since 1990, and have only made the playoffs once between then and now.)

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Then there are the New York Jets. They technically started their 2009/2010 season by losing Brett Farve and Eric Mangini. NFL coaching heir and defensive guru, Rex Ryan; and rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez quickly replaced them. Ryan, who New Yorkers rapidly learned, doesn’t do any thing small. His media comments are as large and outrageous as is his stomach. Ryan, wrote the Jets off after their week 16 loss to Atlanta, saying that his team had been “eliminated from the playoffs”. Then he came back a day later only to apologize for not knowing his team was still alive and in the playoff hunt. Then before his week 17 match up against the Colts, Rex made a Christmas wish list of players he wanted Indianapolis to bench.

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It was safe to say when we began our 630-mile drive to Cincinnati that this was arguably the most exciting match up of wild card weekend. It took us about eight hours to make the drive from central New Jersey. We did three plus hours on Friday night, and another five on Saturday morning.

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We arrived at Paul Brown Stadium in downtown Cincinnati right at game time. An insane amount of Bengals fans, wearing a sea of orange and black were slowly pouring into the gates around the stadium. There were some Jets fans to be seen, but they were certainly in the vast minority. The noise level was off the charts; the weather was freezing cold.

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Then with 67,000 NFL fans screaming at the top of their lungs, Jets kicker Jay Feely booted the football to the Cincinnati offense to open the game. Bernard Scott caught Feely’s kick at the 8-yard line and returned it 56 yards to start the NFL post season. The Bengals offense went to work on the Jets 36 yard line, and the roar of the crowd was as loud as it would be all day.
Just when it looked as though Cincinnati would have at least a field goal on their opening drive, a fumble recovery by the Jet’s Shaun Ellis led to the first turnover of the day. The Jets would run just six plays on offense before punting the ball right back to the Bengals.

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The Battle of two of the AFC’s top defenses was well underway.

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The first touch down of the game finally occurred with 7:13 left in quarter number one. Carson Palmer dropped a short pass to his left. Laveranues Coles caught the pass, and ran the ball from the 11 yard line, down to the front left pylon and scored the first Bengal points of the post season.

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The first quarter ended with the score 7-0 Cincinnati.

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I had yet to actually sit in my seat through a quarter of football. As it turned out, it didn’t sit more then five minutes during the entire game.

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The Jets and Mark Sanchez had a real hard time moving the ball on the Bengals. In the Jets first 19 plays on offense, they had just 2 first downs. They were looking more and more like the team that struggled down the stretch, before winning their last two games of the regular season. The Jets were trying desperately to break out of their funk by running the ball.
Finally at 12:41 in the second quarter, the Jets running game broke through. It was the run of Jets back, Shonn Green who tied the game. From 39 yards out Green entered the left end of the end zone once again scoring a touch down in the same magic corner of the field that Laveranues Coles had just scored in. Only now the Jets had tied the game at 7-7.

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On the very next Cincinnati possession, the Bengals would turn the ball over to the Jets yet again. A Carson Palmer interception put the New York offense back on the field. Then the play of the game unfolded right before my eyes. I watched as Mark Sanchez rolled out of the pocket, and to his right, while on the Bengals 45 yard line. He began running toward the Jets side line, while looking to pitch a short pass. When he saw that every eligible receiver within 10 yards of him was covered, Sanchez saw an open Dustin Keller near the 20 yard line. Sanchez threw a pass that met Keller down field, and the Jets tight-end took it from there. Keller reached the end zone, breaking the plain with the ball, good for a Jets 14-7 lead.

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The half-time score was, 14-7 the New York Jets over the Cincinnati Bengals.

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I am still having tremendous difficulty describing, in written word, just how cold it was Saturday night in Cincinnati. The Misses lost feeling in her toes, and had to shove a hand warmer down each of her sneakers at half time. I could feel my eyes getting cold, as they were exposed to the frigid air, and they began to water. I was shivering and shaking, and I had cracked open every hand warmer I had with me. As the sun went down the temperature fell well below 23 degrees. The Bengal crowd grew cold and quite, and the momentum was now with the Jets. At 2:23 of the third quarter Thomas Jones scored the Jets third touch down from 9-yards out. The score was 21-7 and the game felt all but over.

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Then Bengals star running back Cedric Benson gave the Cincinnati fans a glimmer of hope. Benson ran a 47-yard touchdown route, to make the score 21-14. The Cincinnati crowd came out of their slump and tried to rally around their team for a very brief moment. But then, on the very next possession the Jets Jay Feely kicked a 20-yard field goal, and the Jets were up by two scores with only 5:17 left in the game.

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The Bengals fate was sealed when Carson Palmer was sacked on his own 43-yard line. Jets defensive lineman, Shaun Ellis, engulfed Palmer’s body, and dropped him to the turf. It was 4th and 22 for Cincinnati, when Palmer hit the ground. The sack ended the game and the season for the Bengals. Mark Sanchez kneeled three times after the two minute warning, and the game was over.

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The final score to game one of wild card weekend was 24-14 the New York Jets over the Cincinnati Bengals.

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At the end of the day, the Cincinnati Bengals can only blame themselves. The turnovers, failed video challenges, and two missed field goals were the reason they lost on Saturday. The New York Jets did not beat the Bengals, the Bengals beat the Bengals.

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Watching Mark Sanchez and Rex Ryan exit the stadium from the tunnel just below me (slightly to the right of my section) was an experience like no other. They were so pumped up, grinning from ear to ear. They acknowledged all the die-hard/extreme Jet fans, which made the road trip, and were still hanging out, and cheering them on in the 90% empty stadium.

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For the Bengals the waiting game begins today. Its now 364 days of hard work and dedication, just to get back to where they were yesterday. The Bengals road to the 2010-2011 post season starts right now. It's the kind of grueling exercise that caused coaching legend Bill Parcells to retire from the sidelines. The waiting is truly the hardest part. Luckily coach Marvin Lewis is young and his sprit looks to still be strong.

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For the Jets, it’s on to San Diego. Another week of hype and excitement on WFAN. Another week of outrageous comments from Rex Ryan. Another sudden death playoff game on the path to the Super Bowl. But this time I will not be checking Stub Hub for San Diego Charger tickets. At least I don’t think I will

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Top Ten Of 2009

2010-01-01T22:24:00.000-08:00

Without Futher delay, here are my top ten athletes of 2009:

1) Santonio Holmes- Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers

2) Angel Cabrera- PGA Masters Champion

3) Sidney Crosby- Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins

4) Kobe Bryant- NBA Finals MVP Los Angeles Lakers

5) Jonathan Sanchez-No Hitter San Fransisco Giants
6) Mark Buehrle- Perfect Game Chicago White Sox
7) Alex Rodriguez- World Series Champion New York Yankee

8) Mariano Rivera- World Series Champion New York Yankee

9) Brett Farve- Quarter Back, Playoff bound Minnesota Vikings

10) Peyton Manning- Quarter Back, Playoff bound Indianapolis Colts

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It looked like an Arizona Cardinal victory in Super Bowl forty-three. All of my family assembled in the Burger Palace, in down town Bloomington, were rooting for Arizona, and now a mild celebration had begun. Then in a stunning turn of events, Ben Rohelisburger charged is Pittsburgh Steelers offensive down the field. The Burger Palace grew silent. In one of the most impressive two-minute drills in Super Bowl history Big Ben had his team on the six-yard line, with a first and goal. Then on second and goal Big Ben lofted a pass into the far corner of the end zone. The lighting fast pass should have sailed out of bounds, and it should have bounced up against the first row of seats. As millions around the world watched Ben’s pass fly deep, two gloved hands emerged out of now where. They were the hands of Santonio Holmes. Holmes, the Steelers wide receiver, was a rising star in both Pittsburgh and the NFL alike. Santonio, caught Ben’s deep pass, showed possession, and then somehow some way dragged the tippy toes of both his feet onto the red painted end zone grass before falling out of bounds. With 35 seconds left in the game, the Steelers had scored the last touch down of Super Bowl forty-three. The catch by Holmes was the play of the season. It made him a Super Bowl Champion, and kicked off 2009’s sports calendar year.

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The 2009 Masters Tournament brought with it an excitment that hasn’t been seen in PGA golf for a long time. All day on Easter Sunday 2009, I kept running back and forth from my uncle’s living room to the kitchen. Pacing back and forth, I kept delivering updates of the action from Augusta to anyone who would listen. As the eighteenth hole approached for the leaders, two very different stories were playing out simultaneously. On one part of the course, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson where battling each other in attempts to make historic comebacks. While their combined efforts fell short, the other story on the course did not. Angel Cabrera, Kenny Perry, and Chad Campbell all battled for first place in Golf’s most coveted achievement. It was a three way dead lock rarely seen in golf period, let alone the Masters Tournament. As Tiger and Phil fell by the waist side, a three-way tie had emerged at the top of the leader board after 18 holes had been played. (The tie, largely due to the back-to-back bogies on 17 and 18 by Kenny Perry.) I had declared Kenny Perry the winner long before the tournament was over and as usual, when predicting things in the world of sports, I was wrong. As the sudden death extra play unfolded, it would be Angel Cabrera who would emerge on top. Cabrera picked off his linked foes one at a time! Campbell was the first to go on the first extra hole. His bogey on 19 dropped him to third place. Then on the second sudden death hole of the tournament Cabrera came out one shot ahead of Kenny Perry. The Green Jacket belonged to the 40 year old Argentinean. His low profile, unexpected path to victory at the Masters, makes him one of golf’s great stories of 2009.

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They absolutely deserve to win! The Pittsburgh Penguins were down 2-0 to the heavily favored Detroit Red Wings in the quest for the 2009 Stanley Cup. The Penguins muscled back to tie the series 2-2, only to fall again (down 3-2 in the series). But when they had to win a game seven on the road in Detroit, it was the Pittsburgh Penguins that had overcome tremendous adversity to win the Stanley Cup. The leader of a once proud historic franchise back on top, is no other then Sidney Crosby. Crosby desperately tried to return to the ice after a crippling injury forced him out of game seven. But the vision of Crosby lifting the Cup high over his head, while skating around Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena is one that will always stick with me in remembering the world of sports in 2009. Crosby, the 22-year-old captain of the Penguins has been pegged as the NHL’s next Wayne Gretsky. Weather or not he will become a Hall Of Fame hockey icon remains to be seen. However a Stanley Cup Championship in just his fourth year in the league, is a very good start.

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“Yeah, but can he do it without Shaq?” “Where would he be without the big man?”
“Until he gets his own Championship, he will forever be in O’Neal’s shadow.”

They are all quotes that had to drive Lakers Point Guard Kobe Bryant crazy.

The feud between Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal has been well documented, since Shaq’s departure from the Lakers in 2004. O’Neal quickly won another NBA title as part of the Miami Heat. However Kobe went on a title-less drought after the 2002 season.

From 2002 to 2009 Kobe remained among the leagues very best players, but could never attain Championship greatness. He tried to force a trade, his antics played out on ESPN. Then finally in 2009 all the pieces of the puzzle finally came together for Kobe and the Lakers. The Lakers plowed through the 2009 playoffs and found themselves in a Championship match up with the underdog Orlando Magic.

In just five games Kobe and the Lakers dominated an over matched Orlando Magic team.
In 23 playoff games in 2009 Kobe averaged 30.2 points a game. He scored 162 total points in the Finals, and was quickly named the finals MVP.

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He had absolutely no business even starting on July 10th 2009. With absolutely no notice before a Friday night home start against the San Diego Padres, manager Bruce Bochy gave Giant’s pitcher Jonathan Sanchez a shot. Bochy had to scratch the scheduled starter, Randy Johnson, due to shoulder soreness. But as I wrote: Sanchez had absolutely no business starting on the July 10th Giants game. Surely Bochy could have found a better starter. Sanchez had been demoted to the bullpen almost three weeks prior to this emergency spot start. He had not started a game since June 22nd and he had not won a game since May 25th. His 2-8 record, and 5.30 ERA were among the worst on the team. Yet for some unknown reason manger Bruce Bochy went with Sanchez. In another strange turn of events, Jonathan’s father had just flown in from Puerto Rico. Sigfredo Sanchez had never seen is son pitch at the Major League level, and when he boarded his flight there was no guarantee he would see his bullpen occupying son pitch either. All the little variables lining up for Sanchez, spoke to something bigger: his fathers unique appearance, Randy Johnson’s ailing shoulder, Bruce Bochy’s hunch. But just then fate stepped in. Sanchez dominated the San Diego Padres. In a remarkable 110-pitch outing (77 for strikes) Jonathan Sanchez fell just one error short of a perfect game. He faced just 28 batters and picked up the only no-hitter of 2009. After the game he embraced his father who finally saw his son make good on a dream. He also just happened to see him make history too!

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On Thursday, July 23rd 2009, White Sox ace Mark Buehrle pitched a perfect game against the Tampa Rays. With 28,036 fans at U.S. Cellular Field, on the South side of Chicago Buehrle made Tampa’s hitters look lost at the plate. Working mainly with his fastball, and mixing in the occasional curve, changeup and slider, Buehrle needed just 116 pitches to attain perfection. The game lasted just two hours, and three minutes, as Buehrle became just the 18th pitcher in Major League history to retire all twenty-seven batters in a game. Two very honorable mentions go out to Buehrle’s perfect game, are his manager and center fielder. Manager Ozzie Gullien substituted defensive Center Fielder Dewayne Wise in the top of the ninth inning. Wise made a spectacular catch for the first out in the ninth inning, robbing Gabe Kapler of a certain extra base hit. Two batters later Buehrle had achieved “baseball immortality” to quote Yankees radio announcer John Sterling. The win propelled Buehrle to an 11-3 record on the year. But unfortunately for Mark and the sox, it would prove to be the last highlight in a disappointing season. Mark’s perfect game was one of the legendary moments of 2009.

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On May 8th, Alex Rodriguez stepped into a batters box for the first time in 2009 in Camden Yards in town down Baltimore. Alex had missed the Yankee’s first 28 games recovering from hip surgery. Originally, the Yankees feared A-Rod’s hip surgery would to cost him the entire 2009 season. Orioles starting pitcher Jeremy Guthrie had two runners on base, with one out as A-Rod began his season. Guthrie’s first pitch was an 89 MPH fastball, about belt high on the inner half of home plate. A-Rod swung at the pitch with tremendous speed and force. The ball was launched high and deep to left. It landed in the left field stands. It was Rodriguez’s first hit, first homerun, and first three RBI’s of the year. It was just the start of a magical season for A-Rod, who finally became the most dependable and clutch hitter in baseball. Alex hit .286, with 30 homeruns and 100 RBI’s. He homered in his first at bat of the regular season, and in his last at bat as well. But his post-season numbers are the real reason for his appearance on my list. He hit .387 with 6 homeruns and 18 RBI’s in 15 games that mattered most. All the more remarkable is that 5 of his 6 homeruns came in games that the Yankees were losing at the time. They went on to win five of the six games. He is baseball’s highest paid player, the highest profile athlete in New York, and now in 2009 he is finally a World Series Champion.

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All September long I was growing more and more concerned about the post-season reputation of Mariano Rivera. His surgically repaired shoulder, it receding hair line, his frail looking body to go with his 37 year old life all scared me moving forward to October’s playoff baseball. After all, Mo and I are the exact same height, yet he weighs 50 pounds less then me. So what did Mo do in 2009? He remained the iconic figure in professional sports he has always been. Revolutionizing a sports position that remains in its infancy, Mo is without a doubt the Babe Ruth of relief pitchers. I might have been scared for Mo, but he put all my fears and all Yankee fan fears to bed with awesome ease.

Joel Sherman, in his book, Birth of A Dynasty, called Mariano Rivera the weapon no other team in baseball can match. Tom Verducci wrote in Sports Illustrated “Mo’s blessed right arm is like the hammer of god.” And teammate Alex Rodriguez said of Rivera: “To me, he's the greatest modern day weapon I have seen or played against. He has been the heart and soul of the New York Yankees dynasty."

I could sit here and write up stats until I’m blue in the face, about Rivera’s 2009 season. But here are the only two that really matter: Mo closed out the 2009 All-Star game in July, insuring an American League victory yet again. And he gave up just a single run in 12 post-season games versus the Twins, Angels and Phillies combined. Rivera picked up five saves in his 16 innings of playoff work. Just after the World Series Rivera said he plans on pitching another five years. I will continue to worry, but the Sandman seems to always put my worries to bed.

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I hate Brett Farve!!! “I’m retired, I’m not retired, I’m retired, and I’m not retired!” Those of are the wondrous quotes from the two-year saga known fondly as the Brett Farve show. This is the kind of off the field nonsense that infuriates me! What a player does when he is not performing should never ever make a headline in sports, unless its charitable work! Yet for the last two NFL off-seasons the Brett Farve show, of no substance or content has kept ESPN busy, and fans annoyed. Then this past August came Farve’s signing with the Minnesota Vikings. All I kept thinking about was Fave’s interception in the NFC Championship game against the Giants two years ago. It was his very last play as a Green Bay Packer. I figured there were many more plays just like that one in store for Farve in Minnesota. Boy was I wrong! I hate to admit it but I have to give credit where credit is due. Farve has lead an above average Minnesota team to near Super Bowl contention. Brett led the Vikings to an 11-2 start through the first 13 Minnesota games. Only two teams were better through 13/16th of the NFL season (The two other teams: The 13-0 New Orleans Saints and the 13-0 Indianapolis Colts.) Brett has passed for over 3,800 yards this season. He has thrown 29 touchdowns with only 7 interceptions. (Stats valid through December 27th.) Weather you love him or hate him, (I’m sticking with the hate) Brett Farve’s ability to lead an offense and quarter back, remains at the top of the NFL. Brett turns 41 this October, but I wouldn’t rule out a return for his 20th season in professional football. But first Brett will likely retire a few more times.

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He is quickly becoming one of the game’s most idol figures of all time. The only thing that eludes him is multiple Super Bowl rings. He is smart and inventive. His reflexes are inspiring, and his adaptability is like no other. But his results are what make him the very best. He is of course Indianapolis Colts Quarter Back, Peyton Manning. The last week of 2009 was not exactly a great one for Manning. It was only the second time in 2009 that a Peyton Manning took a lost on a football field. No other team or sportsman can say that, but in the calendar year that was 2009, Manning only lost two games!!! *(First loss was January 3rd in the AFC playoffs to the San Diego Chargers. The second loss was last Sunday to the New York Jets. Manning was removed from the game in the third quarter.) Moving forward Manning’s Colts will be the top seed in the AFC, and he will be in a great position in 2010 to pickup another Super Bowl ring. But his accomplishments in 2009 make him a top figure!

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Thats It! Now I'm going to bed! Wake me up in 2011!

2009 World Series Recap

2009-11-08T15:57:00.000-08:00

It was a World Series match up I had projected back in March. Although a Yankees fan before anything else, the Philadelphia Phillies have become my unofficial B-team. And so the match did crate some mild conflict for me. The team I have grown up with and rooted for my entire life, verses the team that plays less the fifteen miles from my front door.

So as a Yankee Fan First and Foremost the 2009 World Series did not start off the way I would have drawn it up! New York Yankees Captain, Derek Jeter is my hero, my life mate, my love mate and my soul mate! I have no bigger man crush then the one I have for Derek Jeter. I expect a base hit almost every time Jeter is at the plate. If he doesn’t get a hit, 90 percent of the time he has a great at bat. He will put the ball in play, or he may line out hard to a position player. Derek is seldom one to ever give up an at bat. So when he struck out on three pitches to begin the offensive campaign for the Yanks, I went into panic mode. Fastball, curve ball, slider, and Phillies starter Cliff Lee had made Jeter look like a fool with three rapidly fast pitches.

TOM and I had seen a game in 2008, at the Old Yankees Stadium, where Cliff Lee pitched for the Cleveland Indians against the Yankees. Because I remembered his dominance in that game, and because I keep a scorecard from every game I’ve been to, I went back into the archives and looked up Lee’s stats prior the World Series. On Wednesday May 7th, 2008 Cliff Lee pitched seven innings, allowing no runs, on six hits, while striking out seven. Derek Jeter, Johnny Damon, and Hideki Matsui were a combined 1 for 9 with two strikeouts. Lee was better then good in that regular season weeknight ball game, he was dominate! So on the grandest stage of them all (Game 1 of the World Series) I was anticipating an even better outing from Cliff Lee.

I wasn’t wrong.

In total, Lee threw 122 pitches (80 for strikes) in Game One. He pitched all nine innings, allowing just six hits, while striking out ten. He was awarded the MVP of game one by the Dugan & Dugan Sports Bureau. Not only had Game One ended poorly for the Yankees, but now the series was off to an undesirable start.

The side story to game one (if there was one behind Cliff Lee) was Chase Utley’s two solo homeruns. They accounted for all the offense the Phillies would need to be victorious. Philadelphia did add four more runs late in the game. But Lee’s dominance proved to be the overwhelming difference in game one.

Final Score of Game One of the 2009 World Series: Philadelphia 6, New York 1.

Philadelphia takes a 1-0 Series Lead

Game two featured an old Yankee nemesis wearing pinstripes. Relax! Not Pedro Martinez in midnight blue pinstripes. (That kind of visual makes me nauseous!) But rather Pedro Martinez in Phillies red pinstripes. Pedro Martinez did his best Roger Clemens impression this year, and became baseball’s hottest midseason free agent. The Phillies front office, believers in the philosophy “you can never have enough starting pitching”, jumped into the Pedro sweepstakes with both feet. On July 15th, 2009 Pedro Martinez signed a half-year, 1.5 million dollar contract to join the Phillies. Who knew then that Pedro would be back in New York for yet another Post-Season match up with the Yankees. Yet there he was, starting game 2. This time, he was pitching in the World Series, and this time for the Phillies of Philadelphia. At 37 years old, Pedro is now a very different pitcher then Yankee fans may have remembered. Now Pedro is finding new ways to get batters out with a velocity that tops out around 89 miles per hour. Game two of the 2009 World Series featured a new method of operation, but that same old Pedro. Pedro was actually throwing 69 MPH changeups, the results of which were very effective. When all was said and done, Pedro had pitched six very good innings. His mistakes were few, but costly. He allowed two solo homeruns (one to Mark Teixeira and one to Hideki Matsui). But when Pedro left to a serenade of Yankee boos, he was trailing 2-1. The reason Pedro stood to get a World Series loss was the curve ball of A.J. Burnett. Yankees starter, A.J. Burnett was throwing strikes and getting outs, and was just a little bit better then Pedro. As game two came to an end, and the series shifted to Philadelphia, power pitching was once again prevailing in the playoffs. The Dugan & Dugan Sports Bureau named A.J. Burnett the game two MVP.

Final Score of Game Two of the 2009 World Series: New York 3, Philadelphia 1.

Series tied at 1-1.

As game three shifted venues from New York to Philadelphia, I shifted from Philadelphia to New York. I went home for Game 3, watching the game with my uncle G.T. Steltz. The Yankees have never lost a playoff game when I watch from my uncle’s house. Sometimes I wonder which of my superstitions is worse, watching an insane amount of playoff games at my uncle’s house, or refusing to clip my toenails until after the World Series.

In hindsight, games three and four were where the series was ultimately decided.

Game three marked the first night in World Series history that a game had taken place on Halloween. There were plenty of tricks for Philadelphia but no treats when game three had concluded. The Phillies had a 3-0 lead on Andy Pettitte. Cole Hamels looked fantastic. But then, after a very innocent walk to Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez came to the plate. Alex had been having the post season of his life before going 0-8 in the World Series. Alex was due. A-Rod's first ever World Series hit was a shot down the right field line. He pulled the ball with tremendous speed and power. In real time and with the naked eye, it looked as though A-Rod had just missed a homerun. It looked like the ball had hit off the very top of the wall and bounced back into the field of play.

“What a bad break we just caught” I said to my uncle.

I was wrong!

Enter the magic of instant replay. Fox showed replay after replay of the ball hitting a camera that was overhanging the field of play. Had the camera not been there, the ball would have just soared into the front row of seats. The umpires went down under the stands to review the play, and get a quick cup of coffee (according to my uncle). And when the came back, they had overturned the initial call of a double. Alex Rodriguez had just hit his first ever World Series homerun!

3-2 Phillies was the score after four innings.

The fifth inning saw the implosion of Cole Hamels. The Yankees got to Cole for three runs including an RBI base hit by pitcher Andy Pettitte. The mentally exhausted Cole Hamels turned the ball over to manager Charlie Manuel, and for the last time in 2009 Hamels walked off the mound. Last year Cole was a key component in the Phillies winning the World Series, this year he was a key component in their game three loss to the Yankees. Both teams would tack on runs, but the lead never changed and the Yankees held on to win a pivotal game three.

Final Score of Game Three of the 2009 World Series: New York 8, Philadelphia 5.

New York takes a 2-1 series lead.

I returned once again to my uncle G.T.’s home for game four.

“Here I am doing all the leg work for the Yankees” I thought to myself.

Truth be told, I enjoy my uncle’s company during any Yankee game anywhere. Just so happens that playoff games at his place produce the very best results. We also had a decent family gathering for game four at his house. This created a very “bad party” atmosphere!

Yankee starter C.C. Sabathia returned to the mound on just three days rest. His Philadelphia counterpart was Joe Blanton. For the first time in the World Series neither starter looked sharp out of the gate, and after one inning the Yankees had a 2-1 lead. It became evident early that both teams were desperately seeking a victory in this game. The nervous energy I was feeling, was only compounded my by my aunt Gert interrupting my focus from the game. She was asking me personal questions about the weather forecast, and my consumer preferred laundry detergent. The top of the fifth inning saw Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon deliver huge RBI base hits, giving the Yankees a 4-2 lead. Although I took great pleasure in the runs scored, the thought I kept having was:

“Not enough!”

Maybe it was the home crowd, or the uncertainty of the Yankee pitching, but you could sense the momentum shifting in the Phillies favor. Then in the bottom of the 7th inning Chase Utley faced C.C. Sabathia for the seventh time in the series. In his prior six at bats Utley was three for six with a walk and two homeruns.

After his seventh at bat against C.C., the Phillies trailed by just one run.

Chase Utley had belted yet another solo homerun off of Sabathia.
“Utley just really has C.C.’s number” was my cry from the living room floor!

The Phillies were within one run, and the gap between the seventh and Mariano Rivera seemed greater then the Grand Canyon.

Joba Chamberlin relived C.C. in the 8th and struck out the side. But in and among picking up three strikeouts, he gave up a bomb to Phillies third baseman Pedro Feliz.
The game was tied at 4-4. With Philly home field advantage and Brad Lidge warming in the bullpen, it seemed like the series would also be tied at 2-2 in just a matter of minutes.

The top of the 9th started out as disappointing as imaginable for the Yankees. Hideki Matsui quickly popped up to shortstop, and then Derek Jeter struck out. Brad Lidge was getting by with his fastball, and fooling hitters with his slider. Johnny Damon represented the last hope for the Yankees in the 9th. Johnny put together a plate appearance that will go down as one of the greatest of all time. Johnny fouled off two nasty sliders, and two 93 MPH fastballs. Then on the ninth pitch of the at bat, Johnny slapped a soft line drive into left field for a base hit.

The Phillies were quick to over shift their defense, as Mark Teixiera came to the plate.

For anyone not familiar with an over shift- it’s when a manager strategically positions is his infielders to compensate for a pull hitter. In the case of Mark Teixiera, the Phillies put their short stop on the right side of the infield and moved their third baseman to cover second base.

On the very first pitch to Mark Teixiera, Johnny Damon broke from first and stole second base. With third baseman Pedro Feilz out of position, and covering second base, Damon had stolen the base easily. But what happened next was as brilliant on Damon’s part, as it was clumsy on the Phillies part. Damon saw that no one was covering third base. In a split second decision, Damon darted for the open base. Damon found himself safe at third. He had two stolen bases all in one play.

Now, with a runner on third, Brad Lidge had grown leary of throwing his slider. Fearing that a slider in the dirt would skip away from catcher Carlos Ruiz, Lidge went with his fastball. The first fastball he threw to Teixiera hit him square in the back. That brought up the new king of clutch, Alex Rodriguez. All post season long, A-Rod had been delivering big hits in key moments. He didn’t fail in game four either. A-Rod doubled down the right field line, driving in Damon. The game was all but over. Jorge Posada doubled, driving in two more, but Mariano Rivera was already up in the Yankee bullpen. He had a lead, and as Rivera has proved so many times in the World Series, a lead is all that he needs to insure victory. He retired all three Phillies he faced on just eight pitches in the ninth.

Final Score of Game Four of the 2009 World Series: New York 7, Philadelphia 4.

New York takes a 3-1 series lead.

Coming back from being down 3-1 in a series is so insurmountable that it has only happened 11 times in MLB history. So although the Phillies had Cliff Lee going in game five, the Yankees odds to win the series were nearly locked up after game four’s victory. But the Phillies did have their ace in the hole pitching in game five. In typical fashion, Lee dominated the Yankees. He wasn’t as sharp as he was in game one, but he was good enough for a victory. Lee pitched 7 innings giving up five runs (three of his five earned runs came in the 8th). The Philadelphia bullpen managed to find a way to secure the last six outs of the game. Chase Utley’s mighty swing proved once again to be the key to victory. He had two more homeruns in game five, along with four RBI’s. The Phillies finally looked like the defending World Series Champions. They refused to lose the series on there home soil, and they had forced the series to a game six. However they were still down 3-2 in the series, they were headed back to New York, and the best of their starting pitching had just thrown for the final time in 2009.

Final Score of Game Five of the 2009 World Series: Philadelphia 8, New York 6.

New York holds a 3-2 series lead.

I had a feeling all day on Wednesday 11/4/09, that game six would be the final game of the World Series. I was very confident that the Yankees would win. My Philadelphia co-workers were equally confident in the Phillies ability to win. The media’s assessment was 50/50. Mike Francesca of sports radio fame was certain that Yankee starter Andy Pettitte would be awful in game six on three days rest. Fox broadcaster Mark Grace was certain the Yankees would finish it off in game six. With such a mix of opinion, I found my confidence almost odd. But this team was like few I have ever rooted for. From mid July up to the start of November, no team has been as dominate as these Yankees. These were not the 2008 Tampa Rays facing the Philadelphia Phillies. This is why I was almost certain the Yankees would win their 27 title in 96 years on Wednesday night.

Once again, I wasn’t wrong.

In one of the hardest fought, grittiest performances I have ever seen on a pitchers mound, Andy Pettitte pitched 5 and 2/3 innings for the Yankees. He pitched around tough Philly hitters, gave up a decent number of hits and runs, (3 runs on 4 hits) and threw 94 total pitches. But when he turned the ball over to skipper Joe Girardi, the 37-year-old left-hander had left his team with a 7-3 lead, needing only 10 outs for victory.

For as gritty, tough and creative Andy Pettitte was, Pedro Martinez was soft, ill, and lost pitching for Philadelphia. Pedro was slow to pitch, at times looked sick, and was throwing no faster the 85 MHP. From the first inning on, fans could tell that Pedro was not long for the game. He lasted only four innings.

But the real story of game six was the World Series MVP. Hideki Matusi put on a hitting display that will not soon be forgotten in Yankee lure. Matsui hit a two run homerun in the second inning, had a two RBI single in the third inning, and then he topped it off with a two RBI double in the fifth. All told Matsui had accounted for all but one of the Yankee runs in game six. Never before had a player (non-pitcher) who only started three games in the World Series won the MVP award. But Matsui’s efforts in game six put him over the top.

Lost in the shadows of the series was the performance of lefty reliever Damaso Marte. He struck out both Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, before turning the ball over to Mariano Rivera. As "Enter Sandman" played for Mariano Rivera as he entered the game. The Yankees were in need of five outs to win the World Series. A strike out, double and pop up ended the top of the eighth inning. The final inning of 2009 was now under way.

The Yankees went quickly and quietly in the bottom of the eighth inning. The only note was a perfect swing by Derek Jeter driving a ball to right field. A classic Jeter base hit. If Jeter never has another World Series base hit, it was the perfect way for him to leave the fall classic. An inside-out base hit as the all time Post Season hit leader.

In the top of the ninth Rivera once again took his rightful place on top of the mound at Yankee Stadium. On his sixth pitch, and third cutter to Philly pitch hitter Matt Stairs, Mo got his first out of the ninth. Stairs lined up to second baseman Robinson Cano. The 50,315 at the Stadium were going nuts, millions more around the world waiting for the final two outs. On another six pitch at-bat Mo walked catcher Carlos Ruiz. The suspense prolonged just a little while longer. When Jimmy Rollins stepped to the plate, he jumped all over the second cut fastball he saw. He launched it deep to right field, and for a moment I thought the Phillies still had life. But Nick Swisher was quick to rest under the ball for the second out of the inning.

The final batter of 2009 was Shane Victorino, and he would not go quietly into the night. Shane took a strike, swung and missed at a strike, took three balls, and fouled off four strikes. Then on his tenth pitch of a terrific at bat, Shane weakly ground the ball to second baseman Robinson Cano.

Cano, with all the pressure in the world on his left arm, tossed a twenty-foot strike into the glove of first baseman Mark Teixeira. Teixeira had secured the ball in his glove, with his right foot on first base. The Yankees had won the World Series! Teixeira had raised his right arm in victory. Rivera pumped his fist. The infielders all began running in different directions, until they all found their way to the area between third base and the pitchers mound. That is where they found Alex Rodriguez, the single most significant force in the Yankees 2009 season. The celebration began just before midnight. It lasted until well after sunrise.

Final Score of Game Six of the 2009 World Series: New York 7, Philadelphia 3.

New York Wins The 2009 World Series 4-2.

Two days later the Yankees had their World Series victory parade in the Canyon of Heroes in downtown Manhattan.

I was there.

The celebration of 1.5 million Yankee fans in the streets of New York is hard to describe. The madness that took place, as each player was showered with cheers, waves, and confetti was incredible. Every band that played, every float that went by, every human wearing midnight blue, captured the sprit of victory in a way that my words will never do justice to.

As the last float carrying Mariano Rivera went by, the parade was gone. Soon the barricades holding the fans on the sidewalks up and down Broadway were opened. As the masses poured out onto the street, I looked to the north, up Broadway. I could see the last float 100 yards up the street. Suddenly this feeling of downheartedness had entered my life. The parade had literally passed me by. What had really happened was that the 2009 MLB season had come to an end. All that remained was the distant view of a final parade float and six NYPD squad cars. A mess of confetti, ticker tape and newspaper were last pieces of an unforgettable season.

Although the 2009 baseball season is gone, it will never be forgotten. The end of great baseball season was certainly the only thing that saddened me.

The result of the 2009 season is a very fair tradeoff!

In the fantastic words of John Sterling,

Ball Game over…World Series over… Yankees Win ….THEE YANKEES WIN!

Phillie Fanatics, Yankee Fanatics too

2009-10-28T14:58:00.000-07:00

The 2009 MLB World Series

I don’t think I have ever dedicated a Sports Blog to my opinions on the hype, focus, and attention that takes place outside the baselines. But here I am devoting a Blog to the Phillies and Yankees, their fans, and the media coverage upon the dawn of the 2009 World Series.

How is it that the Philadelphia Phillies are the defending World Series Champions, and yet they seem to be the team that has nothing to lose, and everything to gain? The Phillies are the one’s defending their title and yet the perception in Philadelphia is that they are underdogs that crave to beat the gold standard in professional sports in order to be justified and legitimized.

Everyday I work out of an office that sits almost exactly half way between the 108.38 miles that separate Yankee Stadium from Citizens Bank Park. I lived for nine months of my life in Center City Philadelphia, and I grew up in New York. So I tend to see both fans prospective and I get an even amount of media coverage from both teams. If I had one word to sum up the growing rivalry between the two World Series contestants, that word would be- brutal. The articles written on the internet have been raunchy, senseless, and poorly expressed. The articles in the news papers have been only slightly better. The talk radio, and television media- out of control! But the fans, in these two rival cities, they have been the most brutal of all!

Even before the ball landed in Shane Victorino’s glove for the last out of the 2009 National League Championship Series, there was a chant gaining huge popularity at Citizens Bank Park. It is a call that infuriates me like no other. It was a battle cry coming from 46,214 Philadelphia fans. The Chant was of course “Yankees Suck”.

It’s such an ignorant mantra!!!

Wikipedia defines the word suck as- a slang term for failure. Surely the word “suck” doesn’t represent the very best of the 2009 World Series! A Professional Sports franchise can’t win 26 World Series Championships in a remarkably rich 96-year history and suck. A team can’t win 103 games in the 2009 regular season and suck. A team can’t make it to the World Series and suck. Period. As a Yankee fan, I would never I cry out “Phillies suck”! Of course they don’t suck! You know who sucks? The Kansas City Royals suck. The Pittsburgh Pirates suck. And yet, those were the calls from ignorant blue-collar Philadelphia fans that had the upper hand last Wednesday night.

But what the fan’s chant really represents is a desire by Philadelphians to bring on the best. “Bring on the Yankees, so we can beat them down in the World Series” is the common thought among Phillies fans. They are simply calling out the most formidable and worthy of opponent, to justify their second Championship in as many years.

After last year’s historic and memorable victory over the Tampa Rays, ending a 26-year drought of Championship-less baseball in Philadelphia, you would think Phillies fans wouldn’t change a thing. Yet the impression I get from most, is that they would trade it all back for a chance to beat the dreaded New York Yankees in this year’s version of the fall Classic. Even as recent as yesterday, Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel said “We have to beat the Yankees...we wouldn’t want to be playing any other team.”

So how do I feel as a Yankees fan? My thoughts were best expressed by Charley Steiner.

Former ESPN announcer and baseball commentator, Charley Steiner called Yankees games on the radio for a very brief period from 2002 until 2005. When asked why he was leaving the Yankees after such a short period, he gave the most eloquent quote about the Yankees I have ever heard. He said, “I want to cover a team whose players and fans react to winning as fun, and not as a relief”. I use that quote at least once a week as a Yankee fan. Charley said it almost five years ago.

Winning in New York is not fun, it is simply a relief. Why?

Because every single team in baseball approaches the Yankees the exact same way. It’s the way the Phillies are coming into this World Series. Weather it is a Spring Training game in March against the Pirates, or game 7 of the World Series, everyone wants their piece of the Yankees, and everyone is the underdog. (And the media takes extreme measures to support these fan feelings.) All baseball fans want to see their team beat down the Yankees more then anything else.

To prove my point, if you compare the Yankees and Phillies position by position, the only clear advantage the Yankees have is at third base. Almost everything else about these two World Series teams is dead even. Truthfully, as an honest Yankees fan, I could see this series going either way. Yet Las Vegas has the Yankees favored by 2 to 1 odds. And Las Vegas sets the ideology for the rest of the world. After all, they control the all mighty dollar.

As a fan this idea that the Yankees are always the best (even when they are not) leaves me only relived when they win, as opposed to excited or happy. Even the Yankee players themselves don’t celebrate like other teams. The Yankees haven’t engaged in a dog pile (a victory celebration of ecstatic euphoric proportions) since the 2003 ALCS. Why? Because they are suppose to celebrate all the time. They win so much that they are supposed to be jaded by it.

And sure the Yankees bring these problems on themselves with all their acquired talent.

The Yankees went out and acquired top players to build their team. A-Rod, Teixeira, CC Sabathia, and Burnett are all acquired free agents whose asking price was embarrassing. Their costs were then turned over to fans who were asked to pay as much as $2400.00 for tickets.

But are the Phillies really that different?

In the last five years no team with a pay roll of less then 75 million has won the World Series. The Yankees are first in payroll, while the Phillies are sixth. To put that in prospective- half of baseball’s team’s this year had a payroll less then 75 million. Meaning half the teams were most likely out of World Series contention before the season even got started. The Phillies went out and acquired Cliff Lee, Pedro Martinez, Brad Lidge, and Raul Ibanez. And truth be told- neither team would be in this World Series without their high priced acquired talent.

But just like the Yankees, the Phillies have a ton of homegrown talent too. Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, and Shane Victorino are as wholesome and genuine to the Phillies, as Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada and Robinson Cano are to the Yankees. And those core players are the ones I like to focus on going into this World Series.

I guess the only real conclusion I can draw is that “Its good to be the king, but it is lonely at the top.” When the day comes that the Yankees win their 27th World Series title, their will be more baseball fans enraged then those who will be ecstatic throughout the country. And as for the 2009 World Series, the Philadelphia Phillies are in the driver’s seat. They are the team with nothing to lose, and everything to gain!

Yankees in six.

The 2009 All-Star Game

2009-07-14T16:26:00.000-07:00

If I could capture a moment in time and live in it forever, this would be it. Actually, it’s not really a moment. It's a very short period of time that only comes once a year. We are in it! Its mid July, in North America, in the 21st Century. It’s the mid-way point of the summer season. Weather your glass is half full, or half empty, now is the time to make that determination. The bright outstanding colors of the fireworks, the smell of the barbeques, the feel of pools and beaches, the long days and hot nights; it's short shorts, flip flops, and tan lines, and they are all as much ahead of us, as they are behind. But my favorite moment of them all is Major League baseball's marquee event of the summer:

The MLB All-Star game!

Its baseball's yearly traveling carnival. Its the one night of the year that I feel like I'm 12-years old again. Watching all of baseball's greatest heroes in one collective event. What really does it for me is the lineup and introductions just before game time. Players that would kill each other on a normal night, actually standing side by side. Athletics green, along side of Royals blue, and Cardinals Red up against Astros yellow and Rockies purple. All the colors of July fireworks all being worn between the baselines. It's not only the mixture of these great colors complimenting one another, but the games very best players complimenting each other as well. Like the original Thanksgiving was a three-day feast, the All-star game is baseball's three day mid summer feast. Celebrity softball, the Futures game, the Homerun derby, the Fan Fest, and the main event: The All-Star game itself. MLB's American League versus its National League. The game's winner gains home field advantage for the World Series.

It’s not just the game though.

It’s also when all of the season’s story lines all reach their apex. Clear-cut winners and losers have been determined, and now less then 81 games remain for each team to achieve the ultimate goal. Manny Atca is out as Nationals Manager in D.C. Pedro Martinez is in, as the new Phillies starter. Roy Halladay will soon be traded, the Dodgers will soon win 100 games, and soon the Yankees and Red Sox will battle once again. The stakes are higher, quality increased, and the time to say "its early yet" has long since fallen.

One word to describe it all: fun!

It's the middle of the journey! We know where we've been, and we take a moment to reflect. But right now, have no idea where we are going. The road is not written. It may already be over, like the 1990 Cincinnati Reds, who were in first place from opening day, until the conclusion of the World Series. Or maybe a team like the 1978 Yankees, or 2007 Rockies is out there. A team that will make an improbable comeback. A true Cinderella story. Maybe the Mets? Or Maybe the Rockies again? Who knows!

What I do know is that the All-Star game to me is like a moment frozen in time. A moment of the summer I would love to keep in a jar forever. I will be on my couch tonight keeping score, and relishing in all the moments of the mid summer classic.

I HATE THE BOSTON RED SOX !!!

2009-06-09T19:09:00.000-07:00

Albert Einstein once said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.

I found myself so excited when I got home from work tonight! I had had an exhausting day at work, and just after opening the door to my apartment, I bolted right for the couch. That was where I was planning to recuperate and find my second wind! For tonight was the start of the third series of the year between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.

Like the two series before this one I was pumped! This is sports greatest rivalry! As a fan, if you can’t get yourself excited for this, what can you get excited for? But tonight there was added incentive! The games in the two series before were over before the ever really got started. The Red Sox had dominated the Yankees in every way imaginable. They had beaten the Yankees to a pulp. The Yankees had lost all of thier first five games to the Boston Red Sox in 2009. But since May 6th (the last time the two teams matched up) these have become two very different ball clubs. The Yankees have been on fire, winners of 21 out of 28. A-Rod is back in the every day lineup, Mark Teixeira’s numbers have skyrocketed, and the starting pitching has found its groove. Even the bullpen, as awful as it is, has not stopped the Yanks. As for the Red Sox, they are just two games over .500 during that time. (16-14) And have been nothing more then an average team over that time.

So certainly the match up was in the Yankees favor! Some sweet good old fashion payback! The dish best served cold- revenge! The Yankees, I thought, were sure to take two of three, if not a straight sweep of the dreaded Sox!

As I watched Pardon The Interruption on ESPN 2, I was counting down the seconds until 7:00pm. From 6:55 to 7:05 I was so impatient I could hardly sit still!

Then as Red Sox starter, Josh Beckett, finally delivered the first pitch of the game, Derek Jeter promptly grounded out to shortstop. It was obvious from the get-go that if the Yankees were to win, they were going to have to match Beckett’s dominance defensively. Yankees starter, A.J. Burnett, was going to have to be better then average. He was going to have to be almost perfect.

After one-and-one-half innings of play, the line score for booth teams was identical- filled to capacity with zeros. But in the bottom of the second it was obvious that A.J. Burnett had no idea what he was doing! A.J. was running up his pitch count, walking batters and drastically missing on location.

Then up came David Ortiz, the Artist formerly know as Big Papi.

I was thrilled to see Ortiz coming into the series with his .197 batting average! Ortiz has been a Yankee killer for a long long time! I have always found his tremendous success suspect. When Ortiz first came on the scene in 2003, he had been released from the Minnesota Twins. The Twins has found serious flaws in his hitting technique, and had outright released him. He was an out of shape, over weight DH, who couldn't catch up to a fastball, and couldn't lay off any pitch off the plate.

“Finally”, I thought!

Ortiz was once again starting to play like the Scube he was in Minnesota.

His skills had dropped so significantly, that Sox Manager, Terry Francona, dropped Ortiz to sixth in the batting order. And so as the sixth batter of the game for Boston, Ortiz came to the plate with one on and no one out. The fifth pitch of the at-bat was a four-seam fastball right over the plate. Ortiz drilled it to straight away center. Yankees Center Fielder Brett Gardner just looked up, as the ball sailed well above him.

2-0 Boston!

The game was over with one swing!

Ortiz might as well have hit a walk off home run!

How confident was I that the game was over?

Well, I actually posted this Blog before tonight’s game went final!

I was disgusted!!!

This is a darn conspiracy! I am sure Bud is in on it too! The Red Sox have the Yankees on a leash, in their back pockets! As a Yankee fan I find it aggravating, embarrassing, disgraceful, and downright repulsive!

After the Ortiz homerun, I started texting the Old Man with profanitites and exploitives that would make a truck driving sailor cry! I got off the couch and went out to jog the neighborhood by the fourth inning! And Tuesday night is not even my usual night to run! Blasting music on my I-pod and sprinting the sidewalks, I found no comfort for my vicarious frustrations.

Einstein was right!

Because tomorrow night, I will be back in front of the T.V. looking for a different result!

I am freaking insane!

Randy Johson Not The First Or The Last To Attain 300

2009-06-06T21:09:00.000-07:00

Ready?

Cause here is comes!

It’s all the nonsensical chatter from every baseball scube who claims to be an expert!

It’s a question that will be debated for weeks, following Randy Johnson’s historic 300th victory this past Wednesday in Washington D.C. It’s also a question that has been debated every time another pitcher has joined the 300 win club for the last six years.

They all weigh in with their idiotic opinions on a subject that is just plain dumb to answer “yes” to.

The question is:

“Have we seen the last 300 game winner in baseball history?”

On the evening of July 13th 2003, Roger Clemens won his 300th game at Yankees Stadium versus the St Louis Cardinals. It was thought by the majority in the media at that time, that Roger would be the last player to accomplish such a feat. It was also thought that he would retire after the season. Not only have their been three other 300 game winners since, but Roger himself won another 54 games before he was forced into retirement. If given the choice, Clemens may still be pitching today.

On August 7th 2004, Greg Maddux won the 300th game of his major league career. All I heard from media outlets around the globe, was that this would be the last time a pitcher would win 300 games. The bold declaration would be proven wrong just three years later. As for Maddux: he won another 55 games before retiring last season with Joe Torre’s Los Angeles Dodgers. He was still a valuable part of the LA bullpen when he called it a career.

On August 8th 2007, Tom Glavine won his 300th game against the Chicago Cubs, at Wrigley Field. It was one of the very few highlights Glavine had while pitching for the New York Mets. Once again, color commentators, talk show hosts, and sports annalists alike, stated with certainty that on pitcher would ever win 300 games again. Glavine is still active to this day, however the Atlanta Braves did just release him.

Then this past Wednesday, June 3rd 2009, Randy Johnson became the 24th player to win 300 games in his thirty-one year career. Johnson is just the sixth left-hander to win 300, and maybe the most unlike able guy to accomplish the task as well. A constant snobbish swagger has shadowed Johnson since his early days in Seattle. An “I in team” attitude is a well-documented part of his character. And he certainly has no love for reporters of any kind. (I’m sure especially degenerate sports Bloggers writing without college degrees.) Johnson may also be the most ugly guy to win 300 as well. An insider nickname my family has had for Randy, for years now, is the Freak Of Nature. But regardless of my own opinions of Johnson, his accomplishment is fantastic, well earned and well deserved.

But with Randy’s historic victory comes the media circus of moronic commentary. I just can’t take the irresponsible journalism! All these desk jockey’s, dolled up in a T.V. studio some place, all with blank looks on their face when some host asks them if we will ever see another 300 game winner. The all fumble around, choose their words poorly, and conclude with the safe answer of “no”. They site things like pitch counts, pulling players out of games early, or the five man rotations as their reasons why. These are all weak excuses made by guys who simply have not done their homework.

I will be the first to agree that it is getting harder and harder for pitchers to achieve the 300 win plateau, however it doesn’t make it unattainable! Unattainable records are those like Joe-D’s 56 game hitting streak, or Cal Ripken’s consecutive game streak. A 300 game winner is certainly something I expect to see again in my lifetime!

I will refrain from commenting on the careers of Josh Beckett, Johan Santana, Tim Hudson, or Javier Vasquez. But will simply state that they too could be 300 win candidates. However, here is a list of just four players who could very well get the job done.
Here are my best four cases for baseball’s 25th member of the 300 win club.

Carlos Zambrano

Carlos Zambrano, of the Chicago Cubs, just celebrated his 28th birthday, last Monday. He also just celebrated his 100th career victory just four nights later. So at 28 years old with 100 victories under his belt, Carlos needs to average 13 wins a year for the next 16 years to enter the 300 win club. 13 is of course a very low and attainable number of victories for a given season, while 16 years from today would make Carlos 44 years old. Or one year younger then Jamie Moyer who is still pitching for the Phillies.

Roy “Doc” Halladay

Roy Halladay is 32 years old and already has 140 victories. He will win at least 10 more games before the seasons end. Which would put him half way to 300. So assuming Roy plays another 12 years, (retiring at 44), Roy would need just 12 wins a year to achieve 300. Roy is without a doubt the games most dominating pitcher and as a free agent after the season, he is about to move to a winning team, and score a major payday!

Andy Pettitte

Andy Pettitte, the Yankees 36-year-old left-hander doesn’t turn 37 for another two weeks. He currently stands at 220 career victories. If Andy applied himself and committed to the task of 300 wins he could do it. Andy would need to average 15 wins from now until he is 43 years old to get the job done. The trouble is Andy has no such ambition, to win 300. He also doesn’t believe his own left elbow could hold up that long with the riggers of pitching once a week. However Andy Pettitte is in place statistically and has enough youth in the fountain to do it!

Carsten Charles Sabathia

C.C. Sabathia is 28 years old has yet to win 20 games in a season, and yet has 122 career victories. Assuming he pitches to the age of 40 and avoids major injury, C.C. would only need to average 15 wins a season. This is something very practical while playing on the Yankees. A team that will always score him a ton of runs.

So in conclusion, please don’t tell me a Major League starter will never win 300 games again! As so long as these four starters are pitching every fifth day, a chance still exhists! And my advise for the Harold Reynolds’s, and John Kruk’s of the world- pick up a stat sheet and a calculator (like I did) and make some accurate projections for a change!

New Yankees Stadium

2009-05-03T20:37:00.001-07:00

I just couldn’t take it anymore!

As a diehard Yankee fan, (My favorite clique on this site) I couldn’t watch another game at New Yankee Stadium, without having a first hand feel for the new billion dollar home of the Bronx Bombers. Having been to all but one MLB stadium, I can watch almost any game on TV and have a real sense for the field, the fans and overall settings. But to me, every 2009 Yankees home game might as well have been played on Mars.

So late Friday night May 1, 2009 I purchased two tickets for the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim California. The first ticket was of course for me, but the second was for my archrival THE OLD MAN! Yes TOM, fresh off taking in his first Scranton Yankees game on Friday night, had decided to make one of his countless pilgrimages to Voorhees New Jersey. His objective was to annoy the ever-living snot out of me. When I told TOM that I had to take in a Yankee game at the new Stadium, he completely understood my dilemma with very little explanation. He agreed to going to New York, even though he would have rather seen the Mets and Phillies in the city of brotherly love.

Here is a tip for my readers (the one or two of you):

Stub-Hub has a great buyers market within 24 hours of any non-marquee baseball game. Great seats in the upper deck and even parts of the lower deck were being sold for 30, 40 and 50 dollars on Stub Hub at 11:00pm on Friday night. Sellers begin to get desperate. Asking prices for tickets begin to drop down as game time grows loser and loser. And so TOM and I had gotten great seats in the upper deck behind home plate for only 30 dollars.

I found myself feeling like a kid again as we began our drive to the Bronx. I was so excited to see the new home of the Yankees. During the drive, THE OLD MAN was complaining about his sore right shoulder. TOM had been hit by a pitch the night before in Scranton. He had been leaning against the fence behind home plate in-between innings. A warm-up pitch had gotten away from the Yankee starter, and TOM took one to the shoulder. I made a note of TOM’s pain on my scorecard and gave him credit for an official at-bat.

Of course as we hit the George Washington Bridge, traffic slowed our journey to a crawl. The fact that we had slept inn didn’t help. Finally at 12:00, noon we pulled into the old Yankee Stadium parking garage, moments away from entering the new stadium. TOM was fiddling with his Jacket, scorecard and other belongings. I was growing rapidly impatient. Finally we began walking River Avenue, taking in all the familiar sites. Ticket scalpers, homeless beggars, fat-drunken-pinstripe-wearing fans, were all within my line of site. Also in my sights was old Yankee stadium. My old home looked like it has aged 50 years in just 9 months. Of course there has been no up keep on the building. No fresh paint, or minor repairs. In fact, chipped concrete, graffiti, and trash, now serve as hosts to the former cathedral of champions. My heart sank when I saw this. As awful as my thoughts were, I had wished the Stadium was already gone rather then being subjected to its latest fate.

As TOM and I crossed 161st street and stepped onto Babe Ruth plaza, a cluster of fans surrounded us. A crapped feeling began, and would never relinquish throughout the rest of the day. TOM and I entered the new park from the entrance behind home plate. As I walked in from the turnstiles, toward the field, old photos from Yankees past were everywhere. Photos of Ruth and Gerhig were common, representing the tradition of excellence transplanted from across the street. TOM and I viewed the new open concourse on the first base side. The new concourse has been high publicized and very popular.

When we looked out at the field, we noticed that an usher was standing at every asile. If you didn’t posses a ticket to the lower deck, there was no way to get past the usher. Even if you just wanted to check out batting practice, or try to get an autograph, or just check out the view from a seat for a future purchase, you were simply shunned away. This was the case throught the park. There is a strong push by the organization to make sure everyone is sitting in their assigned seat.

I began checking out the concessions. A huge gift shop on the first base side caught my eye. It was over crowed, with over priced, over commercialized merchandise, none of which I was interested in. To appease TOM we did take a look inside after the game. In between the gift shop was a fruit stand and an Art Gallery. I turned to TOM and said “My mind is made up about this place! No baseball stadium should ever sell fruit or art!”. As we continued to walk the cramped and narrow concourses we found our way to an escalator taking us up. As we arrived at our seats, I reminded TOM that we were just fifteen minutes from game time, and that a fifteen-minute call could save you fifteen percent or more on your car insurance. We immediately began to notice the empty seats in the lower deck, but I also noticed the empty luxury boxes. A topic all of the New York writers have left alone.

I finished my $6.00 hotdog, wrote down the lineups and stood for the national anthem. Then at 1:07 Eastern Standard Time C.C. Sabathia threw the first pitch. It was his first of 119 pitches, and an average outing for the new Yankee ace.

C.C. pitched well, and had great movement on his slider and changeup early in the game. As the game progressed, he struggled, and left the game in the 7thing inning, after squandering a 1-0 lead. Sabathia turned the game over to the Yankees biggest quandary of 2009- the bullpen.

It was where the Yankees lost the game.

It will never show up in the box score, the YES network will never cover it, and no one on the Angels will tell you, but if the Yankee bullpen had simply pitched scoreless baseball in relief of C.C., then the Yankees would have won Saturday’s game. The Yankee bullpen has been god-awful, literally since day one! (Opening Day the Yankee pen gave up four runs in 3 and 2/3rd innings.)

I was completely disgusted watching Albaladejo, Veras, Robertson, fumble all around the pitchers mound, throwing balls that led to walks, and giving up base hits. As the later innings unfolded it became more and more clear the Yankees would not be coming back to win.

I left New Yankee Stadium with a complete cluster of thoughts and feelings. There was my aggravation in watching a tough Yankee loss. I had however accomplished my goal. At least now I know what I am looking at when watching a Yankee home game on TV. As for the new Stadium: my vote is not in yet. There is much to hate about the new park. But winning changes everything. Memories are what make a building sentimental. I hope the Yankees are still in the memory making business, and can quickly bring a Championship to the New Yankee Stadium. It would make the new transition a whole lot easier.

Sports Concussions

2009-01-08T19:24:00.000-08:00

The following are excerpts from my autobiography:

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Coldness Blackness.

I open my eyes and I have no control over my own body. I close my eyes again before I can see anything.

I open my eyes and I see a shattered windshield and two air bags that have been deployed.

I close my eyes again.

I open my eyes and I see a women standing at my passenger door. I think she might be holding my hand. I close my eyes, and then quickly reopen them. She tells me that everything is going to be ok, and that the accident was not my fault.

I close my eyes.

I reopen my eyes and I see that the entire front drivers side of my car is smashed. It looks like an accordion from the front bumper up to my hood. The woman is still standing outside my door. I close my eyes and pass out.

I see two E.M.T.’s making arrangements at my door to move me from the drivers seat on to a stretcher. I feel my feet touch pavement and I feel the cold air of the winter morning.
Quickly the two E.M.T.’s help me to a laying position on the stretcher. I begin to shake.

I close my eyes and pass out.

I reopen my eyes. I can feel my self totally immobile, as I am completely strapped to the stretcher. There are two men off in the distance standing at a 24-foot truck.

I have had little control over my body since the first time I opened my eyes, and now that I am on a stretcher, I have even less control. I am at the complete mercy of the people around me. They hold all the power. Whatever they want to do with me, or where ever they want to take me is completely up to them.

I feel the E.M.T.’s moving my stretcher into an ambulance. I hear the loud voice of a woman, taking control inside the ambulance. I close my eyes and pass out again.

In and out of consciousness I continue to slip.

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On Wednesday December 27th 2006, I was in a near fatal car accident in Robbinsville New Jersey. The results of which were a severe concussion and post concussion syndrome. To this day I continue to suffer from short-term memory loss, and limited mental fatigue.

The long-term results of a concussion vary, but the internal effects are always the same. The brain is knocked back and forth inside the skull due to a blow to the head. The internal results are dizziness confusion and disorientation. Later feelings of stress, anxiety, depression and sleeplessness follow. Then a lack of sharpness and fuzziness often prevail.

200 years ago scientist Samuel Hahnemann developed theories of the brain as a source of magnetic energy. He believed that the brain was the central area affecting drops in energy levels. The pituitary gland or (master gland) is located at the base of the scull. The gland is responsible for the proper function and coordination of body functions. Recent studies have shown that alteration or effects to the pituitary gland will lead to anxiety, irritability depression, mood swings, and nervousness. Studies have shown that concussions result in gland alterations and loss of energy levels.

As a result of my accident, the subject of Sports Concussions is a topic very near and dear to my heart. I have been strongly contemplating a blog on the subject for nearly two years. Because of my close feelings on the subject, I have been reluctant to post a blog. Unable to truly capture the issue and my feelings, this blog has been continuously pushed to the back of my writings.

Until now.

On Sunday December 28th Pittsburgh Steelers Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was involved in a three-player sack that resulted in his third career Sports Concussion. He laid motionless on the field for more then 15 minutes before being strapped to a stretcher and taken to a local hospital. Ben is questionable, but is expected to play in the Steelers first playoff game this Sunday.

As I watched the highlights on the Burger Palace Jumbo-tron it became a story all too familiar. Every professional sport is prone to athletes who suffer from Concussions. NHL star Keith Primeau retired as a result of post concussion syndrome. MLB catcher Mike Matheny, who lead the San Francisco Giants to a World Series in 2002 also retired from Concussion related injuries. Johnny Damon, Jim Edmonds, and Ryan Church are other MLB players who have had life altering experiences as a result of a concussion. Even the NBA is susceptible to Sports Concussions. Chicago Bulls team mates Loul Geng and Eric Piatkowski ran into one another during a game two seasons ago.

It’s yet another ugly topic professional sports leaders work to dodge.

But two years ago, just before Super Bowl XLI, New England Patriot linebacker Ted Johnson brought the subject into the spotlight. He had claimed that coach Bill Belichick and the Patriots made light of his concussions, and as a result, played threw many head injuries that required therapy and time off. The media covered the issue well at the time, but the subject matter was eventually swept back under the rug.

This is usually the point in my Blog where I offer an opinion or produce a statement. However in this case I have no answers. The issue is serious, yet those who suffer from concussions are quick to resume normal lives. The body’s physical functions resume almost immediately yet the brain does not. What is the solution for athletes who receive Concussions and those who suffer from Post Concussion Syndrome?

I have no idea.

Ben Roethlisberg resumed practice this past Monday, and is expected to play in this Sunday’s playoff game.

But what can I say.

I was playing football in my mom’s backyard with my cousins four days after my accident. My body recovered, but my mind never to be the same again.

Top Ten Of 2008

2008-12-31T23:50:00.000-08:00

Just another lazy lonely New Years Eve for me!

No New Years toast, or midnights kiss.

No trip to Times Square, or party of friends.

No Cristal or Scotch or Slow Gin Fizz.

Just my laptop, my Sports Blog, and the ten best Games or Sports Events of 2008.

In chronological order:

1) Super Bowl XLII

Late in quarter number four.

The drive for New York started out exactly as predicted. The Giants were desperate, and struggling to drive the ball thru the New England territory. They even had to convert a huge fourth down with less then three minutes left in the game.

Then Manning at his own 43-yard line began a sequence of plays that will never be forgotten. First down produced nothing. Second down was more of the same. Finally it was third and five, the game on the line. Manning called for the ball and while looking down field, he quickly began to feel the pocket cave in around him. Jarvis Green and Richard Seymour of the Patriot defensive line tried a total of four times to sac Manning. Yet somehow someway the Giant Quarterback remained on his feet, dashing and slithering his way in and out of pressure.

As if Manning’s resilient scramble wasn’t amazing enough, what happened next was truly unbelievable! Manning threw the ball 30 yards down the field into a four-man defensive cover. Four different New England Patriots surround just one New York Giant.

That Giant was tight end David Tyree.

In an effort of desperation, Tyree leapt into the air and pulled down the Manning pass. The ball was well over Tyree’s head as he began to fall to the ground. Patriot safety Rodney Harrison was also trying to catch the ball. As both men hit the turf, the ball had settled in-between Tyree’s hands, directly on top of his helmet. Somehow someway Tyree held on to the ball and completed the catch. The Giants were alive and the momentum of Super Bowl XLII had taken a shocking dramatic shift.

Thirty seconds later Manning found Plexico Burress in the end zone for a touchdown.

Giants 17 Patriots 14

There was 35 seconds left in the game. The Giants defense that had been so dominate for 59 minutes 25 seconds never let up. Strahan, Umenyiora, Pierce, and Tuck all contributing heavily to stopping Tom Brady and the Patriots. With just one second left the Giants took over on downs. Eli took a knee and New York Giants had shocked the world.

Super Bowl XLII the Arizona Upset!

2) Red Wings Stanley Cup Champions

With under a minute to play the Wings held a 3-2 lead. It was a final save by old hand goalie Dominick Hasek in the closing seconds that propelled the Wings to the cup. The Detroit Red Wings made short work of the 2008 NHL Stanley Cup. Four games to two, was all they needed to eliminate the Pittsburgh Penguins. Detroit winger Henrik Zetterberg was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy, the Final MVP. Detroit, one of the original six, had re-emerged as the NHL’s very best in 2008.

3) Tiger and Rocco battle to exhaustion

Coming off one of the last tee-boxes, late in the day on Saturday, Tiger turned to his caddy and told him, “This is it for a while”. Tiger was positive he would have to shut his game down immediately following the US Open. Woods, having just had his third knee surgery, was still experiences a great deal of pain, and the pain was vastly affecting his game. Tiger figured he was within a few dozen holes of being done for 2008. Little did he know he would need 20 extra holes to finish out the Tournament.

Enter Rocco Mediate.

Rocco the 45-year-old veteran of the PGA was ranked 156th at the US Open, and had never won a Major. Mediate emerged on Saturday as a leader and a possible favorite, with Woods, to win the event. As the match played out on Sunday, Rocco and Tiger were tied thru the 18th, and were still tied after a 1-hole shootout. The PGA rules indicate the event goes into overtime tournament one on one match Monday.

Once again thru 18 holes Tiger and Rocco were tied.

Finally after yet another 1-hole shootout, Tiger found himself ahead one stroke. And then after Rocco failed to make a long putt, Tiger emerged victorious. By far the most exciting episode on the PGA tour in 2008. A very memorable US Open.

4) Celtic Pride

In the late summer months of 2007 Celtics head coach Doc Rivers took his Boston team on a road trip. The road trip was not to a foreign country or even to a neighboring Boston city. Rather, the road trip was around the streets of Boston. The trip was the victory parade route used for the New England Patriots and the Boston Red Sox in earlier championship seasons. Doc wanted his team to see the final goal, where the season’s journey would end. A man of vision, Doc got his team back to the victory parade path just months after their initial visit. But the second time, was for a parade of their own. The Celtics put together one of the best regular seasons in the history of the NBA, and defeated the Lakers in six games. Lead by the “Boston Three-Party” of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen, the Celtics were the toast of the NBA in 2008, and could be well on their way to a continued dynasty in 2009.

5) Josh Hamilton Wins The Homerun derby.

He hit 28 homers in the first round !!! Thirteen in a row!!!

And not one of Josh’s 34 total homeruns was a cheep shot. Josh hit one two thirds of the way up the black bleachers in centerfield, (an area that has one been hit by a handful of players in major league history). He hit several into the tier reserve sections of the right field upper deck (the only seats I can afford anymore at Yankee Stadium). He hit one into the old Yankee Bullpen in right, which bounced to the back outer wall of the house that Ruth built. He hit one into the last row of the right field bleachers!

Now I realize that the whole thing is an exhibition. Josh was hitting essentially batting practice homers. No one pitch that he launched was thrown faster then 65 miles and hour. However the display Josh put on in the final All-Star game at Yankee Stadium was a very special moment in his career and in the 2008.

Having shared many of the same demons in my own life that Josh has battled, I find both his comebacks so completely improbable and so remarkable that there is no way that my own words will ever do it the justice that it deserves. To me what makes Josh’s journey great is his ability to overcome the extreme challenges of sobriety and addiction, where most people die long before they can even assume normal lives and then once accomplishing that phenomenal feat, Josh climbed the minor league ladder alas reaching the majors. He overcame the skeptics, the minor leagues, and achieved the almost impossible dream to become a professional ball player. Other players have overcome injury, and substances to make MLB comebacks (Strawberry and Gooden are just a few). But Josh’s story is unique because he was at rock bottom both personally and professionally. A baseball player can’t be any lower then being banded from Single A. Josh is not just a comeback ball player, he is a comeback human being. And so his display in the homerun derby in 2008 was certainly in the top ten moments of the year.

6) Phelps cleans house at the summer Olympics

I pretend to be a sports expert and I do try to throw my knowledge and opinions around this sports blog. That being said, I am not a fan of the Olympics, nor am I a fan of competitive swimming. However what Michael Phelps this summer in Beijing was absolutely phenomenal! The man won 14 gold metals an all time record. Who can forget that picture of Phelps on the front cover of Sports Illustrated wearing all 14 metals in early autumn? Or the image of Phelps pumping of his arms, just outside the pool, after his final victory? The athletic accomplishment is something even a non-fan of swimming can admire. It was truly a top moment in 2008.

7) Yankees Stadium closes its doors forever

The House That Ruth Built, as it has been commonly called, closed its doors forever on Sunday night September 21st. For me Yankees Stadium has been like a home, and a place I will never forget.

Yankee Stadium has been my home away from home. A place that I knew vast comfort and entertainment in the city that never sleeps. I experienced great friendships and family moments over hundreds of games and thousands of innings. I went to games with girl friends, and after college visitations. I went on school nights and stayed up way past bedtime. I went to games on my own, and even took a British friend to his first ever American baseball game. (He tried to equate it to Cricket.) I went to playoff games and two World Series games, Game 2 of the 1996 World Series, and Game 1 of the 1998 World Series. I even took my dad to his first ever playoff game, last season against the Indians in the division series.
Since 2004 plans to build a new Yankees Stadium have been looming. At first those of us with fond feelings for the current Stadium denied that the day would ever come. Then there was a groundbreaking ceremony. Then over the last two seasons strong visual evidence began growing every day. Now the New Yankee Stadium is almost complete just beyond the third base side of the current Stadium. As the 2008 season began, the theme of endings had also begun. Last opening day, last season series, and last All-Star game.

In conclusion, a very special place that has been very important to my life will soon be destroyed and gone forever. What remains are photographs, videotape and a mind bursting with memories. Like so many other things in life, we can’t stop the clock. We cant stop the change, all we can do is accept the things beyond our control remember the past with a sense of fondness, and look to the future with a sense of hope.

8) The last place Rays win the Pennant

In early May, I remember thinking, “how cute.”

“The Rays are in first place. Enjoy it while it lasts guys. Cause in the Al East, this will never hold up!”

How could it possibly last?

A team with a 44 million dollar payroll ( fifth to last in all of baseball). An organization that has a ten-year tradition of mediocrity. A team that plays in the same division as the powerhouse Yankees and Red Sox. Besides, there was almost five months of baseball left to play. I just laughed off the Tampa Bay Rays, and continued to laugh the rest of the summer.

But in October, the laughing had stopped.

The Rays held the best record in baseball. They defeated the Chicago White Sox in the division series. The defeated the Boston Red Sox in seven games in the ALCS and fell just short of winning everything.

The Rays are for real.

9) The Philadelphia Phillies win the World Series.

For the first time since game one, Brad Lidge entered the game in a save situation. Chase Utley gather up the first out on a pop up to second base. After a Dioner Navarro base hit, and a Perez pinch running stolen base, Jayson Werth caught a Ben Zobrist line drive for the second out. Eric Hinski came up representing the last hope for the Tampa Bay Rays. On a 1-2 pitch Hinski weakly swung over the top of a slider from Brad Lidge.

Lidge fell to his knees. Catcher Carlos Ruiz ran out to hug him. Ryan Howard and members for the Phillies dugout ran the battery over. 46,000 Phillies fans went insane!
The call from Joe Buck was “The Phillies are World Champions”.

I could hear other apartments in my complex going crazy. Shortly after, I heard fireworks going off in the distance. An hour later Broad Street looked like Times Square on New Years Eve. The World Series was over. Almost entirely dominated by the Phillies. The World Series MVP award was given to Cole Hamels.

Philadelphia Phillies win game five 4-3. Phillies win World Series 4-1.

10) Texas Stadium closes its doors on a somber note.

Although I don’t share the same fondness for Texas Stadium that I do for Yankee Stadium, I still recognize the building as a holy shrine of football history. Everyone over the age of 25 remembers the opening credits of the show Dallas, and the aerial shot of Texas Stadium. It was the first building of its kind, with it’s partially closed roof. The concept would lead to the retractable domes that are very so popular in MLB in recent years. Unfortunately the final game at Texas Stadium was a devastating loss for the Cowboys. They were defeated by the Baltimore Ravens, 33-24 . The loss made it difficult for Dallas to make the playoffs and marked for a very somber closing ceremony after the game.

These are my top ten sports moments of 2008. Now I am going to bed...alone!

NHL Winter Classic

2008-12-21T16:08:00.000-08:00

The end of the calendar year always marks a glorious time in the world of professional sports. The NFL is wrapping up the regular season, and the best football of the winter is being played out. Each NBA team has about thirty games under their belts, and significant winners and losers are beginning to emerge. College football has announced it's Bowl Game schedule and exciting matches are looming. However, just last year a new event has been added to the season. An event I enjoy more then the rest.

The event I am referring to is, the NHL’s winter classic.

An annual out door hockey game played on New Years Day.

Is the NHL a struggling sport organization? Sure. Did the players strike three years ago damage the league in ways never before seen? Completely. Does the NHL struggle with its image, and players whose dark conduct bring negative headlines to the sport? Absolutely. However Gary Bettman and the NHL tried an experiment last year on New Years day in Buffalo New York. The experiment has gone a long way to improve the leagues image and created some badly needed buzz.

On January first, 2008 the Buffalo Sabers battled the Pittsburgh Penguins in an overtime game in front of a record 71,217 fans. It was the largest attended NHL game in history and the most watched NHL game in twelve years. I watched the entire game in the Burger Palace last year. Visions of frigid Buffalo fans, a hockey rink set up on a football field, and Bob Costas covered in snow still run strong in my mind a year later. After the game the NHL announced the event would become a yearly occasion, rotating from city to city. There was even talk of adding additional outdoor games to the NHL schedule (as many as three or four).

Over the summer of 2008 it was announced that Chicago’s Wrigley field would host the 2009 Winter Classic, and the game would be between the Chicago Black Hawks and Detroit Red Wings. The rink is to be set from first base to third base on Wrigley’s infield diamond. The two teams will switch directions halfway thru the third period two keep weather related factors even (wind, and or precipitation).

The Winter Classic is no doubt the greatest thing to come out of the NHL since Wayne Gretzky. The idea of taking an indoor game and having it in its natural settings, in a venue that holds twice the normal audience is fantastic. The NHL has stumbled upon a goldmine with the Winter Classic, and I certainly hope the league considers adding more outdoor games to the season schedule in the years to come.
I know that in the early afternoon on New Years Day, I will be grabbing some chips, a nice cold one of some type, putting on my sweatshirt, and I will make my way down the Burger Palace to watch the 2009 Winter Classic.

C.C. Reluctantly Lands In The Bronx

2008-12-11T19:28:00.000-08:00

C.C. Sabathia, born Carsten Charles, in Vallejo, California, in July of 1980, is arguably the finest left-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball today. On July 7th of this year, C.C. was traded from the Cleveland Indians to the Milwaukee Brewers, where he preceded to pitch one of the most dominant half seasons in baseball history. He held an 11-2 record with a 2.70 ERA and was solely responsible for the Brewers winning their first ever National League Wild Card. (Their first post season appearance since 1982.)

The Cleveland Indians initially traded Sabathia because his contract was to expire after the season, and they knew they would not have the revenue to resign the big lefty. The Milwaukee Brewers were in no greater financial position themselves. So the scuttlebutt within the league from July to December was questioning what team C.C. would sign with over the winter.

Enter the New York Yankees.

For the first time in eleven years the New York Yankees missed out on the post season in 2008. The powerhouse franchise, that puts winning above everything has been determined to fix the problems this winter and come back with vengeance in 2009. When Yankee radio broadcaster Susan Walden signed off, and gave her closing thoughts after the final regular season game of 2008, she said that she fully expected New York to acquire C.C. Sabathia as well as several other lucrative free agents.

So in the very early hours of December 9th, the New York Yankees announced that they had reached a preliminary agreement with C.C. of 7-years for 161 million dollars. Sabathia took over 23 days to acknowledge the Yankees top offer and then another three before accepting it. And then still requested an additional 20 million dollars.

So what do I think?

As I have stated time and time again I am a Yankees fan first and foremost. So am I happy about my new lefty ace?

Not really!

Here is the problem- Simply stated C.C. does not want to be a Yankee.

As my uncle G.T. Steltz pointed out to me years ago, the MLB players union orchestrates the free agent market every off-season. Lead by union Chief Donald Fehr, the union works directly with player agents to squeeze as much money out of owners as humanly possible. (All at the expense of the fans- mind you.) The cleverest of the union’s operations is to always have the highest priced free agent players of any given off-season, sign the first deals of the winter. The idea is, if the top players signs the first deals for the top dollar, then the financial bar will be raised year after year. Last season's top free agents were Johan Santana and Alex Rodriguez. They both signed record-breaking deals, and the rest of last year’s free agents prospered as a result.

So long story short, the top free agent of the class of 2008 was by far C.C. Sabathia.

Now, I am exactly one month older then C.C., who has a wife (Amber of five years) and three young children. Amber is C.C.’s high school sweetheart, and the two have resided in California’s Vallejo area their entire lives. Most recently that have begun building a home in central California. Amber had been hoping that either the San Francisco Giants or Oakland Athletics would come forward with big contract offers.

They did not.

However the Anaheim Angles and the Los Angeles Dodgers were in contact with C.C.’s agent. C.C. had been highly interested in playing for a California team and was also highly interested in staying in the National League.

So with a young family at home, California ties, and the most power of any free agent this winter, why would C.C. choose a team that seems to go against everything he wants out of life?

For two astronomical reasons- money and pressure.

C.C. no doubt felt the pressure of the players union to sign his deal so that the rest of this year’s players could follow. The same pressure caused him to pursue the largest finical offer. Sure Anaheim and Los Angeles would have made offers, but at the end of the day, their deals would have been no where near the Yankees- and the rest of baseball could not afford to wait around any longer for C.C. to make up his mind.

So what do the Yankees get? They get a lefty ace whose heart and mind will be elsewhere.

Man do I hope I’m wrong. There is a good chance that C.C. will embrace New York, be embraced by New York, win 20 games, and pitch the Bronx Bombers to their first World Series in five years.

But there is also a very good chance that I will be right.

C.C. could be a mental mess, injured, and opting out of his contract after just three seasons (a contractual right).

How will it play out?

Well Yankee pitchers and catchers report to Tampa Florida in just sixty days from when I type.

And oh by the way, C.C. prefers spring training in Arizona over Florida too!

NFL Blunder

2008-12-06T21:50:00.000-08:00

On Sunday November 16, 2008 a very interesting thing happened in the NFL.

In Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Steelers were about to defeat the San Diego Chargers by a final score of 11-10. The Chargers had the ball with five seconds left in the game, and were on their own 20-yard line. Chargers quarterback Phillip Rivers began a final desperation play to end the game. If the play some how succeeded the Chargers would win the game by a final of 16-11. However is the play failed, the game would be over with zeros on the clock, and the Steelers holding the 11-10 lead. The Chargers offense began a flea flicker play. The play is designed to keep the ball moving forward while passing the ball either laterally or behind, all the while avoiding a tackle. The ball was passed three times. The third throw was a reverse lateral that was dropped and picked up by the Steelers Safety Troy Polamalu. With the play clock dead and the ball having been turned over, the game was essentially over. However Polamalu ran the ball back into the end zone for a Pittsburgh touchdown. The whistle was blown, the clock was dead, and the Steelers controlled the ball in the Chargers end zone.

Final score 17-10 right?

Not so much.

First the play went under booth review because the possibility existed that the turnover occurred on a forward lateral. It was a play of controversy inside of two minutes left in the game. Standard NFL practice to review any such plays. However even if the ball had not been turned over, the Steelers would have declined any penalty, and the game would still have been over. To make the matter worse, the ball was not a forward lateral. It was a clean play, a clean turnover, and a clean touchdown. The game should have ended with a final score of 17-10. Still even so, the NFL officials were considering lining up the two teams for a meaningless extra point attempt if the touchdown had held up. Instead the ruling on the field was overturned and the touchdown did not count. The final score was 11-10. All the controversy, all the time to review the play, and the NFL officials still got the call wrong.

But after all who the hell cares?

A win is a win is a win. Why should it matter to anyone on the field weather the score was 11-10 or 17-10 or 18-10? Points do matter slightly when determining playoff stature in the NFL. However point spread is not until seventh in the determining factors. Meaning things like divisional record, rank higher in playoff standings then things like, total points.

So in the end, my question remains, who cares?

It matters very little to the players or coaches, but to the millions of Americans who engage in fantasy football and the millions more who bet on the NFL weekly, it matters big time.

It’s the giant elephant in the room that the NFL would rather not discuss.

Even I have engaged in some significant betting this football season. (About 500 bucks in the hole as I type!) If its easy enough for me, the “Average Joe Fan” to find myself a bookie, then imagine how many other common fans put down money on games each weekend. The estimated number of fans who bet on sports on the Internet is in the neighborhood of 1.5 billion according to google.com. When I did an Internet search to find statistics on sports betting, it only lead to over 7 million hits on sports betting websites.

Then there is fantasy football. An estimated 15 million fans belong to fantasy leagues. More then one billion dollars is spent annually on fantasy football. Total points scored by players and teams; largely determine the rules of these leagues.

Let us not forget Las Vegas.

Las Vegas, America's adult playground, is the only city in the country where sports gambling is actually legal. Individual Vegas sports books net an estimated 12.9 million on Super Bowl weekend alone. I am all too familiar with the roar of the Sports book. Fans going nuts over a late fourth quarter touch down, when the winners and losers of the game itself have already been long determined. Point spreads, and over under’s allow for higher betting risks, and therefore higher financial reward to the better. It also allows the house to set rules that cover them, and insure dealer profit.

The only problem with the whole system of gambling on NFL games is when the gamblers, bookies, and fantasy leaguers, off the field influence the activities taking place on the field. Up until recently a lot of league factors have indirectly supported each side. The NFL draft and its ability to keep all teams equal, is both helpful to gamblers and to the NFL. The salary cap is equally helpful both on the field and off it. However instant replay has become a harmful vice in the NFL. It seems like it’s more important to get the call right for those off the field then for those on it.

An estimated 32 million dollars was lost in bets from the referees blown call in the Pittsburgh game on November 16th.

Seeing games like the one in Pittsburgh only enrage me as a sport purest. (I know that sounds funny. The “average Joe fan” who considerers himself a purest yet admits to having a sports bookie.) However far too often actions are taking place in NFL games for no other reason then to appease the sports better and fantasy leaguers. My betting life aside, no organization benefits from outside influence with a financial agenda.

World Series Recap

2008-11-02T20:08:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday night October 22, 2008 at 8:37 pm Fox Sports was finally done fumbling around with thirty minutes of pre-game, first pitch, national anthem and pageantry, and was finally ready for Major League Baseball’s 106th World Series.
Game one from Tampa / St Petersburg Florida featured the National League's Philadelphia Phillies versus the American League's Tampa Bay Rays.

At 8:38pm Eastern Standard Time, Tampa’s starting pitcher Scott Kazmir threw a 90 mph fastball at the knees to Philadelphia leadoff hitter Jimmy Rollins. The pitch was a called strike and the World Series was officially under way.

After Rollins flew out to right field to start the game, the Phillies got down to business. The second batter, Jayson Werth walked and then second baseman Chase Utley launched a two run homer to right center. Three batters into the World Series and the Phillies led 2-0.

The 2-0 lead gave Philly starter Cole Hamels a lot to work with, as he held the Ray’s bats silent for the first three and two thirds innings. In the top of the fourth inning the Phillies added a critical insurance run when they went up 3-0 on a Carlos Ruiz RBI ground out.

The Rays began to chip away. First a Carl Crawford solo homer in the fourth inning, then an Akinori Iwamura double to the gap in the fifth inning scored shortstop Jason Bartlett. Cole Hamels had made only a handful of mistake pitches in the game, but now he and the Phillies were clinging to a 3-2 lead. To make matters worse the Phillies were stranding runners on base at an alarming rate. Eleven runners in all were left on base in game one.

But Cole Hamels continued to battle and did exactly what his team required of him. He pitched seven brilliant innings. On his 100 pitch of the game he caught a come backer to the mound to record his final out before turning things over to the very capable Phillies bullpen.

Ryan Madson worked a 1-2-3 8th inning. The ninth inning belonged to the perfect Brad Lidge. All season long Lidge had been flawless for the Phillies in save situations. The post season was no different. “Lights out Lidge” as Philly fans have begun calling him, answered the call in game one. With his devastating slider he successfully struck out two of the three batters he faced.

Phillies won game one 3-2. Phillies led World Series 1-0.

Game two’s first pitch came at 8:31 on Thursday October 23, 2008. It was a James Shields fastball low and inside for ball one. It was the only blemish on Shields record in game two. He worked five and two third innings of shout out ball.

When I saw that MLB umpire Kerwin Danley was working home plate for game 2 of the World Series I began to cringe. Danley has been one of baseball’s worst umpires in 2008. Kerwin had very recently blown several key calls in the American League Championships series in Boston. In the third inning with the Rays up with two outs, it appeared that Rocco Baldelli struck out on a check swing. Danley waved his hand as though to indicate that Baldelli had swung, and then immediately appealed to first base umpire Fieldin Culbreth. Culbreth awarded the batter first base to extend the inning. Two batters later B.J. Upton drove a single to right field. Baldelli scored and the Rays took a 3-0 lead.

Eleven more runners had been left on base in game two for Philadelphia. Now the offense, the umpires, and most important of all momentum were working against the Phils. Rays rookie sensation David Price pitched very well in relief of Shields and closed the door for Tampa.

Rays won game two 4-2. The World Series was Tied 1-1.

On Saturday October 25, 2008 rain poured down throughout the Philadelphia area. After a ninety-minute rain delay the World Series was ready to resume with a change of setting. Citizens Bank Park was hosting its first ever World Series.

The first pitch from 45-year-old Philly Jamie Moyer was a letter high strike right across home plate. Moyer worked a scoreless first.

After a lead off hit by Rollins and a walk to the second batter Werth, Ray’s starter Matt Garza unleashed a wild pitch. With two runners in scoring position Chase Utley grounded out to second, driving in the first run of game. The Phillies took the early lead 1-0.

Tampa came right back with a run of their own in the second inning. Carl Crawford doubled, stole second base, and then trotted home on a deep sacrifice fly by Gabe Gross. Thru one and one half innings the game was tied at 1-1.

The back and forth continued as catcher Carlos Ruiz launched a solo homerun in the second giving the Phillies the lead back 2-1.

From the bottom of the second to the bottom of the sixth, the game saw nothing but dominate pitching from both Matt Garza and Jamie Moyer. Then in the bottom of the sixth two old teammates paired up to do what they do best. Chase Utley and Ryan Howard belted back-to-back homeruns to right field giving the Phillies a 4-1 lead.

The Rays were not done. The chipped away as the game progressed and in the top of the eighth the came all the way back to tie it. Carl Crawford proved to be trouble yet again on the bases. An errant throw to third base got away from Phillies third baseman Pedro Feliz. Crawford had successfully stolen third yet again, but when the ball got away from Feliz, Carl took home and the game was tied 4-4.

In the bottom of the ninth inning Ray’s reliever Grant Balfour hit lead off batter Eric Bruntlett. Bruntlett was awarded first base, and the next batter was center fielder Shane Victorino, who was showing bunt right away. Balfour’s pitch was wild and bounced of the backstop. The ricochet of the wild pitch came right back to catcher Dioner Navarro. He turned and threw to second. But the throw curved into right center field. Bruntlett ran to third and was 90 feet away from scoring the game-winning run.

Ray’s Manager Joe Maddon went to the mound with a very unorthodox plan of defense. The plan was to walk Victorino and the following batter, pinch hitter Greg Dobbs. So with the bases loaded Maddon took Ben Zobrist out of right field, and aligned his infield with five players. The strategy was to throw the runner out at home with anything hit on the infield. The drama and pressure was as intense as ever.

Catcher Carlos Ruiz came to the plate to face Grant Balfour. On the fifth pitch of the at bat, Ruiz squibbed a grounder down the third base line. Third baseman Evan Longoria charged the ball, fielded it, and attempted to lob the ball over the runner Bruntlett to get the out at home. The lob was over catcher Dioner Navarro’s head and Bruntlett slid in safely scoring the game-winning run.

Looking back, it was the end of the 2008 World Series. Although the series would still go two more games and three more nights, the Rays never mentally recovered. The home field advantage, starting pitching, and core of Champions on the Phillies were now in complete control.

Phillies won game three 5-4. Phillies led the World Series 2-1.

Game four was all Philadelphia.

The first pitch from Philly starter Joe Blanton was an 88 mph fastball inside for ball one.

In the bottom of the first, it was another blown call by the umpiring crew that led to the first run of the game. Jimmy Rollins was called safe at third base, loading them up for Pat Burrell. Pat drew a walk and the Phillies were up 1-0.

The bottom of the fourth was the break out inning for the Phillies. Up 2-1 Ryan Howard came to the plate and delivered a three run homerun to left field. The opposite field swing was a missing link for Howard this October. He had found the error in his ways, and the Phillies were up 5-1.

The Phillies would score five more runs before it was all said and done. Another home run by Howard, a two run shot, a Jayson Werth two run homer, and a solo home run by starting pitcher Joe Blanton.

The Phillies rocked the Rays 10-2. The Phillies led the World Series 3-1.

I blame THE OLD MAN for all of game five’s drama.

TOM decided he wanted to come down to my place in Voorhees to watch the Phillies win the World Series. He wanted to watch all the local coverage on my flat screen, and he wanted to take a possible trip into Philly to watch the locals celebrate.

We went out for dinner after I got home from work, and when leaving the Cherry Hill Red Lobster, we both noticed the steady down pour falling from above. TOM proceeded back to my place and passed out on the couch! So much for his trip to relish in the atmosphere!

The game began in the pouring rain, and Cole Hamels first pitch was a 90 mph fastball called strike. Hamels first inning was dominate. The same could not be said for Scott Kazmir. Scott who is notorious for always having a high pitch count threw almost 30 pitches in the first inning. He walked two and hit one. Shane Victorino came up with the bases loaded and lined a double to left scoring two. Phillies had the early lead 2-0.

In the top of the fourth inning Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria, who had been held hitless in the series, finally came through. Pena doubled to lead off the inning and Longoria drove him in with a single. The score was 2-1 Phillies.

Kazmir left the game in the fifth inning with 103 pitches as the rain began to intensify.

In the bottom of the 6th inning the game became unmanageable. The pouring rain made it difficult to watch the action on TV let alone play baseball in it. The infield was covered in water. The water soaking each player uniform. B.J.Upton reached first in the top of the inning on a Jimmy Rollins error. Under normal conditions Rollins fields the ball easily. Upton then stole second base, and Tony Pena drove him in to tie the game at 2-2.

After the top of the 6th, the decision to suspend the game became easy. If the score had remained 2-1 then technically the Phillies would have been crowned World Series Champions. But with no creditability or authority Bud Selig and his boys stepped in and insisted on suspending the game and continuing it as soon as weather permitted.

Game five was suspended in the bottom of the sixth.

With TOM back in New York, it was some 46 hours later when game five of the World Series resumed. Grant Balfour remained in the game for Tampa. His first pitch was a ball, and his fifth pitch was a double to right center by Geoff Jenkins. Rollins moved Jenkins over with a sacrifice bunt, and then a shallow fly ball to center fell in for a base hit for Jayson Werth. Phillies retook the lead right away 3-2.

In the top of the seventh Tampa Bay’s Rocco Baldelli knocked a solo homer to left, re-tying the game 3-3.

In the bottom of the eighth Pat Burrell led off with a double off the wall in straight away center. On any normal summer night the same hit would be a homerun. Victorino moved the pinch runner to third. Pedro Feliz came up, and his base hit up the middle was the last RBI of 2008. The Phillies took the lead 4-3 and Brad Lidge immediately got up in the bullpen.

For the first time since game one, Brad Lidge entered the game in a save situation. Chase Utley gather up the first out on a pop up to second base. After a Dioner Navarro base hit, and a Perez pinch running stolen base, Jayson Werth caught a Ben Zobrist line drive for the second out. Eric Hinski came up representing the last hope for the Tampa Bay Rays. On an 1-2 pitch Hinski weakly swung over the top of a slider from Brad Lidge.

Lidge fell to his knees. Catcher Carlos Ruiz ran out to hug him. Ryan Howard and members for the Phillies dugout ran the battery over. 46,000 Phillies fans went insane!
The call from Joe Buck was “The Phillies are World Champions”.

I could hear other apartments in my complex going crazy. Shortly after, I heard fireworks going off in the distance. An hour later Broad Street looked like Times Square on New Years Eve. The World Series was over. Almost entirely dominated by the Phillies. The World Series MVP award was given to Cole Hamels.

Philadelphia Phillies win game five 4-3. Phillies win World Series 4-1.

Philadelphia Chronicles

2008-10-28T18:01:00.000-07:00

9:50am- The alarm clock buzzer began to sound, waking me from a short night of sleep and a very big day both personally and in Philadelphia sports.

Wikipedia defines the word dating as, any social activity performed as a pair with the aim of each assessing the other’s suitability as their partner in an intimate relationship or as a spouse. The word refers to the act of agreeing on a time and “date” when the pair can meet and engage in some social activity.

The definition although strong, doesn’t even begin to describe the anxiety involved.

The time was to be any time around 11:00am. The activity, the Philadelphia Eagles versus the Atlanta Falcons at Lincoln Financial Field for the NFL’s week eight match up. I had been conversing with Jacqueline for a few weeks through an on-line dating site. After acquiring digits, I asked her if she would be interested in attending an Eagles game. I knew from her e-mails and her profile that she was a huge Philadelphia sports fan. And I also know the key to any sports fans heart is a live game. Since I have been living vicariously thru Philadelphia fans all October, I figured an Eagles game was the perfect social activity. The tickets cost me a small fortune but so would have a wasted weekend alone in Atlantic City. Attending a football game with a very attractive lady was a far better alternative, regardless of the money.

11:07am- I received a text message that Jacqueline was close, and I rushed down the stairs from my apartment to meet her in the lot. Shortly after she pulled up and I met her for the first time. My stomach in knots, my mind in a million different directions, I shook her hand and began walking with her to my truck. It was then that I noticed she was wearing a number 36 Eagles Jersey. I asked her who number 36 is.

My question almost blew the whole damn date!

A look of shock and disgust crossed her complexion and I would swear in court that she appeared to make a slight turn back to her car. In hindsight I can’t say I blame her. If someone took me to a Yankees game and asked me who number 2 was within the first 30 seconds of meeting them, I would probably be looking to bail too! I blame THE OLD MAN! TOM, that pain in my backside had me up until 3:00am on the phone the night before. He was talking my ear off about John McCain, and other idol nonsense! The sleep depravation had me in an obvious state of mental bewilderment!

Number 36 is of course Eagles Running Back Brian Westbrook. Lesson learned!

11:15am- Jacqueline decided to join me anyway, and I began our drive over the Delaware to South Philly.

11:47am- We parked three lots away from my usual spot. The atmosphere on Pattison Ave was insane! Part of the reason I wanted to attend the game was to see the city with both an Eagles game and a Phillies World Series game all in the same day. Eagles / Falcons and game four of the 2008 World Series with the Phillies up two games to one.

The tailgaters were out in full force. The sounds of Tom Petty and AC DC were blasting on stereos throughout the lots. The smells of beer and grilled hotdogs were in the air everywhere. The crowds gathered like herds of cattle throughout the lots.

12:11pm- We entered the turnstiles and walked the lower square before climbing the stairs to the main concourse. We made our expedition to section 210 row 4 seats 15 & 16. They turned out to be very good end zone seats, with a great aerial view.

12:49pm- The National Anthem was sung and we were moments away from kick off. The sea of Phillies red attire and Eagles green digs being worn by fans throughout the stands made Lincoln Financial look like Christmas.

1:01pm- The Falcons won the coin toss and elected to receive.

1:37pm- As the first quarter began to close, neither team was able to score and both sides looked pour on offense. Eagles defensive end Trent Cole knocked Falcons QB Matt Ryan to the turf late in the first. Although an exceptionally hard hit, the play resulted in a very questionable roughing the passer penalty against the Eagles. The NFL going above and beyond to protect thier QBs! The disgusted Eagles crowd began to boo. It was by far the loudest I have ever heard a crowd boo in all the events I have been to.

1:42pm-A drunken Eagles fan sitting behind me began to heckle me. He assumed that because I was not wearing any Eagles green that I must have been an Atlanta Falcons fan in disguise. (The logic of a drunkard!) Even a neutral football fan is not safe from the Eagles fanatics’ wrath at Lincoln Financial! Lesson learned!

2:03pm- Matt Ryan passed deep down the middle, complete to Roddy White. The play resulted in a 55-yard touch down at 9:05 in the second quarter. Atlanta scored the first points of the game and took the lead 7-0.

2:14pm- Donovan Mcnabb infiltrated the end zone from three yards out for the first Eagles T.D. of the game. The game was tied at 7-7.

2:22pm- The Eagles got the ball right back and just before half time David Akers converged on a 36-yard field goal.

At the half the Eagles lead 10-7.

3:43pm- The Eagles dominated the third quarter and after a 16-yard Brian Westbrook touchdown run, and another David Akers field goal, Philadelphia was up 20-7.

4:00pm- Matt Ryan and the Falcons tried to make things interesting, but in the end it was another Westbrook touch down that sealed the victory for the Eagles 27-14. Jacqueline was thrilled with both Westbrook’s performance and the overall Eagles victory.

4:17pm- We began our departure from the 200 level and walked the properties between Lincoln Financial and Citizens Bank Park. We were both exhausted and quickly made our way back to my truck. I enjoyed the game thoroughly. Although it wasn’t an ideal date to get to know someone, it was a perfect activity nonetheless. We parted company quickly once back at my place. And I fell asleep for a few minutes while watching the end of the Giants game.

11:39pm- The Philadelphia Phillies clobbered the Tampa Bay Rays in game four of the World Series. Two Ryan Howard homers, and five RBI’s for the big man helped Philly take a 3 games to 1 lead in the series. It was the competition of a perfect day in Philadelphia sports. One more win and the Phillies will be World Champions. It is now Tuesday as I finish writing this Blog article and I am still not recovered from all of the events from Sunday!

World Series Preview

2008-10-21T20:47:00.000-07:00

It started just days after the 2007 National League Division Series.

The Philadelphia Phillies were knocked out of the post season in three speedy games last season. General Manager Pat Gillick went right to work. The biggest issue haunting the Phillies was the lack of pitching, both in the rotation and the bullpen. With pitching at a premium in Major League Baseball, and teams wasting money on lack luster stars, the Philadelphia organization knew their options were limited.

Pat got creative.

Instead of wasting money on Johan Santana or Tom Glavine or Carlos Silva, the Philly G.M. went in a most unconventional direction. He traded center field prospect Michael Bourn and bull pen pitcher Geoff Gery to Houston for Astros closer Brad Lidge. The move was two fold. First, it gave Philly a legitimate closer, and moved current closer Brett Myres back into the starting rotation where he had been most successful. The trade resulted in Philly gaining a closer and indirectly gaining a high quality starter too.

When April rolled around the pitching moved to the back burner while the offense exploded. Pat Burrell and Chase Utley carried the team early in the season, while Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins picked up the slack in August and September. All season long the Phillies epitomized timely hitting.

With contributions from all 25 players on the roster, key trades, (including the addition of starter Joe Blanton from Oakland) tremendous timing, and a city dieing for a winner, the Philadelphia Phillies put together a magical season. The Phillies surpassed the wildcard Milwaukee Brewers, defeated Joe Torre and Manny Ramirez in five games, and now find themselves in St Petersburg Florida for the 2008 World Series.

927 miles south of Philly it began over ten years ago.

When the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays joined the American League in 1998, they quickly became the laughing stock of the all of baseball. They had tried everything in the first nine years. Acquiring former greats like Wade Boggs and Fred McGriff in an attempt to build a winning team.

Old Veterans didn’t work.

They brought in Sweet Lou Piniella, one of baseball’s most famous and successful managers. After two losing seasons Lou skipped town, clueless on how to fix the organizations troubles.

Lou didn’t work.

The front office began blasting music on the public address system and began promoting the fan favorite “cowbell”, in an attempt to create “false noise” in an empty Tropicana Dome. Desperate to create buzz and attendance the Rays averaged 12,000 a game.

The buzz didn’t work.

Then this season, second year manager Joe Maddon came into spring training starting a slogan of “nine equals eight” among his players and staff. The slogan has lead most everyone to ask, “What the hell is nine equals eight”?

As the season went on we all learned that nine equals eight refers to nine players, playing hard for nine innings, resulting in the acquisition of one of the eight-playoff spots in the post season.

Joe Maddon’s coaching worked.

In the late hours of May 13th this year the laughing stock of the American League ceased to exist. That night the Rays moved into first place for the first time ever that late into any season. The Rays haven’t let up a day since. Ten years of scouting finally developed a core of tremendously gifted baseball players. Finishing the regular season in first place in the most competitive division in baseball, the Rays are champions of the American League.

Now today the World Series begins.

I am pulling for the Phillies, my official B-team behind the Yankees. However I think the Rays will win in six. It is sure to be one of the most exciting, well-played World Series in years. It’s a shame too, because all signs point to the lowest ratings since 2000.

Tail Gating

2008-10-10T16:50:00.000-07:00

Tail Gating

It is as Joe Cahn (self proclaimed Commissioner of Tailgating) called it “America’s last neighborhood”. For millions of Americans every football season begins a new chapter to the time honored tradition of attending football games hours before the gates open and eating, drinking and socializing without end. For millions more in America tailgating serves as a business of stable economic growth. Thousands of companies set up tents and trailers and promotional events in the lots at professional games all over the country. I personally have worked well over a dozen tailgating events, and my current employer conducts 35 percent of its business thru outdoor marketing events associated with football tailgating. These marketing promotions filled with giveaways for fans and marketing for capitalists create work everywhere in the country.

But is it possible to have too much of a good thing?

That is what organizations like the New York Jets and Giants have begun to ask. For the first time this season Giants stadium (home to both the Jets and Giants) is limiting access to its parking lots. More specifically four hours before the game and four hours after is all fans are permitted to tail gate. There reason: alcohol consumption and potentially dangerous situations developing in the lots around the Meadowlands.

On September 14th I attended the Jets home game at the stadium against the Patriots. As a working vendor I was permitted access to the lot just outside gate D nine hours before kick off. But at 7:00am, when I entered the lot, fans were already lined up on the streets outside, waiting for lot attendants to allow them access. While talking to Jet fans I began to understand their perspective of disgust. As one fan told me “we only get 8 games a year as it is, and many of these folks here in the lots are like family”. The sprit, preparation, and creative influence all seem to be restricted by “The Man”. As if these fans haven’t suffered enough. With personal seat licenses, and the ticket boom from companies like Stub Hub, fans are already feeling the crunch.

However I also see the other perspective. It’s the perspective of ownership trying to avoid a NASCAR situation in the NFL. NASCAR tailgating is largely affective because of the nature of their events. Stock Car events are usually weekend long races with venues built on the outskirts of towns. Most Speedway parking lots are set up to accommodate fans in RV motor homes and tailgaters with a strong desire to linger. Where as Giants Stadium, for example, is just 9.42 miles from down town Manhattan.

However a big part of this new mandate is not for the safety of fans. It's not to promote responsible drinking, and its not proximity of stadiums to cities, really. It's because beer revenue is down inside the turnstiles and up out in the lots. Ownership revenue is the most important thing in professional sports.

Period.

But what can fans do?

Owners hold all the cards. So as much as I enjoy tail gating myself and count on it as part of my livelihood, it would seem as though the tradition has reached its peak. I expect more of the same to follow. More teams and more cities will begin to limit the access of parking lots for Tail Gaters and fans.
It seems as though even America’s last neighborhood has a timetable to extinction.

Letter To The Commissioner

2008-10-04T22:47:00.000-07:00

Dear Commissioner Selig

My name is Ryan Dugan, and I have been a baseball fanatic my entire life. For the last 28 years the National Past Time has been webbed into my life in very extreme ways. I have been to 29 of the games 30 home ballparks. I have seen a half dozen games in the Grape Fruit League. I have sat in the front rows for post-season games. I have been to the World Series. Over the last three years I have become an independent amateur Journalist and Sports Blogger. As I type this on the evening of October 1, the 2008 Division Series has just begun. As this paragraph plays out on my laptop, the Cubs find themselves down 7-2 against the Dodgers in the 9th inning of game one of the NLDS.

Which brings me to the point of my letter.

I will refrain from commenting on my concerns for baseball’s economic escalation that is bound to lead to disaster. I will exclude my thoughts on elitism in the seats at the park. And I will avoid writing about troubles I see in the marketing of today’s game in the media.

Instead I write you regarding a much lighter topic, but one that seriously troubles me.

My letter is a plead to you and to Major League Baseball to Change the format of the division series from a best of five series to a best of seven series. My problem with the current format is this: teams work all summer long to make it to October baseball, and regardless of effort, numbers, or record, all teams find themselves in the position of being eliminated as early as 72 hours after the post season begins. It’s simply not fair to the players, and maybe more importantly it’s not fair to the fans.

As a life long Yankees fan, over the last three seasons (prior to this year) I have seen my team eliminated in less then a week. The preparation and dream seem to be gone before even starting. And it’s not just my Yankees either. Believe me I realize I am spoiled by my organizations successes. But take Philadelphia as an example. Last season, after waiting fourteen years to return to the playoffs the Phillies were eliminated in three lightning fast games. The Atlanta Braves too. (Prior to 2005) Year after year they work all summer just to return to their prior point of elimination and continue to get knocked out inside of five games. There is just too much at stake to decide these games in a best of five series.

As each breath of our respective lives passes, the great game’s history and tradition continues to build. The more it builds that harder it becomes to make changes. I could continue to site examples or scenarios that support my request, but I am certain you’re already well aware of them all. I believe this change would be for the good of the game. It would be a vast improvement for fans and players, and for the record books too.

Now I realize that this is baseball’s hot topic, and the odds of any Commissioner seriously listening to some scoob such as myself are hopeless. But as I continue to devote countless amounts of my time, money and resources to the great game, I feel as though I have to try.

Thank you for reading my request, and any consideration you might give it.

Regards,

Ryan J. Dugan

State Of The Yankees

2008-09-25T20:03:00.000-07:00

Ok, my last Yankee Blog for a while I promise!

It’s just that a team that struggles to play .500 ball for most of 2008 and yet has a payroll close to 200 million is bound to leave thousands and thousands of Yankee fans asking why? 2008 will mark the first post season that doesn’t include the New York Yankees in thirteen years.

So as an avid Yankee fan and a sports blogger I recently conducted an open forum with my three favorite Yankee allies in the Bronx. My allies are as follows, my sister B.L. she is a huge Yankees fan and an eternal optimist. My uncle Gary also a huge Yankees fan and an eternal pessimist. And lastly my father, THE OLD MAN, enough said.

Here are the questions asked, in chronological order.

1) What just happened?

B.L.- Our wonderful boys in blue missed the playoffs, but they are still wonderful.

G.T.- The exact same thing that happened to the Detroit Tigers, a team with a veteran roster got real old real fast. Injuries, age, and declining performance were the result.

OLD MAN- The Pope came to the Bronx this year! But Robinson Cano underachieved, and too many pitching injuries resulted in a poor season.

2) Who is most to blame?

B.L.- I blame myself! I just haven’t been a big enough Yankee fan this year.

G.T.- Brain Cashman. The misuse of money on player contracts is disgraceful.

OLD MAN- Chin Ming Wang is to blame. By no fault of his own, his injury destroyed the seaon.

3) Does Brian Cashman come back next season?

B.L.- I wouldn’t be surprised to see him.

G.T.- I hope not, but a more qualified replacement must be found first.

OLD MAN- Yes Cashman will be back, but Yankee executive power will return to Tampa. And Hank will assume a more active roll.

4) Does Joe Girardi and his coaching staff come back?

B.L.- Joe will return, but there will be staff changes.

G.T.- Yes, Hank has already given Joe his blessing. But staff changes will take place, as someone will have to take the blame.

OLD MAN- Yes Joe will be back and yes he will make changes.

5) Would a Joe Torre Yankees team fall this badly this season?

B.L.- Not sure. Torre was a great Yankees manager but there were so many issues this season.

G.T.- Joe’s Yankee team would have been better, but still would have missed the post season.

OLD MAN- Torre’s team would have made the first round, but would have been eliminated yet again in the first round.

6) Free Agents… Who stays and who goes?

B.L.- Pettite and Mussina will be back, but not sure about the rest.

G.T.- Andy Pettite will retire. Jason Giambi is surely gone. Mike Mussina and Bobby Abreu will be back.

OLD MAN- Jason Giambi needs to go away!

7) If you were Hank Steinbrenner who is the one player that you would bring in?

B.L.- C.C. Sabathia

G.T.- Mark Teixeira

OLD MAN- C.C. Sabathia

8) If you were Hank Steinbrenner, who is the one player that you would get rid of?

B.L.- Undecided

G.T.- Alex Rodriguez

OLD MAN- Jason Giambi

Now in conclusion, since this is my blog I will get the final word.

What concerns me most about the New York Yankees past, present, and future is their offensive offense! Hitting with runners in scoring position, or runners on base in general is not something the Yankees have done with any sort of success this season. They are third in the American league in hitting into double plays, and rank second strikeouts (behind on the dreadful Seattle Mariners). I would love to put together a highlight tape of the all their double plays and strike outs, but I don't think there would be enough videotape. Their overall offensive numbers rank pretty high in the league, but numbers don't translate directly to wins, and that more then anything that is why the Yankees will be home this October.

As for the off-season changes, all we can do is speculate. As fans seeking answers these questions at least gives us some comfort. But this current Yankee organization has a lot of work to do before 2009 rolls around.

Yankee Stadium

2008-09-19T23:04:00.000-07:00

On May 5th, 1922 a little piece of land just east of the Harlem River and north of Manhattan was selected by men of wealth and power to be brought out of darkness and into light. These creators had an idea to build a place where people could veraciously watch the performances of great men. In turn these watchers would develop their own unique performances. Experiences both impending and past would culminate in this spot. Friendships, bonds, and love all prospered.

Those who have shared in it need only to close their eyes and all the senses return in an instant. The feelings of hot summer sun, and anxious October chill. Smells of hotdogs and char grilled pretzels, cigarette smoke, and beer stained concrete. The taste of Peanuts, and Cracker Jacks. The smacking sounds of a glove in hand, and the snap of bat connecting with the ball. Or the voice of God over the P.A. system.

And of course the sights!

The bright blue seats! The white concrete façade! The dank and dim concourses. The steep narrow upper deck. The Ambulance parked outside the garage door out past monument park. The black bleachers in center.

And that short porch in right! Oh that short porch!

Reggie Reggie Reggie! The Giambino! The O’Neill targets! Phil’s call of the Roger Maris record breaker! Jeffery Maier! And the Babe in his own house!

The view of the courthouse above the scoreboard and façade.

The place I am referring can be found at East 161st street and River Avenue in Bronx New York. It is the most recognizable sports setting in American history.

It is of course Yankees Stadium.

The House That Ruth Built, as it has been commonly called, will close its doors forever this Sunday night. For me Yankees Stadium has been like a home, and a place I will never forget.

My first trip to Yankee Stadium came somewhere around 1986 with my father. I was too young to remember much then, and my father is too old to remember much now. What we do remember is that it was a Yankees / Red Sox double-header. I remember the Trail- Ways bus that took us to the Bronx, and I remember all the floodlights that lit up the evening sky. But I mostly remember the dark concourse ramps that my father and I jogged up and down to keep my six-year-old energy in check.

My next Yankee Stadium experience would come just a few years later. This time my mom and little brother would be joining us, along with my uncle Gary and my great aunt Marge. The six of us all in one car, with my sick brother stinking up the back seat. The Yankees were facing the Detroit Tigers in a Saturday afternoon game. My uncle had Saturday season tickets so this was a regular event for him. After entering the turnstiles our parties split. Marge and Gary proceeded to their seats in the main reserve (section 13 row E seats 1 & 2), while my immediate family and I proceeded to the upper deck down the third base line. The experience was down hill from there. The Tigers destroyed the Yankees on the field, while the majority of the fans were drunk and unruly off the field. It was there that I first learned what marijuana smells like, as the fans in our section were toking up. We left the game in the seventh inning knowing full well we might have to wait three innings back at the car for Marge and Gary. When we got to the car, we found that they were waiting for us. Their experience was no better then ours. My mother vowed to write George Stienbrener a letter, but never did.

By 1991 my aunt Marge was attending fewer games with my uncle Gary. Between adult influence, pre-puberty, and little league, my interests in Major League Baseball began to grow tremendously. My uncle Gary saw this and began asking my brother and I to accompany him to Saturday home games at Yankee Stadium.

The 1991 Mayors Trophy game between the Yankees and Mets was not only a practice game for both teams, but also a practice game for me as a fan. I knew that if I appeared to be bored, disinterested, too antsy, or made too many trips to the bathroom, then it would be the last game I would attend with my uncle. My brother’s audition did not go as well as mine, but nonetheless he and I would alternate Saturday games with my uncle for the next ten years.

Shortly after the 1991 season, my brother and I became spoiled rotten. My father began taking us to Tuesday night games along with my sister. Between my dad and my uncle, I was now seeing a ton of great games in the house that Ruth Built.

As I began to grow up, Yankee Stadium became my home away from home. A place that I knew vast comfort and entertainment in the city that never sleeps. I experienced great friendships and family moments over hundreds of games and thousands of innings. I went to games with girl friends, and after college visitations. I went on school nights and stayed up way past bedtime. I went to games on my own, and even took a British friend to his first ever American baseball game. (He tried to equate it to Cricket.) I went to playoff games and two World Series games, Game 2 of the 1996 World Series, and Game 1 of the 1998 World Series. I even took my dad to his first ever playoff game, last season against the Indians in the division series.

In recent years my sister has become a huge Yankee fan. She has attended a great many games with my father, uncle and I. Her newfound joy for the Yankees and constant optimism for the Yankees have made it wonderful attending games at the stadium with her.

Since 2004 plans to build a new Yankees Stadium have been looming. At first those of us with fond feelings for the current Stadium denied that the day would ever come. Then there was a groundbreaking ceremony. Then over the last two seasons strong visual evidence began growing every day. Now the New Yankee Stadium is almost complete just beyond the third base side of the current Stadium. As the 2008 season began, the theme of endings had also begun. Last opening day, last season series, and last All-Star game.
As the Yankees scheduled their lasts, so did I.

I had been planning it for some time. I wanted to send my home away from home off right, and give Yankee Stadium the honor it properly deserved. To do so I wanted those family members closest to me by blood and Yankee bond to be there to witness the end. And so I got tickets one last time for my father, my uncle Gary, my brother, my sister, and I and on Tuesday September 16th 2008 we attended our last Yankee game at the Stadium. It was an emotional game full of highs and lows. The five of us shared in all the usual laughs, but we also had a polite amount of pain and mourning. My father got a bit emotional when he revisited his old seat in right field. Gary was nostaligic when remembering games past from his old seats in section 13. My sister had her moments and my brother refused to accept the move, vowing never to go to the new stadium. My heart skipped a beat when I entered the park and flipped the turnstile one final time.
A very special moment occurred in the bottom of the first inning, when Derek Jeter collected his 1270th hit at Yankee Stadium to pass Lou Gerhig for the most hits all time at Yankee Stadium. It was a fitting end, and I was thrilled to be there to witness the Yankee Captain make history.

It was the only highlight from the game itself. The Yankees will miss the playoffs for the first time in 13 years this season. The game itself carried no playoff ramifications. The Yankees struggled to score runs and in the ninth inning they were down by four. The last batter of the game was Johnny Damon. Johnny hit a high lazy fly ball to the short stop Orlando Cabrera. As the ball landed in the shortstops glove my heart once again skipped. I lowered my head and finished writing up my scorecard. Not a word was spoken, and it felt like the entire stadium was silent as Frank Sinatra sang New York New York. None of us wanted to leave and we took our sweet sweet time moving from section 14 of the upper deck. We stopped for photos, shared our feelings and cracked some jokes. Finally we were forced out of Yankee Stadium and departed from the gates in left field.

The end had arrived.

Now all that remains is the final weekend series, and a Sunday night game on ESPN that will officially mark the end of an era in baseball and in history.

As I conclude this blog and write my final thoughts on Yankee Stadium, I will refrain from commenting on the change. I will not offer an opinon regarding power, or wealth, greed, or progress, or old versus new. I will simply say in conclusion that a very special place that has been very important to my life will soon be destroyed and gone forever. What will remain will be photographs, videotape and a mind bursting with memories. Like so many other things in life, we can’t stop the clock. We cant stop the change, all we can do is accept the things beyond our control remember the past with a sense of fondness, and look to the future with a sense of hope.

The bright blue seats! The white concrete façade! The dank and dim concourses.
The steep narrow upper deck.

And that short porch in right! Oh that short porch!

Colorado Chronicles

2008-08-26T23:42:00.000-07:00

2:49am EST- The sound of an alarm springs me to my feet, only to quickly discover that it’s the OLD MAN’s malfunctioning cell phone alarm waking me three and a half hours early.

5:15am EST- The sound of an alarm springs me to my feet yet again. This time its for real. The start of a long exhausting day.

8:15am EST- Philadelphia flight 2886 to Denver Colorado leaves gate D4 heading west.

10:15am MST- The wheels of flight 2886 touch down on the runway of Denver International. The OLD MAN and I officially arrive in Denver. It’s a family tradition that dates back to the summer of 1993. Every single MLB season since has consisted of at least one family baseball trip. In the early days the whole family would jump in the back of the OLD MAN’s pickup and head cross-country. Now a day it’s just the OLD MAN and I, and we fly.

12:00 pm MST- The OLD MAN and I arrive at 21st and Main St. in downtown Denver. We park our rental car and spend the rest of the afternoon touring downtown Denver while waiting for the gates to open for the first game of a three game set between the Colorado Rockies and the Cincinnati Reds. The match up we have traveled over 1700 miles to see is not a very good one. The Rockies are in third place in the NL west with a record of 59-70 eleven games under .500 and 9 games out of first place. The Cincinnati Reds are even worse. They were in dead last in the NL central with a record of 56-72 and 21.5 games out of first place. However both the OLD MAN and I have a baseball agenda beyond the games we are in town for.

In addition to taking in our first ever game in Denver’s Coors field, I plan on paying particular attention to Rockies Left Fielder Matt Holliday. I am also scoreboard watching all the games in the American League East, while the OLD MAN looks for autographs and Rockies memorabilia.

5:33 pm MST- The Gates are open and we enter the turnstiles in right field.

5:42 pm MST- The OLD MAN receives an autograph from Reds All-Star rookie Edison Volquez. A player he predicted to be a star, and new favorite of his.

6:10pm MST- The Reds leave the field completing batting practice. The grounds crew begin striking the nets and batting cage.

7:02pm MST- Four umpires emerge onto the field and a coach from each team greets them with lineup cards behind home plate.

7:07pm MST- The first pitch is delivered. With poor attendance and little cheering I begin to wonder if I’m at a baseball game or a golf tournament.

7:12pm MST- I am quickly reminded that I am at a ball game when the third batter of the game, Brandon Phillips, launches a two run home run over the wall in left center field.

7:23pm MST- Rockies left fielder Matt Holliday hits a mile high fly to right field for the second out of the bottom of the first. A little more distance and less height, it would have left Yankees stadium. As much as I love Holliday’s power intertwined with his .344 average, I quickly realize some dilemmas with the Yankees acquiring Holliday. First off is that left field is his natural position. I had thought he was a right fielder, which is what the Yankees will be looking for this off-season. Also Holliday is a right-handed hitter. The Yanks will be looking for a hitter between Jeter and A-Rod in the lineup, and the ideal player would be left-handed. (Especially with the dimensions of Yankees Stadium)

7:36pm MST- A very mild, but steady rain beings to fall. It lasts only a few minutes.

7:48pm MST- The scoreboard is updated in right field and the Yankees have retaken the lead in their game against Baltimore. 16 game winner Mike Mussina is on the mound in Baltimore, but I have no idea if he is still on the mound, or the pitcher of record.

7:58pm MST- The flood gates up and the boos filter down as a Chris Dickerson single gives the Reds a 6-0 lead. It’s the fourth run scored in the inning, and it chases Rockies starter Livan Hernandez from the game.

8:31pm MST- The wave begins circling the stands, as the Yankees game goes final on the scoreboard. Yankees win 9-4.

8:45pm MST- In Holliday’s third at bat, he pops up to the shortstop with the bases loaded. My infatuation with Holliday begins to fade. The last thing the Yankees need is another hitter that can’t produce with the bases loaded. The Boston Red Sox game goes final on the board. Sox win 8-4 in Toronto.

8:50pm MST- The OLD MAN and I begin to talk about our great seats for Saturday’s game. Tonight we are in the upper deck, but tomorrow we will be sitting just thirteen rows from the tarp, and just two sections from the third base dugout. We each paid $40.00 for the tickets. Just out of curiosity I look up the cost of the same ticket at
Yankees Stadium in my handy dandy pocket schedule. The cost for one seat on the third base line just two sections up from the dugout at Yankee Stadium is $380.00!!! I can’t believe it! I knew the prices were out of hand at Yankees Stadium, but I had no idea it was that bad! No baseball ticket is worth $380 bucks! The discovery leads to long conversation about baseball’s elitism between the OLD MAN and I.

9:35pm MST- Another game goes final on the Scoreboard. Tampa Bay wins yet again!

9:41pm MST- The Rockies mount a comeback scoring three in the seventh and now two more in the eighth. They pull to within 8-5.

9:56pm MST- Fransisco Cordero comes into the game for the Reds looking for his 25th save of the season.

10:07 MST- Cordero gets his save and the Reds win game one of the three game set. The day is complete and now another baseball journey is in the books. The OLD MAN and I are now within a handful of baseball parks of having seen them all. We leave Coors field and retreat to our hotel in Colorado Springs for some much needed rest.

Worst To First, The 2008 Tampa Bay Rays

2008-08-20T21:07:00.000-07:00

I just can’t laugh off these guys any longer!

The 2008 Tampa Bay Rays are for real!

New York. It’s the city that never sleeps. As Frank Sinatra said, and I can vouch for him, “if you can make it there you’ll make it anywhere.” New York’s baseball club, is the 26 time world champion New York Yankees. They are considered the most famous franchise in the history of professional sports. The Yankees pinstripe uniforms are not only stylish, but also recognized everywhere. New York plays their home games in "The House That Ruth Built", Yankee Stadium. Frequent stadium guests include Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump, and Yogi Berra.

St. Petersburg. It’s the little city across the bay from Tampa Florida. Their baseball club- the Tampa Bay Rays. They are the result of Major League Baseball’s 1998 expansion. In the last ten years the Rays have never once had a winning season. Formerly known as the Devil Rays, they have been the worst franchise in all of baseball before this season. They play their home games in Tropicana Field. It’s a building that should have been condemned long before the Rays moved in ten years ago. Frequent Tropicana guests include former WWE wrestlers Brian Nasty Boy Knobs, and Greg The Hammer Valentine.

On May 13, 2008, while working an event in Orlando Florida, I rented a car and drove 100 miles southwest to St Petersburg and Tropicana Field to watch the Yankees and Rays battle in the second game of a four game set. The Yankees were already beat up, under achieveing and playing .500 ball two months into the young season. The Rays on the other hand, were the toast of the American League. Everyone was expecting the Rays to be a good club in 2008, but no one was expecting them to be near the top of the Division after two months of play.

The Yankees were having a hard time hitting during the road trip in Tampa, a theme that would remain constant throughout the season. But on this night I was confident they would find a way to win, with ace pitcher Chin Ming Wang on the mound for New York.

The game quickly developed into a pitchers duel between Tampa’s Edwin Jackson, and the Yankees Wang. The more I watched of the duel the more frustrated I got as a Yankee fan. The Rays lead 1-0 in the top of the 9th when Yankee Hediki Matsui launched a solo homerun off Tampa closer Troy Percivil just inside the right field foul pole. I remember thinking that the Yankees were lucky to be on the scoreboard. I also remember thinking that they would still lose the game either in the bottom of the 9th, or in extra innings.

In the bottom of the eleventh, with the greatest closer of all time on the mound, Mariano Rivera faced pitch hitter Gabe Gross with a runner on. Gross lined a base hit up the middle, and Johnny Gomes came around to score. It was a very dramatic walk off victory for the Rays. Tropicana field was buzzed with fans beginning to believe in their team. Rays manager Joe Maddon was walking the field with flair of confidence as he congratulated his players. Maddon’s walk was similar to the one I often saw former Yankee manager Joe Torre take after victories.
As a Yankee fan, I was very dismissive of all the celebrating surrounding me. Shortly after the game ended, word got around that the Red Sox had also lost. The result of the Sox loss combined with the Rays win was a first place status for Tampa in the American League East.

I remember thinking, “how cute.”

“The Rays are in first place. Enjoy it while it lasts guys. Cause in the Al East, this will never hold up!”

How could it possibly last?

A team with a 44 million dollar payroll ( fifth to last in all of baseball). An organization that has a ten-year tradition of mediocrity. A team that plays in the same division as the powerhouse Yankees and Red Sox. Besides it was only May 13th. There was almost five months of baseball left to play. I just laughed off the Rays victory and continued to laugh the rest of the summer.

But now it’s August 20, and the laughing has stopped.

The Rays have the best record in baseball. They are up by 10 games over the Yankees, and just took two out of three games from the second best team in baseball, the Los Angeles Angels. (Tampa almost swept Los Angeles.)

The Rays are for real.

And soon Tampa will begin to concern themselves with things like magic numbers, post season ticket deposits, and game one starters. The tides have turned. Although New York might be the better city, have a greater stadium, and a far superior baseball franchise, the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays are better in the only way that matters, the standings.

State Of The Yankees

2008-08-12T19:26:00.000-07:00

(All In The Family Theme)

Oh the way the Yanks once played.

October included a Ticker Tape Parade.

Fans like us we had it made.

Those were the days.

And you knew the division then.

New York on top with a lead of ten.

Mr. We could use another fella like Bern-Dog Williams again.

Didn’t hit into double plays.

Who the hell are the Tampa Bay Rays?

Victories came one hundred different ways.

Those were the days.

Redemption

2008-08-06T14:53:00.000-07:00

I have been avoiding a Josh Hamilton story of my own, only because the story has been told very eloquently by both HBO and Sports Illustrated in the last 12 months. First on HBO’s Real Sports, with Bryant Gumble, Jon Frankel ran a story covering Josh’s remarkable comeback. Then Sports Illustrated writer Albert Chen did a cover story on Josh in June. But when I saw the display Hamilton put on in the 2008 homerun derby at Yankees stadium, I had to break out of my writers slump / block and throw in my own two cents on what may be baseball’s greatest comeback story.

Josh Hamilton, born Joshua Holt Hamilton on May 21st 1981 in Raleigh North Carolina, was regarded as a gifted athlete from a very young age. His natural left handed swing, quick wrists, and growing muscle mass made him a top prospect, admired by scouts all over the country. In 1999 Josh was the number one overall draft pick selected by the Tampa Bay Rays. He received a four million dollar signing bonus with the Rays and began his ascent to the Majors. His first stop was the Single A Hudson Valley Renegades in June of 2000. During his time in upstate New York Josh began experimenting with drugs and alcohol. A combination of injuries and isolation from friends and family back home, lead Josh down a path of self-abuse. By spring of 2004 Josh was frequently absent from Rays training camp, failing drug tests, and broke. He would leave the game altogether in 2004. A direct quote from Josh himself is, “I was doing everything within my power to kill myself”. Homeless, and addicted to crack and alcohol, Hamilton had hit rock bottom. Josh sought out refuge at his grandmother’s home in North Carolina. Shortly after he checked back into rehab, and stuck with a program of abstaince from substance abuse.
His long road of recovery had begun.

In 2006 Josh hopped from the Tampa Bay Rays, to the Chicago Cubs, to the Cincinnati Reds. All the while Josh kept clean while playing baseball more consistency and without injury. Just before the all-star break in 2007 Josh was called up from triple A to the Cincinnati Reds where he made his major league debut. In 90 major league games Josh hit .292 with 19 homeruns and 47 RBI’s. Josh keeps himself on a very strict schedule now. He occupies his days playing ball, praying, and raising his daughters. He keeps no more then 20 bucks in his wallet at a time, so that he is not tempted to seek out drugs.
After the 2007 season, Josh was traded to the Texas Rangers where he picked off right where he left off after the trade. As I type this Josh has a .304 average with 24 homeruns and 103 RBI’s with two months of baseball left to play! He was elected to represent the Rangers in the All-Star game in New York just two weeks ago. But his performance at Yankees Stadium during the homerun derby put Josh on the nations radar.

He hit 28 homers in the first round !!! Thirteen in a row!!!

And not one of Josh’s 34 total homeruns was a cheep shot. Josh hit one two thirds of the way up the black bleachers in centerfield, (an area that has one been hit by a handful of players in major league history). He hit several into the tier reserve sections of the right field upper deck (the only seats I can afford anymore at Yankee Stadium). He hit one into the old Yankee Bullpen in right, which bounced to the back outer wall of the house that Ruth built. He hit one into the last row of the right field bleachers!

Now I realize that the whole thing is an exhibition. Josh was hitting essentially batting practice homers. No one pitch that he launched was thrown faster then 65 miles and hour. However the scouts that sought out the young North Carolina outfielder back in 1999, finally saw Josh reach is full potential in New York at the mid summer classic.

Having shared many of the same demons in my own life that Josh has battled, I find both his comebacks so completely improbable and so remarkable that there is no way that my own words will ever do it the justice that it deserves. To me what makes Josh’s journey great is his ability to overcome the extreme challenges of sobriety and addiction, where most people die long before they can even assume normal lives and then once accomplishing that phenomenal feat, Josh climbed the minor league ladder alas reaching the majors. He overcame the skeptics, the minor leagues, and achieved the almost impossible dream to become a professional ball player. Other players have overcome injury, and substances to make MLB comebacks (Strawberry and Gooden are just a few). But Josh’s story is unique because he was at rock bottom both personally and professionally. A baseball player can’t be any lower then being banded from Single A. Josh is not just a comeback ball player, he is a comeback human being.

2008 NBA All-Star Game

2008-02-17T21:14:00.000-08:00

For me it has always been the second sign of the coming of Spring from within professional sports.

Of course the winter solstice is December 21st and every day there after brings bliss for summer lovers like me. Slowly but surely the wicked days of winter begin to fade away, and professional sports are right there to mark the times.

First a month after Christmas the NFL post-season comes to an end with the Super Bowl, the biggest event in professional sports, and my first sign of the coming spring. The Super Bowl is always played in some beautiful warm weathered city and reminds us snow and ice and wind and chill are not long for the world.

The second sign of Spring comes two to three weeks later. It happened this weekend and is just another progressive symbol that happy days will soon be here again. The second sign,

the NBA All-Star Game.

The NBA did right by the city of New Orleans, totally redeeming themselves from last years Las Vegas All-Star Game Debacle. TNT and ESPN had nothing but great things to
report from the host city, and the sights, sounds and smells of the Big Easy came back to me in an instant. I wish I had been down in New Orleans this weekend. Hitting the Palace Café on Canal Street. Taking in the great music, bright lights and sin from Burbon Street. And watching NBA action from The New Orleans Arena. I haven’t had a drink in almost two and a half years, but watching all the NBA hype and excitement of All-Star Weekend in Cagen Country made me awful thirsty!

The pre game ceremonies and half time show also magnificently captured the sprit of New Orleans and had more of my attention then the game itself.

The first half was all East. Lead by Orlando’s Dwight Howard and the New Jersey Nets/ (soon to be Dallas Mavericks) Jason Kidd, the East went on an initial 6-0 run to start the game. It was almost as though both teams had a preconceived agreement to play as little defense as possible. And the half time score represented that idea, 74-65 East on top.

Then in a surprise turn of events, the West made a massive fourth quarter tear. At one point running an 8-0 streak the West took it’s first lead with less then five minutes left in the game. Down to the wire it was Miami’s Dwayne Wade, Boston’s Ray Allen, and Cleveland’s MVP Lebron James who subjugated the scoring, and extinguished the West’s momentum. The final three minutes were as thrilling as any NBA game this season. But in the end the East had defeated the West.

Final Score, East 134 – West 128

So what’s in store for the second half of the NBA season?

Six teams are controlling the game of Basketball, and that should continue thru June. In the East, Boston and Detroit are almost locks to play each other in the Conference Championship. In the West four teams dominate and all four are equal in talent, an probability to win the NBA Championship. Los Angeles, San Antonio, Dallas and Phoenix are the afore mentioned big four.

But soon my attention will shift to from the NBA to my third and final sports symbol of the coming of spring.

Major League Baseball Opening Day 2008.

Super Bowl XLII The Arizona Upset

2008-02-07T21:06:00.000-08:00

Saratoga New York 1919

On August 13th, the World Famous thoroughbred horse known as Man o War entered his seventh career race. At the time he was undefeated. Man O War was famous. Known throughout the United States as the greatest competitive racehorse in history. He was a perfect 6-0 and was heavily favored to win the Sanford Memorial States in Saratoga. Yet in a stunning turn of events a little known horse by the name of “Upset” had beaten Man O War by less than a half-length. News of the surprise victory spread like wild fire though newspapers and radio stations all over the United States. All everyone was talking about was the surprise “Upset” victory in thoroughbred racing. As a result of the famous race, the word “Upset” although still associated with sickness anger or pain, would forever be linked to an unexpected sports victory by an underdog.

Man O War 1920

Miami Florida 1969

On January 9, New York Jets Quarterback Joe Willy Namath was honored as the NFL’s player of the year by the Miami touch down club. The awards dinner was held just three days before Super Bowl III. After being helicaled at the podium by cocky arrogant Baltimore Colt fans, Joe formerly announced the Jets would win Super Bowl III and that he was guaranteeing victory. At the time his Jets were residing in the inferior American Football League, and were 12-point underdogs facing the National Football League’s very best. It was expected that the game would be a blow out and writers and annalists alike picked the Colts to win very significantly. Yet in a stunning turn of events the Jets had upset the Colts 16-7. The AFL would never be the same again.

Glendale Arizona 2008

The undefeated New England Patriots entered Super Bowl XLII with a perfect record of 18-0 on the season. Las Vegas had them favored to win the game by 14 points. They were preparing to do battle against the number five seed, wild card New York Giants. Yet as I was watching the fourth quarter back home in New York, I was hardly able to believe what was happening on the 12 televisions around me. The New York Giants had pulled off the most improbable shocking upset in football history.

Bloomington New York 2008

It is no easy chore hosting your own Super Bowl party. Not that I had to do all the work myself, but my ego and pride got the best of me, as they often do. The Super Bowl weekend started with my typical drive home from Jersey after work. Friday night I set 10 televisions in the Burger Palace (basement) and one in the downstairs bathroom. Saturday I began cooking all the party food. Sausage and Peppers, steak mushrooms and onions, meatballs, chicken cutlets and wings. Time was running out, my head was spinning, and before I knew it, it was 2:00pm on Sunday. I was doing my final preparations for the party as I began to concentrate on the game.
With this blog in mind, I got out my notebook and rosters and began documenting Super bowl XLII while meeting and greeting guests.

Finally at 6:24 every guest had arrived. TOM (my father) was the last to arrive, and I am always a bit on edge when my divorced parents are in close proximity. Never the less I had no time to worry about family squabbles.

The game was starting!

Every joke about Ryan Secret, our food being eaten, and my television in the bathroom, had been told. The roof in Glendale had been closed. With every former San Francisco 49er on hand, the Giants won the coin toss and elected to receive. I had a Diet Pepsi, my notebook and 10 televisions.

Super Bowl XLII was underway.

The scoring started right where the last NFL game had left off. Lawrence Tynes 37 yard field goal in Green Bay had gotten the Giants into the Super Bowl. Tynes was good once again to give the G-men a three-point lead exactly two weeks later. In hine sight the tempo and control of the entire game was determined in the opening drive. The Giants offense was focused, strong and killing the clock. With only five minutes left in the first quarter the New England offense took the field in a unique position,

losing.

New England marched down field, and with the help of a huge pass interference call the Patriots had the ball on the one-yard line as the second quarter began. I knew it was business as usual for Brady’s offense, and I took the opportunity to check on the guests, and re-heat some food. Like a mad man I was running up and down the stairs from basement to kitchen, food in hand. On the first play of the second quarter, Lawrence Maroney ran the ball into the end zone for a Patriot touchdown and a 7-3 New England lead. The Touchdown would be the last of the scoring by either team in the first half. The defense of both teams dominated the remainder of the second quarter as Tom Petty and the Heart Breakers took the field at half time.

The game was half way over and no one expected a 7-3 score.

The second half started out quite boring.

In fact my aunt Gert had fallen asleep. (Not that that is a real good example.) But just when my guests began getting real quite, Eli Manning found his new tight-end Kevin Boss. On a 45-yard pass from Manning to Boss, the Giants were set up in the Patriot red-zone. Then Eli found David Tyree for a touchdown. The first Giant TD of the game. The Giants had retaken the lead, shocking the world. As I said to anyone listening, I expected the Giants to play competitive but not this late into the game.

New York 10 New England 7 Fourth Quarter

Finally New England started to do what we all expected. They moved the ball down field with 5:00 minutes left in the game. Brady to Wes Welker, Brady to Randy Moss, Brady back to Welker, and finally Brady to Moss for 6 points.

14-10 Patriots with less then five minutes to play. That was more like it!

It’s what we had been told was going to happen for two weeks prior to the game. It was what we had come to know as reality week after week with New England. 18 straight victories. A perfect season. Yes 14-10 seemed like the final score that even true blue Giant fans knew was coming. All the New England defense had to do was hold the Giants for five minutes and the game would be over.

The drive for New York started out exactly as predicted. The Giants were desperate, and struggling to drive the ball thru the New England territory. They even had to convert a huge fourth down with less then three minutes left in the game.

Then Manning at his own 43-yard line began a sequence of plays that will never be forgotton. First down produced nothing. Second down was more of the same. Finally it was third and five, the game on the line. Manning called for the ball and while looking down field, he quickly began to feel the pocket cave in around him. Jarvis Green and Richard Seymour of the Patriot defensive line tried a total of four times to sac Manning. Yet somehow someway the Giant Quarterback remained on his feet, dashing and slithering his way in and out of pressure.

As if Manning’s resilient scramble wasn’t amazing enough, what happened next was truly unbelievable! Manning threw the ball 30 yards down the field into a four-man defensive cover. Four different New England Patriots surround just one New York Giant.

That Giant was tight end David Tyree.

In an effort of desperation, Tyree leapt into the air and pulled down the Manning pass. The ball was well over Tyree’s head as he began to fall to the ground. Patriot safety Rodney Harrison was also trying to catch the ball. As both men hit the turf, the ball had settled in-between Tyree’s hands, directly on top of his helmet. Somehow someway Tyree held on to the ball and completed the catch. The Giants were alive and the momentum of Super Bowl XLII had taken a shocking dramatic shift.

The Burger Palace erupted with excitement. My father jumped to his feet. My brother and sister were rooting for New York. My cousin Don was cheering loudly, and even my uncle’s Bob and Gary were caught up in the moment. My heart was pounding, I had butterflies, and my brain was trying to comprehend what was happening in the physical world around me.

Thirty seconds later Manning found Plexico Burress in the end zone for a touchdown.

Giants 17 Patriots 14

There was 35 seconds left in the game. The Giants defense that had been so dominate for 59 minutes 25 seconds never let up. Strahan, Umenyiora, Pierce, and Tuck all contributing heavily to stopping Tom Brady and the Patriots. With just one second left the Giants took over on downs. Eli took a knee and New York Giants had shocked the world.

Super Bowl XLII the Arizona Upset!

I played Frank Sinatra’s New York New York on the Burger Palace sound system. Friends and family began saying their good byes and clearing out in a matter of minutes. After all it was Sunday night. I was still in awe of the shocking upset. The feeling was surreal. I had been preparing for weeks to write a sports blog about the perfect Patriots. Yet on Sunday February 3rd 2008, thoughts of "Upset" the race horse, Joe Willy Namath, James Buster Douglass, and the 1980 US Olympic Hockey team were running threw my mind categorizing themselves with the 2008 New York Giants.

I got only three hours sleep before getting up to drive to work. This whole week as been a wash for me, as my sleep patterns are shot! Yet it was all worth it. We witnessed history Sunday night. The Arizona Upset will forever be remembered.

Sick Of Juice

2008-01-13T19:55:00.001-08:00

It’s no big secret that the baseball classic film Field Of Dreams is my all time favorite sports movie.

The film eloquently captures faith, family, beauty and baseball, unlike any other sport film to date. It’s remarkable ability to show baseball for its natural beauty, as a great human connection is tremendously insightful. The story centers around Iowa Farmer Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) and his passion for the game of baseball, passed down to him from his father. Kinsella begins to hear voices in his cornfields and takes it upon himself to build a baseball field in the middle of his farm. Shortly after the field is completed the ghosts of the 1919 Chicago White Sox begin playing ball on Kinsella’s farm. The voices continue sending Ray on various journeys until the film’s end, when Kinsella is reunited with the spirit of his father, as they play catch in front of home plate.

“If you build it he will come.”

When Terrance Mann (James Earl Jones) first arrives to Ray Kinsella’s farm in this timeless masterpiece, Mann is in awe to see his ghostly heroes from the past playing on a cornfield baseball diamond in the middle of Iowa.

“Unbelievable” Mann says to Kinsella. “It’s more then that.” Kinsella replies.

“It’s perfect.”

It is perfect! The game, the connections, the continuity, the struggle for victory, it is all perfect.

“Hey Ryan What do you think of the Bonds indictment?”

“Hey Ryan, What’s your take on Roger Clemens?”

“Hey Ryan, how about that Mitchell Report?”

All questions friends and colleagues ask me every day.

I AM DONE! TAPPED OUT!! ! HAVE NOTHING MORE TO GIVE!

I am sick and tired of talking about it, writing about it, taping it, drawing it, eating it, sleeping it, and breathing it. This will be the final article I ever write on the issue of performance enhancing drugs in professional sports.

I have been reporting on the use of drugs in sports since I was a junior in High School in 1998. I wrote an editorial for Highlights News on Mark Mcgwire’s use of adrostendione. The article covered the dangers of steroids in sports, while Mcgwire and Sammy Sosa were both chasing the single season homerun record. A year later I did a cover story for KHS-TV on steroids, interviewing coaches and athletes while once again recognizing the steroid issue in professional sports.

Now ten years later the rest of the media world has joined me in covering the story.

Not only has the rest of the media joined me, now it’s all they talk about! Now we are all being subjected to the 24-hour news media and the steroid era all in the same breath. In its infant phase of human existence, Internet, CNN, ESPN News, and individual sports channels, all give creditability to stories that are nowhere near news worthy. These stories include, but certainly not limited to, 24-hour coverage of the steroid era in baseball, and Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson. (Another sports story completely un-newsworthy.)

The original purpose of my reports almost ten years ago was to shed light on the dangers of drugs in professional sports; and to attempt to hold organizations accountable for players who would take such short cuts. Not to exploit athletes or to repeat the facts until readers and viewers are blue in the face.

Besides, no one cared ten years ago.

In the summer of 2001 I drove better then 2949.15 miles from my mothers house in New York to San Francisco California. Among my many stops during the two-week excursion, was a trip to Pac Bell Park to watch Barry Bonds in his attempt to set an all-new single season homerun record. Bonds was attempting to surpass Mark Mcgwire and Sammy Sosa’s records from just three seasons earlier. On Tuesday night August 14th, I watched from the upper deck on the third base side, as Barry Bonds hit an absolute line drive rocket over the right field wall and into Mccovy Cove for a three run homer. It was his 51st long ball of 2001. (His 51st of 73 in 2001.) I remember thinking as I watched the ball fly out of the park (fastest I have ever seen any ball leave any field of play) that maybe this was too much. Maybe the records and the numbers were all growing irrelevant. Maybe the on field accomplishments weren’t as genuine or authentic as they once were.

Two years later the BALCO scandal rocked San Francisco and the baseball world.

And now there is Roger Clemens.

Mentioned in the Mitchell report as a user of HGH during baseball’s steroid era, Roger has done more this week for 24-hour news networks then the E-Entertainment channel! His story has become a colossal disgusting mess. Congressional hearings, tape-recorded conversations, he said she said verbal lashings, 60 minutes, and press conferences, all just a remote control click away. It's a juicy gossip story, getting great coverage as a result of the winter lull in professional sports. If the Yankees were playing four games against the Red Sox this past week, the Roger Clemens story would have been put on the back burner. If the Cubs and White Sox were about to match up for inter-league play no one would have spent more then two minutes on the Mitchell report.

For me the case is closed.

Baseball now has a drug policy, with very strict consequences. It continues to grow its policies and adapt them to the times. Some players like Andy Pettitte and Jason Giambi have admitted to using steroids and have moved on. Others like Barry Bonds refuse to admit to taking steroids and now face the penalties for perjury.

Either way the issue of performance enhancing drugs in baseball has concluded. The negative spin needs to stop, and athletes needs to get back to playing the game between the base lines.

So when Terrance Mann and Ray Kinsella are standing in awe of the game of baseball on the Field of Dreams. They see only the pure beauty of the game, and the people playing it. Not the fact that Babe Ruth can’t be the greatest homerun hitter of all time because he played during a sports era of segregation. Or that Pete Rose was less of a batting champion because he was a degenerate gambler. Or that Bonds and Mcgwire and Clemens maybe liars and or drug users.

They simply see a perfect game played by perfect people.

It’s the world outside the baselines that is imperfect.

Top Ten List

2007-12-31T23:54:00.000-08:00

Just another lazy lonely New Years Eve for me!

No New Years toast, or midnight kiss.

No trip to Times Square, or party of friends.

No Cristal or Scotch or Slow Gin Fizz.

Just my laptop, my Sports Blog, and the ten best Games or Sports Events of 2007.

In chronological order:

1) The Indianapolis Colts Win Super Bowl XLI
With a light steady mist trickling down in Dolphins Stadium, Indianapolis and Chicago did battle in the early weeks of 2007. Billy Joel was done singing, Phil Simms was done analyzing, I was done eating Papa Johns pizza in my Washington Hotel room, and Super Bowl XLI was under way. Manning Vs Grossman, Dungy Vs Smith, Oprah Vs Letterman. Super Bowl XLI was very competitive thru the first two quarters, and at halftime, the Colts lead the Bears 16-14. But the second half was all Indy. MVP Peyton Manning lead his offense to victory scoring 13 more points in the second half winning 29-17.

2) Golden State’s Warfare
I had no idea who Bryon Davis was at the start of the 2007 NBA playoffs. After watching him thru a few quarters I thought of him as basketball’s version of Kirby Puckett. After watching him thru game six of the first round of the finals, I was stunned by him, and in awe of him! Davis, Stephen Jackson and head coach Don Nelson had shocked the NBA world! The Golden State Warriors were the number eight seed, (42-40 record) and the final team to make the 2007 post season, playing against Mark Cuban’s model franchise. The Dallas Mavericks, who were the NBA’s best team (67-15). This David Vs Goliath match up was suppose to be a laugher. But then Golden State won games three and four at home following a spilt in Dallas in games one and two. Up three games to two Golden State came back home for game six and hammered the Mavericks 111-86. Making it the greatest upset in 2007!

3) Lord Arthur’s Ducks
I can still see the brothers Scott and Rob Niedermayer skating around the ice in Anaheim California’s Honda Center with the Stanley Cup raised above both of their heads. In just five games of the 2007 Stanley Cup final, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks defeated the Ottawa Senators. It hardly compared to the seven game final from the year prior, which I had witnessed first hand. But none-the-less the Carolina Hurricanes passed the Stanley Cup on to The Mighty Ducks.

4) Old West over King Lebron
Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, and of course Tim Duncan paved the way for the San Antonio Spurs to sweep Lebron James, and the Cleveland Cavilers in the 2007 NBA Finals. Although games one thru three were blowouts, Cleveland was desperately trying stave off defeat in game four. With a 81-79 Spurs lead in the closing seconds, Ginobili killed the clock before being fouled. He made both of his free throws and the Spurs completed the sweep. Players celebrated, fans went wild, and Eva Longoria mobbed Tony Parker. That may very well be my favorite sports moment of 2007. I am a big Eva fan.

5) Modern Day Homerun Proprietor
On Tuesday August 7th while playing at home against the Washington Nationals, Barry Bonds stepped up to the plate at AT&T Park. What he did next was history. For the 756th time in his career Bonds had hit a homerun. Bonds past the all time homerun record, held by Hank Aaron, to become baseballs new all time homerun king. The ball was hit into the right centerfield bleachers and set 43,154 Giant fans into a frenzy. Fireworks lit up the San Francisco night, and confetti poured town from the upper deck. His family and teammates mobbed Bonds at home plate. Baseball’s most prestigious record had its new chapter. Despite my well-documented feelings on Bonds, Major League Baseball has recognized Barry's record and holds it to be true.

6) Tiger’s Decree
Winner of the Fed Ex Cup, Woods won his first PGA event of 2007 (Torre Pines) and his last (East Lake). There were also a few in-between! Tiger continued to solidify his place as the best golfer in the games history in 2007. Now I have received lots of criticism for my less then professional obsession into Tiger’s athleticism. And so, in my attempt to be a nonbiased impartial blogger, I will write nothing further of the tremendous accomplishments of Woods in 2007.

7) Rocky Mountain High
In arguably the greatest streak of games ever won by an organization, the 2007 Colorado Rockies won 28 of their final 29 games to capture the National League Pennant. From September 16th until October 24th the Rockies lost only one single game. (A regular season loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.) From September 16 up to the World Series, Colorado won 20 of 21 regular season games, a one game playoff in extra innings against the San Diego Padres, a sweep in the Division Series of the Philadelphia Phillies, and a sweep in the Championship series of the rival Diamondbacks. Lead by the calm and witty Clint Hurdle the Rockies captured baseball fans everywhere and made them believers of the Denver dream. Sadly for Rockies fans (and Red Sox haters) the dream ended when the World Series began. Colorado was no match for Boston and lost the series in four games. However the remarkable streak of victories couldn’t be out done by any other baseball story in 2007.

8) The New Malevolent Empire
Lead by the table setters Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis, and followed by power producers David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, the Boston Red Sox bashed their way to another World Series title. In four World Series games Boston out scored Colorado 29-10. The Sox made quick and easy work of the Rockies. By a final of 13-1 in game number one, it was clear that Boston would over match the Rockies. Josh Beckett continued his post-season dominance in game one. The first game told the tale. And the book was easily judged by the cover. Boston won its second Championship in four years. The only consolation I take from the whole miserable experience as a Red Sox hater, is that the Sox won it all on the road away from Fenway Park. WOOP-DEE-DOOO!!!

9) Celtic Pride
In the mid summer of 2007 the Boston Celtics acquired Kevin Garnett from the Minnesota Timberwolves. The nine-player deal solidified Boston’s place among the top teams in the NBA's Eastern Conference going into the start of the season. As I type Boston is the best team in the NBA with an astonishing 26-3 record. In just under a third of a season, the Celtis have already surpassed their total win record from a year ago. Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett have almost insured Boston it's first NBA title since the Larry Bird era.

10) Paragon Patriots
With a victory over the New York Giants this past Saturday night, the New England Patriots have completed a perfect season, and has become the first team to ever go 16-0 in the regular season. However this sports story remains incomplete with the dawn of the New Year. Now as 2008 commences, the Patriots will start where I began this blog, trying to win the Super Bowl to become the first big sports story of 2008.

Eli And Big Blue, Consistently Inconsistent

2007-12-21T22:07:00.000-08:00

Nope

Not Brett Farve’s MVP season in his 38-year-old body.

Not Quarterback Tony Romo with his gorgeous Hollywood hottie.

(Jessica Simpson)

Not the New England Patriots who remain the very best.

Not the rejuvenated Chargers of the AFC west.

Not spy-gate, or Romeo, Buffalo, or Bill.

Or the Steelers streaky play, to go with the winter chill.

Not Petrino or Peyton, Vikings or Vick.

Or Monday Night Football on Christmas Eve with old Saint Nick.

No, the most amazing NFL story that I have found,

is how the 2007 New York Giants are post season bound.

As some of you may know, I frequently visit my family back home in New York. At my mother’s house, friends, family and I have worked over the years to make my mother’s basement into a semi finished den / living room area. Known affectionately as the “Burger Palace”, the den area includes a couch, two recliners, a coffee table, bar, sound system, jumbo-torn and every movie and sports poster I’ve ever owned.

One of my favorite past-times is to make my way down to the basement for spurts of time on Sundays to watch NFL games on the big screen. This past Sunday, I told my sister I was headed down to the Burger Palace to see how the dull-witted Eli Manning and the New York Giants were doing.

I have been very critical of Eli Manning this season to say the very least. My sister, who knows nothing of football, knows Eli is a poor Quarterback simply because of all my cursing and swearing. It was a little before nine o’clock and I figured the Giants / Redskins game was somewhere near the end of the first quarter. As I sat down in my recliner with a can of diet Pepsi in hand, I turned my attention to the screen as I began listening to Al and John doing play by play. The very first play I witnessed was the Giants lined up on offense while Eli was calling for the ball. Manning pulled his arm back as he began to look over his passing options. As he scrambled slightly to his right, he lost control of the ball and fumbled it to the ground. The Washington Redskins recovered and sent their offense onto the field. I got up from my recliner instantly disgusted with the game. I went back upstairs, and reported the news to my sister. (She must think I am a broken record.)

What is amazing to me is that the Giants have played lackluster football all season. Plays like the first one I witnessed Sunday night are commonplace. Yet if Big Blue wins this Sunday or next Sunday (yeah right) they will clinch a 2007-2008-playoff birth.

Eli Manning had 34 incomplete passes last Sunday. He already has 17 interceptions this season, to go with a 54% passing percentage. Eli has been consistently inconsistent in his professional career with the Giants. I declare with great certainty now that Eli will never be a superstar quarterback, and will never escape the shadow of his big brother.

Then there is Jeremy Shockey, the Giant Tight End who broke his leg Sunday, and is out for the season. Plexico Burress New York’s Wide Receiver has been playing all season with an injured right ankle. And this Giant team by and large, can’t seem to get it together when playing home games.

No wonder Giants fans have been hushed this season!

Will the Giants make the post season despite an awful Quarterback, key players hurt, and more overall inconsistency then George W. Bush on September Eleventh?

Surprisingly I think they will.

I think they beat the Bills in Buffalo this Sunday, and then they go to Tampa and play the Buccaneers. However after 60 minutes of play in the first round of the NFL postseason, the Giants will be making off-season vacation plans.

Bonds On Trail, Clink Time To Follow

2007-12-06T21:23:00.000-08:00

And Alas Barry Bonds and I have something in common.

Thru the week of October 21, 2007, while in the golden city I had been jogging from my hotel at Compton Place to Mccovy Cove and AT&T Park at the San Francisco bay. There at the bay are five bar fenced gates that look directly into the park from the right field foul line toward center field. From these gates one can look directly into the chain link fence that is the right field wall. The green grass, dirt infield, pitchers mound, and stands, can all be seen thru these gates. The sidewalk (opened to the public) is about twenty feet wide. One side looks into the park, while the other side looks directly into the bay. Every San Francisco night I ran down to these five fences and looked thru them onto at the field within. I would imagine first that I was playing right field, getting myself into a crouching position. With sweat pouring down my face, Paul O’Neill would often come to my mind, the Yankees right field warrior.

What I wouldn’t do to be just inside these fences, just twenty little old feet closer.

Then I would imagine I was getting a lead off first base. Pretending that I was standing 239 feet closer then I actually was. I wouldn’t get picked off is what I told myself. I wouldn’t be like Matt Holliday, who I had seen getting picked off earlier in the evening of game 2 of the 2007 World Series.

Man I wish I could play the game!

I wish I could swing a bat, or throw a ball!

I wish I didn’t get nervous just getting out of bed, let alone all the nervous energy I would feel if I were a major league ball player. Stepping into a big league batters box with 56,000 people watching my every step is so unfathomable to me that my stomach turns just thinking about it. Putting all talent aside or prospect of talent for that matter, I was nervous as a young man just playing little league and Babe Ruth. It robbed me from ever really judging my potential, but also made me realize that playing baseball was not to be my path in my life’s journey.

Then there is Barry Bonds.

The 43-year-old major league baseball veteran, holds the tainted record of most life-time homeruns hit by a major league baseball player. Tainted because of his use of performance enhancing drugs. By his own admission Barry has testified to using the Cream and the Clear two forms of an anabolic steroid. But the truth is Barry has used far greater performance enhancing drugs and has just never owned up to it.

Until today.

Bonds is due today in federal court in San Francisco for perjury charges. It is expected that the federal prosecution has enough evidence that Barry has lied about taking performance enhancing drugs to put Bonds in prison for up to 30 years.
It all dates back to 2003, when Bonds and five other major league players testified before a Federal Grand Jury. They were questioned about their involvement in the seizure of the Balco Laboratories and the arrest of its owner Victor Conte. The six players were granted total immunity for their honest testimony. (Tell the complete and total truth about Balco and you’re free!) Five players told the complete truth, but not Bonds. Barry denied any involvement in Balco, and denied ever knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs.

Now he faces the music.

Bonds and his defense team plan on fighting the charges. However its common legal knowledge that federal prosecutors don’t file perjury charges unless they are 99.9% positive they can get a guilty verdict from a jury. And there is plenty of evidence out there to convict Bonds.

Now most people will defend Bonds. "Leave him alone!" "All baseball players use drugs, so why single Bonds out. Why make him the poster boy of the steroid era?" "They are all millionaire cry baby cheater, but not criminals." "It's strictly a racial thing! Bonds broke the biggest record in baseball, and some people just don’t like it." These are all quotes I have heard on the radio, work place, and in the news in recent months, and they are all irrelevant.

What Bonds is being charged with, and what I have had a problem with from day one, is his arrogance, pride, disrespect and defiance for the game of baseball any more importantly the countries judicial system.

Bond lied to a Federal Grand Jury, and no one is above that!!!

This past week Barry said to reporters that he still wants to play in 2008. He has been quoted as saying he felt unappreciated for all he had done for the Giants and the city of San Francisco, and has asked his agent to find him a deal somewhere in baseball. However with a perjury indictment, and possible prison time lingering, no team in baseball will give Bonds a deal. It’s safe to say Barry’s time within the game of baseball has come to an end.

All baseball fans worship their heros, and despise their villains with great passion. We find even the subtlest similarities with our heros, and we do whatever possible to distance our own characteristics from our villains.

We wear the same shirts and hats as those we admire and curse and judge those we dislike. Even I, at 27-years-old, think of Paul O’Neill and Matt Holliday while jogging around the city of San Francisco.

Barry has always been a player whom I hate. His flat out arrogance his defiance of the game disgusts me. He is one of the great examples of a guy whom I distance myself from. Which leads me back to my initial point of this article, the common link between Bonds and myself.

Barry’s common link to me is that for almost opposite reasons, we are both locked out of AT&T Park in San Francisco. However the bars that lock me out of the park do not lock me out of choices and experiences throughout the rest of the world. In Bond's case, the bars that he will soon be locked behind will be holding him in a 6x6x6 foot jail cell.

Or at least I hope.

Santana Or Baby Bombers?

2007-12-01T22:38:00.000-08:00

I want Johan Santana in Yankee Pinstripes for Christmas this year!

The Minnesota Twins left-handed ace Johan Santana is the hottest available pitcher on the trade market this off-season. Johan has developed into arguably the best pitcher in the American League and is most certainly among the top ten. In eight major league seasons Santana has 93 career wins. In each of the last four years Johan has over 200 strikeouts in over 200 innings pitched. His lifetime ERA is 3.22, which is a great triumph in modern day American League baseball. He is the ace of the Twins staff, the most crucial member of the Minnesota pitching rotation.

I have a photograph that hangs on the backside of my apartment’s front door. The photograph is of New York Yankees Phil Hughes, Robinson Cano, Joba Chamberlain, and Melky Cabrera. They are all gathered in the dugout of Tropicana field in Tampa Florida, wearing thier gray road Jerseys as they pose. Chamberlain is crouched forward, while squatting on the backrest of the dugout bench. Cabrera stands to Joba’s right with a bat hanging like a cross behind is neck, while both or his hands wrap around each end of the lumber. On Joba’s left are Cano and Huges. Cano holds a bat similar to Melky while Hughes is smiling and looking at the camera. The photograph is titled “Baby Bombers”. I often stare at the photo while thinking about pending Yankee games in seasons to come. With great hope and excitement, future Yankee victories race through my mind when thinking about these four special rookies.

Yet over the last several weeks I have been waking up and dreading my daily routine of checking the New York newspapers. Frightened that I will turn on my computer to read of how one (or more) of my “Baby Bombers” has been traded to Minnesota. Dreading that the Yankees will have abandoned their principals and compromised the future in an effort to get John Santana from the Twins. Now although the result of such a move will accomplish the goal from my very first sentence of this blog, it would still greatly upset me!

Upset me because parting with tomorrow’s prospects for a chance at winning today is an uncertain variable. Of course if Santana leads the 2008 Yankees to the World Series, then all the “Baby Bombers” in the world can play in Minneapolis for all I care. However if next season Phil Hughes or Jaba Chamberlain win 23 games with the Twins, while Johan Santana rehabs in August from the Yankees disabled list, while the Red Sox are in first place, well then all hell will have broken lose in the Bronx.

Of course in a perfect world Cano would be at second base, Hughes and Chamberlain would be in the starting rotation, Cabrera would be navigating centerfield, and Johan Santana would be the ace of the Yankees staff. But the more I read, and the more both teams report, that possibility 100% unattainable. This leaves me pondering an age-old question as a Yankee fanatic.

How can I have my cake and eat it too?

I can’t! The Yankees organization can’t! And the millions of other Yankees fans around the world can’t either. The Minnesota Twins have made it abundantly clear that they will not, under any conditions trade Santana to New York without a package that would include one of the four “Baby Bombers”. Under normal circumstances this would immediately end talks involving the Yankees. However the Boston Red Sox have complicated those normal circumstances this week.

The Red Sox have also entered talks with the Twins to acquire Santana. This has forced Hank Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman (Yankee Owner and General Manager) to discuss trading players who would normally be off limits. In my opinion, and probably the opinion of most Yankees insiders, the Yankee brass would do anything to keep Santana from becoming a Red Sox. If that means abandoning prospects and trading away the future, they will. The only silver lining for the Yankees is that the Twins asking price from Boston is equally steep.

How will it all play out at Baseball’s winter meetings (where most trades are discussed) next week? No one can be certain. I personally could see any one of three possibilities happening. I could see Santana remaining as a Twin, I could see him as a Red Sox, and I could see him in Pinstripes.

Only one thing do I know for sure.

If a trade does occur, and the Yankees land Santana, then the Poster on my front door is useless!

Sean Taylor 1983-2007

2007-11-27T19:16:00.001-08:00

Imagine you’re the defensive safety for the Washington Redskins.

Your day is winding down and you’re home resting your sprained knee. You’re biding your time. Healing your body. Mentally preparing for your next opportunity to walk thru the tunnel of an NFL stadium for a big game. You’re thinking of running, hitting and catching. Thinking of all the meaningful games with playoff implications remaining this season. As you go crawl into bed and slip under your covers, your thoughts begin to drift. You think about your parents, your girlfriend, to your teammates, old friends, where you’re going, where you’re coming from.

Most of all you think about your daughter.

You fall asleep.

Suddenly you’re startled by a noise you hear from within your home. You spring up from your bed arming yourself as you begin to prospect. You arrive at your bedroom door and see an intruder. Before you can comprehend what is happening a bullet has entered you leg above your knee. You suddenly begin to lose blood. You try to cover your wound. You fall to the floor. You hear screams; see lights come on around you. You’re trying to wrap something, anything around your wound to stop the bleeding. Your trying to get your self out of harms way, you’re trying to protect your family. What ever you can do to get the intruder out of your home, is imperative. But most of all you’re just trying to make sense out of everything that has just happened.

You close your eyes.

You pass out.

Imagine the horrifying final moments of Sean Taylor’s life.

Sean Taylor was the 24-year-old defensive safety for the Washington Redskins. In his fourth year in the NFL, Sean’s potential for excellence in game of football was immeasurable. A graduate of the University of Miami, he was drafted by the Redskins as the fifth overall pick in the 2004 draft. Early Monday morning, an armed intruder entered Sean’s home firing two shots. The first shot missed its target, but the second hit a major artery in Taylor’s leg. The loss of blood caused Taylor to enter a coma, and at 5:30am (before sunrise) on Tuesday November 27, Sean Taylor passed away.

For the last 48 hours, every paper I have read, radio show I have listened to, and television program I have watched has reported the exact same thing, “Sean was a terrific player; a young man with a troubled past, but someone who had recently matured as a result of fatherhood”. His teammates coaches and fans all thought the world of him. He will be missed most of all on the field and in the locker room where he was a key figure.

It happens all too often in the NFL. For me personally this incident is the last stop.

Common are the stories of player drug charges, DWI’s, gang related incidences, violence, theft, robbery, and murder. The NFL’s enormous popularity prevents these stories from holding the headlines for too long. With great efficiency and little effort these issues are swept under the rug, and the count down to Super Bowl XLII always takes center stage.

Now I am in no way rushing to conclusions, or placing blame, or choosing sides. I am not trying to mix stories, or focus on the negative. However a football player has been murdered and that seems to be to be a little more important then a game.

Sean Taylor is survived by his 18-month-old daughter Jackie Taylor.

Sean Taylor 1983-2007

2007 MLB Awards

2007-11-11T22:11:00.000-08:00

The 2007 Major League Baseball awards week is about to kick off. Monday MLB will announce the Rookie Of The Year Award in both Leagues, Tuesday will be the AL Cy Young Award, Wednesday will be the Managers of the Year, Thursday NL Cy Young, and then next week, just before the Holiday the MVP awards will be announced.

It's the time of year when baseball writer’s get together and critique, evaluate and assess baseball’s most covenanted possession, its numbers. These writing men and women of suits and laptops judge players on their already accomplished feats. Those men and women consistently looking awkward on the baseball diamond before and after the game, find their niche within the pastime and attribute praise to it.

(I must remember jealousy will get me nowhere!)

Any who, 2007 looks to be pretty cut and dry when it comes to handing out the games most sought after awards. I doubt there will be any big surprises over the next two weeks. Allow me to do some predicting, so I can be wrong as always.

AL Rookie- Dustin Pedroia
Red Sox Nation’s new lover! Especially now that reports have been released that Pedroia played his final games of the season with a broken wrist. He already had the reputation of a pesky pain in the rear for opposing pitchers, but now he is a New England hero too! Hitting lead off down the stretch for Boston, Dustin was as much a part of the Sox second World Series title in four years as anyone.

NL Rookie- Troy Tulowitzki
Already being compared to Cal Ripken Jr., Troy is heavily favored to bring Colorado only its second ROY award in team history. Troy has tremendous range at shortstop, and committed only 11 errors in 155 games this season. In addition to his remarkable play at short, Troy handled the bat pretty well too. He hit .291 with 24 Homers and 99 RBIs. Tulowitzki kept himself busy too whenever striking out in a game. Troy would work out in the clubhouse between innings as punishment for not putting the ball in play. With tremendous offensive numbers for a National League shortstop in addition to great defense and a positive work ethic, Troy is the favorite to win the award in a few short hours from when I am typing this.

AL Cy Young- Josh Beckett
This is one of the few awards that could surprise me, but I doubt it will. Voting the Cy Young is allegedly done before the post season. However no one had a better season or post season then that of Red Sox Ace Josh Beckett. The games only 20 win starter, Josh won his 21st, 22nd, 23rd and 24th when it counted the most, in October. His 3.27 ERA in the American League wasn’t too shabby either. C.C. Sabathia of the Cleveland Indians could give Josh a little voting competition for the Award, but at the end of the day Tuesday, Josh will have his first career Cy Young.

AL Manager- Terry Francona
It isn’t often that the winning manager of the World Series wins the Manager Of The Year award. In fact it has only happened for three managers in the last ten years. (Ozzie Gullien, Jim Leyland, Jack Mckeon) However no other manager has done a better job in the American League in 2007. With a crazy mix of players, Terry keeps is clubhouse fun, and his attitude positive each and every day, in the second most difficult market in all of baseball.

NL Manager- Clint Hurdle
This is the one I am sure of! How could Clint not win the award based on what he has accomplished this season in Denver. In this, Clint’s sixth season in Colorado, he is the first Rockies manager to win 90 games. Clint and the Rockies had not even finished within ten games of .500 in each of the last five years. Leading a team that is 25th in all of baseball in overall salary, Hurdle could have given up years ago, and no one would have though the lesser of him. Yet this September something finally clicked. Hovering around .500 all year, Hurdle’s team played all the way into the Fall Classic by winning 22 of their last 23 in the regular season games. With great pose, and never say die attitude, Hurdle is the prime candidate in the NL for Manager Of The Year Honors.

NL Cy Young- Jake Peavy
Leading the National League in wins and in ERA this is the favorite to win the Cy Young. Finishing with 19 victories it’s ironic that his 20th win would have sent his team to the post season. Regardless his inadequacy, his season should not be scrutinized because of one poor game. Without Peavy, the Padres would have fallen well short of the Post Season, instead of only one game short. He is a leader of the Padres rotation and team itself. I just hope the Yankees can trade for him, and not have to give up any prospects!

AL MVP -Alex Rodriguez
Despite his cries of, “LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME!” during game four of the World Series, and his incredible lack of intelligence off the field, his arrogance, greed and disrespect, his offensive numbers in 2007 are off the charts! Evaluating only his endeavors between the base lines, A-Rod had a monster offensive season. He is the favorite for the MVP by a country mile! But I simply can’t write another decent thing about the money grubbing careless jock! His conduct off the field robs him of his true potential.

NL MVP- Jimmy Rollins
This is another tough prediction! I could see Matt Holliday beating Rollins out for NL MVP. But if he does, it is wrong! After all Justin Morneu beat out Derek Jeter last season in the same category, and that was wrong then too! Rollins and Holliday have even numbers, and there importance to their respective teams is equal. But the major variation can be found in Rollins’s near flawless defense at the third most important defensive position in the field. Jimmy Hit .296 with 30 homers and 94 RBIs as a lead off hitter! But the most amazing stat is only 11 errors in all 162 games for the Phillies this year! Rollins played flawless defense and hit for power at the top of the batting order in each and every game for the Phillies this year!

Well that is my story and those are my picks! I am no different then every other die-hard baseball fan in November. Struggling for any kind of worthy baseball news!

For the next two weeks, the MLB Awards are the next best thing to baseball itself.

The Week Nine Marquee

2007-11-07T20:42:00.000-08:00

What kind of a sports blogger would I be if I didn’t write an article about the biggest regular season game arguably in the history of the NFL?

The Nations media has had a field day with this game over the last two weeks, building it as the epic it was. Super Bowl Forty-one and a half was the cleaver phrase. The 7-0 Indianapolis Colts against the 8-0 New England Patriots. It is considered footballs best rivalry of the 21^st century. The two best Quarterbacks, and team leaders going against one another. Pretty Boy Tom Brandy versus Daddy’s Boy Peyton Manning. Joseph Addai the Colts running back against Laurence Maroney the Pack Back. The fan favorite head coach Tony Dungy, against the hated Bill Belichick. The talk was over, the hype had concluded, CBS was ready and at 4:20 Eastern Standard Time on Sunday November 4, 2007 the week nine NFL distinguished bout kicked off.

The Colts won the coin toss, and Indianapolis looked sharp in their first possession, driving the ball down to the Patriot 40 yard line to set up a 50-yard field goal. Right off the bat the expected became unpredicted, as Adam Vinatieri missed his first ever field goal in the RCA dome.

The Patriot Offense took the field for their biggest challenge of the season.

It was Robert Mathis hitting Tom Brady for a ten-yard loss on the first New England offensive play of the day, setting the games tone. It would not be business as usual for Brady and the Eastern Division leaders on this day. The next two plays were not enough to make up 20 yards and for the first time this season New England didn’t score on their first drive.

The Colt's Joseph Addai was the difference in the first half, running the Patriot defense rapid. His ability to run early opened the door for Peyton Manning to throw to wide receiver Reggie Wayne. Clicking on all cylinders Indy was down in the red zone with five minutes left in the first quarter, and at 3:05 in the first, Vinitari hit from 21 yards out, and Indy took the lead 3-0.

The defensive pressure was something Brady had not seen all season. Dwight Freeny also pressured the New England QB. Feeling the defensive pressure, number 12 found a new best friend in Randy Moss who he would throw to all day. But it was an initial seven-yard touchdown pass with 12:00 minutes in the second that gave New England the lead 7-3.

Going 175 passes without an interception Brady threw an interception at the one-yard line with two minutes left in the half. It Concluded Tom’s worst first half this season.

Even with the interception it still looked like Patriots 7 Colts 6 would be the halftime score.

However Joseph Addai had other plans!

Joseph Addai ran the ball in for a 73-yard Touch down with thirteen seconds left in the half, giving Indy a 13-7 lead.

At half time the score was 13-7 Indianapolis.

Early in the second half New England’s Rodney Harrison intercepted Manning, giving each QB one pick on the day. On the ensuing drive Mathis stopped Brady again in a big spot forcing another failed offensive drive by the Patriots.

Penalties were killing the Pats almost as badly as Joseph Addai was. However Brady’s 20 yard run, along with two passes to Randy Moss got New England into field goal range where the AFC Eastern Dominators put three on the board to make the score 13-10.

New England got the ball right back but it was Gary Brackett intercepting Brady for his second pick at the start of the fourth quarter. The future was looking mighty bleak for the New England.

An exhausted New England defense, with 10:00 minutes left in the game was unable to hold Indy off from scoring a gargantuan touchdown. Peyton in from one yard out ran in on a QB sneak to put the Colts ahead by two huge scores with less then ten minutes left in the game.

But then suddenly the entire game changed!

The pace, the tempo, the winners, the losers, the score all changed dramatically.

Brady found his favorite target (Moss) with a 58-yard pass setting New England up on the three-yard line. Then Wes Welker caught a Brady TD with exactly 8 minutes left in the game. It was a sign of things to come as Tom was finding targets aside from Moss: Brady to Stallworth for 30 yards, Brady to Faulk for a touchdown, Brady to Welker for a first down.

What a difference ten minutes can make on the scoreboard in the NFL!

Now with only two minutes left New England had a 24-20 lead!

The Colts without any timeouts after the two-minute warning could only watch as the Patriots killed the clock and got out of the city of Indianapolis having stolen a victory.

Belichick and Dungy met at midfield only long enough to shake hands and turn away.

Super Bowl Forty-One and a half was in the books, the hype and excitement all gone. Only one NFL team remains undefeated and it’s the team that I think will go 16-0 this season.

Everyone still thinks I am crazy for predicting it. But after watching every play of every down on Sunday, watching New England play their worst game this season and still find a way to win, there is no doubt in my mind they will immerge undefeated this season.

Now some will ask what about Pittsburgh (a tough opponent remaining on the Patroit schedule)? And what happens in week 15 and week 16 (when Belichick rests is starters for the post season)? And how about all the Colt injuries (Harrison and Gonzalez) that may have contribued to thier loss? All great questions and great possibilities still exist this season.

However New England showed me all they needed to on Sunday to make me a believer in thier quest for an undefeated season.

There is not a loss to be found within this organization this year!

P.S. I am sick of writing positive stuff about New England teams!

The Boston Red Sox are World Champions.

2007-10-31T17:43:00.000-07:00

As the final hours of the month of October dwindle down, the 2007 Major League Baseball season has officially concluded.

Gone are the weekend baseball conversations with friends over summer barbeques. Lounging around the backyard with a transistor radio listening to a game has come to pass. The day-to-day routine of checking the newspaper and seeing where each team is placed in the standings is finished. Gone are the season voices of Karl Ravech, Peter Gammons, John Kruk, Vin Scully, John Sterling, and Jerry Remy. The days are shorter, the nights are longer, and soon snow will cover the baseball diamonds throughout the land (maybe)!

For me the end comes as one of the most disappointing baseball seasons in recent history. I personally saw more games in different cities and parks this year then I have since I was sixteen years old. Yet the end was a train wreak as miserable as a Yankees fan can imagine!

The Boston Red Sox are World Champions.

In game four with two out in the bottom of the ninth inning Jonathan Papelbon threw a two-ball, two-strike fastball high and inside to pitch hitter Seth Smith. Smith half swung at the pitch out of the zone, striking out to officially end the season. Papelbon threw his glove in the air and jumped down from the pitchers mound. In a squatting position Papelbon waited for catcher Jason Varitek to meet him in front of the mound. Varitek jumped into the air in front of Papelbon who caught him as the captain raised his right arm in victory. The rest of the team began mobbing the battery, until the cluster of champions began to move toward first base. 1973.29 miles away from Denver (according to mapquest.com) in Boston Massachusetts, Red Sox Nation went ballistic. For only the second time in ninety years the Red Sox became World Champions of the great game of baseball.

With Japanese Pitchers, Dominican Sluggers, and American Fielders, the Red Sox have helped make our national past time truly a World Series. With the Core of the team intact, young and healthy, this is the model franchise in the game today. They have a better chance of repeating their dominance next season then any other team I can remember in recent years.

Ok writing the last few paragraphs has made me feel truly disgusting! I am wrapping up this article now, so that I can take four Advil, and sit in a hot shower for several hours thinking about every thing that is wrong with what I just wrote!

I look to 2008 with a sense of hope!

Hope that although my favorite team is no longer baseball’s model franchise, every new seasons brings with it a renaissance, and maybe just maybe the New York Yankees can be World Champions again.

Rocky Mountain High Colorado!

2007-10-21T22:05:00.000-07:00

Putting my journalist, analyst, impartial, blogger opinions to the side for a moment; never before in life have I ever been a bigger Colorado Rockies fan than I am right now!

GO ROCKIES!!!

As a die hard Yankees Fan I must always hate the Boston Red Sox with a passion! And so the Colorado Rockies hold all my hopes and dreams of salvaging the few remaining games of what has otherwise been a very disappointing baseball season for me. Watching Colorado celebrate their first ever World Series victory at the expense of my arch nemesis is all I have left!

Of course the 2007 MLB World Series (which begins Wednesday night at 8:00pm Eastern Standard Time on FOX) heavily favors the Boston Red Sox.

At 96 and 66 during the regular season, Boston has been the best team in baseball this season. The American League Champion Red Sox are playing the Wild Card Rockies. Boston is playing with home field advantage. Which means playing with American League rules (using DH David Ortiz) four out of seven games. They are playing with a fully rested pitching rotation. Red Sox best pitcher Josh Beckett matching up with Rockies best Jeff Francis. Boston’s bullpen is stable, tough and dominant. The Rockies bullpen has been shaky and unreliable. Boston’s staring line up has been pesky and productive. Colorado’s starting lineup has been adequate.

Yes on paper it should be a Boston Sweep.

But on paper the Rockies season should have been over 21 different times over the last 22 games. Tony Kornheiser of ESPN, (PTI- my favorite after work show!) often says objects in motion stay in motion. Well I certainly hope Colorado has four more wins left in their remarkable six-week victory tour.

I make no bold predictions!

Besides I have been wrong with almost every pick this post season anyway. In this, Major League Baseball’s 102 annual World Series, I am nothing more then a huge Rockies fan!

The Skip Has Been Whacked

2007-10-19T22:24:00.000-07:00

Thursday November 2, 1995

“Two Very Important Announcements!”

Coach Jerry Corrado declared sternly to my seventh period physical education class at Kingston High School.

“First off, there is no ninth period make up gym class today.”

The crowd of students assembled on the bleachers, waiting for the bell to ring (myself one of them) began talking, indifferent to Coach’s proclamation.

“Second!” Coach shouted to regain our attention and silence.

“Second!”

“Joe Torre has just been named the new manager of the New York Yankees!”

Once again everyone began talking still indifferent to Coach’s public statement.

Everyone except me that is!

Coach had my full and undivided attention. But coach was done trying to communicate with the group of rowdy teenagers waiting to get for seventh period to end. Staring down at his grade book he waited for the bell, saying nothing more regarding his baseball news.

As soon as the bell rang I ran down from my seat among the top of the bleachers and approached Coach Corrado. I was desperate for some more information.

“Is it true Coach? You know, about the Yankees?” I asked in a frantic and questionable tone.

“Yes” He said to me heatedly.

“It was just announced on the radio, on WKNY during a news break.”

I pulled my New York Yankees cap from a top my head. It’s dark blue color with the interlocking white N Y. discussed by the hat and all it represented, and it’s new manager. I extended the hat out in my hand toward Coach Corrado, and said with anger and disappointment,

“you want a hat?”

“No! I want Buck Showalter back!” Was Coach’s equally angry disappointed return.

I was just fifteen years old, and I couldn’t believe the awful move that George Stienbrenner and the Yankees brass had just made. Joe Torre was known in my mind as a failed Mets and Cardinals manager. A guy whose track record for failure was sure to whip out everything former manager Buck Showalter had just accomplished.

Eleven months later, I was at my uncles house jumping up and down in front of a television when Charlie Hayes caught a foul ball pop up off third base, to crown the Yankees the 1996 World Series Champions. The vision of Torre with the World Series Trophy in his hands and tears in his eyes still seems like yesterday in my mind.

From 1996 right up until two weeks ago, Joe Torre has been the vital component for success in the Bronx. For the last 12 years Torre has been a tremendous leader of Yankees players, a calming voice in the media, and an influential figure with ownership.

But now it's all over.

At 2:00pm on Friday October 19, 2007 Joe Torre offically anounced is tenure as Yankees Skipper as come to an end.

There are many fans, journalists and analysts who are among the opinion that the time has come for a change in New York, and Joe’s departure is ideal. Many feel that Joe has never been a great situational manager, not big on strategy guy. Many also think that losing key coaches like Mel Stottlemyre and Don Zimmer hurt Torre as they were the real brains in the Yankees dugout. These oppions may have some legitimacy. However even if these theories are all 100 percent accurate, Torre is still the most qualified guy for the job. There is just no suitable replacement for Joe in the foreseeable Yankee future.

In recent years thing have gotten stale with Joe and the Yankees. In fact, in the last three years Joe’s head has been on the chopping block every October. As I watched live from Yankees Stadium during game four of the ALDS I felt that this was finally the end for Torre in New York. I was one of the many 56,000 in attendance chanting Joe’s name in what we figured was his final good bye.

Appropriately, Joe’s last official appearance on the field at Yankees Stadium was to bring in closer Marino Rivera. Rivera has been the single most important player to Joe’s success in the Bronx. One New York reporter even joked years ago that Joe’s last day with the Yankees should be one day less then Mariano Rivera’s last day.

Mission Accomplished.

Since that sunny November day back in 1995, there have been only two days that I have felt such horrible sadness as a Yankees fanatic. The first day was game seven of the 2004 ALCS when the Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox.

The Second was today.

Kobe's Miserable Hollywood Performance

2007-10-17T19:37:00.000-07:00

On Thursday night June 14, 2007, game four of the NBA Championship between the San Antonio Spurs and the Cleveland Cavilers was played out to the season’s conclusion. With the Spurs up by just two, after a three pointer by LeBron James, Spurs guard Manu Ginobili received the ball and proceeded to kill 2.3 seconds off the clock before he was fouled. The run killed Cleveland’s dreams of a Championship and completed a series sweep for the Spurs. San Antonio was crowned the 2006-2007 NBA Champions. Seconds later Tim Duncan was pumping his fists. LeBron James was hanging his head. And most important of all Tony Parker was hugging Eva Longoria, capturing the hearts and genitalia of every heterosexual male watching.

Lucky Chap!

The reason I flash back is not to praise the defending Champions or to lust over Eva. Rather it’s because there has been one NBA constant every single day between that game, and the present moments as I type this article. That constant can be found in Los Angeles California with the franchise Icon of the LA Lakers. The constant has been the repetitive malicious weeping of Kobe Bryant. His demand to be traded from the team that made him famous has been the NBA cover story every California day since the spring.

Bryant has been in a constant verbal battle with LA ownership since the end of last season. He put the situation only slightly on the back burner over the summer while playing for team USA. Now he is complaining of a sore leg that has restricted him from preseason workouts. And the latest report out of Tinsel Town is that Kobe was seen clearing out his Lakers locker this past Monday.

When confronted by the media on Tuesday, Kobe denied that he had cleared out his locker, but his overall tone in attitude toward his current team almost contradicted his statement. As Boomer Esiason said on his morning radio show on sports radio 660am,

“A reporter had to have been inside the Lakers locker room, and had to have seen Kobe clearing out his locker in order to make this story news worthy”.

Otherwise we would be talking even more Joe Torre and even less Colorado Rockies this week in the world of sports media.

All sports fans have seen these antics before. Professional athletes testing the limits, trying to break the rules in order to get what they want. Faking injuries, demanding more money, bashing people within their organizations, crying to the media, insisting on trades, and clinging to their agents for their sports lives. Terrell Owens, Manny Ramirez, Michael Strahan, and now Alex Rodriguez are just a few names that come to mind in recent months.

The real trouble is that Kobe is among the highest paid players in the NBA, making a whopping 88.6 million over the next four years. Truth be told I think Lakers ownership would love to part company with their over paid guard. LA has looked to meet Kobe’s demand, but they simply can’t move enough of his salary or get enough in return to make quality trade.

It’s the old “were stuck with you so you’re stuck with us”.

But man is Kobe trying to get out of LA!

Keep in mind Bryant is the same guy who had Shaquille O’Neal kicked out of town! His constant fighting over whose ego was bigger drove O'Neal to Miami, where Shaq had the last laugh with a Championship season two years ago. Bryant has an incredible ability to conduct himself in such a childish fashion that eventually he gets what he wants as someone bows to his demands.

So where is Kobe Bryant going?

My guess would be nowhere. If Lakers owner Jerry Buss and the Lakers brass were going to trade Kobe it would have happened over the summer. I would imagine Bryant will continue to make the situation miserable for his the organization, his teammates, coaching staff, and most of all for himself. I would anticipate a miserable season in LA and an unhappy franchise.

However my track record for predicting the future in professional sports is not exactly stellar. After all I said there would be a Boston / New York ALCS in MLB and that I would be up at least a grand in Vegas last week. Neither of which manifested.

So the safe bet is that Kobe will be in Chicago or Dallas by the NBA opening day!

Kobe is like so many professional athletes in this day and age, tremendously talented on the field, but lacking any essence of honor off.

Yankees 2007 Season Comes To An End

2007-10-09T19:48:00.000-07:00

It was so humid!

I could feel the moisture building between my skin and my clothes, and the sticky feeling was consistently in the background of my mind. It didn’t help that 56,315 screaming, cursing, frustrated Yankees fans surrounded me. They posted the game time temperature as 87 degrees on the centerfield jumbo-tron. I wanted to keep drinking to stay cool, but the bathroom line was the longest I had ever seen at the Stadium and I didn’t want to keep missing the game.

All of this on October 8, 2007.

This was just the fourth Yankees Post-Season game I had ever seen in person. It was the first Post-Season game my Old Man had ever seen live. Sitting in box 276 on the third base line, it was not only the best seat I ever had for a Yankees game, it was the Post Season! With Rudy Gulliani, Jim Leyritz, Tino Martinez, and Jeremy Shockey sitting just sections and rows from my seat, The Old Man and I were pumped to be in at Yankees Stadium for this must win game four of the 2007 American League Division Series.

The excitement of the experience, and the intensity of watching a do or die game wore off after the third pitch. Grady Sizemore the Indian centerfielder homered to lead off the game, and the Yankees never recovered.

The New York offense had been on the brink of scoring a ton of runs several times over the first five innings. Both TOM and I thought it was just a matter of time. But after the sixth inning when "Captain Clutch" Derek Sanderson Jeter grounded into a 4-6-3 inning ending double play, I could begin to feel the season slip away. Jeter has always been the type of player who performs better the bigger the game. Yet here he was grounding into his third double play in two games. The score remained 6-2 with just three innings to play. And our very best player was hurting us most.

All year the Yankees kept me on an emotional roller coaster of highs and lows. Around mid August I began expecting the unexpected every day.

“Anything is possible” is what I kept telling myself.

I had to.

I saw the Yankees dissolve a 14.5 deficit in the standings after May 29th, to just 1 game on September 19th. I saw them hold off Detroit and Seattle in the Wild Card race. I saw them win the season series from the Boston Red Sox, the best team in the American League. I saw a kid from Lincoln Nebraska pitch out of the bullpen and capture the hearts and minds of the City That Never Sleeps. I heard “MVP MVP MVP” chanted by the masses during home games in the Bronx whenever the third baseman would step into the batters box.

But after the captain grounded into the 4-6-3 double play, the possible began to seem impossible, and the impossible soon became reality.

When catcher Jorge Posada struck out on three pitches to end the game, a frenzy of incidents went into motion. Incidents that I watched first hand. First Cleveland Catcher Kelly Shoppach stood up just as home plate umpire Fieldin Culbreth signaled strike three. Shoppach pumped his fist and began slowly jogging out to the mound to met Joe Borowski. The battery began the celebration as though this was nothing more then a regular season victory. The Yankees Stadium chief audio engineer instantaneously put the song “New York New York” on the Stadium Sound System. Shoppach and Borowski were not going nuts, but they were quickly greeted by twenty-three other teammates who were. Jumping up and down the Indians began to cluster between the mound and second base. As I watched with my own eyes from less then fifty yards away, A lump began growing in my throat and soon I found it hard to swallow. A feeling like my heart was sinking directly followed. I just stared out on to the field. Standing still and somber, I was remembering things that will forever be branded into my mind. Watching our opponent celebrate on our field. Watching a series of actions play out that will lead to even greater actions playing out off the field.

So bitter sweet. Yet the game, even then, is as it always is.

Perfect.

Even still as much as I love the game, the future looks grim in the Bronx. Free agents are talking of leaving the Yankees. Joe Torre is almost certainly not coming back to New York. Fans are devastated. And the Boston Red Sox (of all teams) are about to begin play in the 2007 ALCS. But this time of year is always grim. It’s always darkest just after a season ends when the dream is not fulfilled.

But this too shall pass.

Pitchers and Catchers will report to Tampa Florida in just one hundred twenty six days. And the 2008 Major League Baseball season will begin on Tuesday April first.

2007 MLB Post Season

2007-10-02T20:13:00.000-07:00

Twenty-two major league baseball teams have just finished the 2007 season. Over 650 players’ coaches and managers have just finished clearing out their lockers, offices and clubhouses. Some of those players will never see their teammates again in their lives. Others will see their teammates next week on the golf course. One way or another the game is over and their season has halted. Some teams, like the Tampa Bay Devil Rays have known this day was coming for weeks. Others like the New York Mets and the San Diego Padres were stunned by it in the final hours of the regular season.

Then there are the eight other teams whose baseball life has just begun. They have earned the right to extend their play into the 2007 MLB Post Season. Four of them could be eliminated as early as this weekend (my least favorite aspect to the Division Series playoff format). Two more teams will be gone after a maximum of twelve total games. The final two will go to the final days of October. One will raise above all the rest. One will emerge victorious. One will be crowned Baseball’s 102nd Champion. One team will win the 2007 MLB World Series.

So with the post season about to begin I figured I would take a few minutes to make some October picks. These are my winners and losers for the Division Series and the road to the Fall Classic. These picks also reflect how I will be placing my bets while in Vegas in 10 days.

Central Cleveland Indians
Score some major points for the Tribe when it comes to the starting rotation! C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona are as good a one two punch this October as any other out there. Both throw in the mid 90’s and have very good control keeping the ball at the hitter’s knees. Getting beyond these two pitchers will be one of the biggest hurdles to climb for the Yankees this post season. The Cleveland offense is like any other. Its all contingent on Grady Sizemore and Asdrubal Cabrera getting on base to set up Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez. But beyond the Indian’s two prized starters and their one thru four in the batting order, plenty of gaps can be found on the Cleveland Post Season Roster. And don’t dismiss this key stat. The Yankees have defeated the Indians all six times they played one another in the regular season. Including two losses for Carmona.

Wild Card New York Yankees
With the Jaba Rules on the back burner, the bullpen is as solid as any of the other seven teams still alive. When Jaba emerged into the Yankee bullpen in August, he became arguably the greatest secret weapon in Yankee history. No pitcher has bridged the cap to the Yankee closer this well since now closer Marino Rivera had the job. In 1996 Rivera’s role with the Yankees was to pitch the sixth and seventh innings and turn the ball over to then closer John Wettland. So if the Yankees hold the lead going into the seventh, it is almost a sure thing! The starting rotation although not without injury, is pretty deep and sound going into the Division Series. What the Yankees need most of all for post-season triumph is a consistent and productive offense. The Yankees score runs in bunches, and in bunches of games. They need to hit in bunches to win.

P.S. Leave A-Rod Alone!

My Pick- Yankees in four games.

West Anaheim Angels
Sound sound team. Fundamentally strong, fast and productive. The pitching in particular starting pitching is not the best; and they could be reduced in quality. The key losses to the entire outfeild are not helping either. Vladimir Gurrerro has a strained tricep and will be unable to play in right field. Gary Matthews was left off he post season roster due to injury. And Garett Anderson, although playing, as pink eye. To make matters worse, the Angels don’t match up well against the Red Sox either. Playing solid defense, and manufacturing runs will not help get past the overwhelming offense and defense in Bean town.

East Boston Red Sox
This is by far the best team on paper going into the playoffs. The bullpen is the best in the business. The starting rotation has three great arms, and three great backup arms. Then there is Manny and Big Papi, maybe the greatest three and four clutch hitters since Ruth and Gerhig. Josh Beckett will pitch every big game for Boston until are eliminated, or until his arm falls off. They have a ton of offensive winners in the batting order that are noting more then pesky threats. These guys are well rested, well prepared, and have been on their game since April.

My Pick- Boston Sweep.

ALCS
Be ready, because it’s coming like a freight train through a spider web. The Yankees and the Red Sox will be playing in their third ALCS in the last five years. It’s the rubber match of the trifecta!

Central Chicago Cubs
Who would have thought the Cubbies would be the first National League team pouring champagne on one another in a National League clubhouse. Sweet Lou Pinella has done it again. Lou successfully took the Chicago Cubs to the post season in his first year in Wrigley Ville. This team can score runs with Lee and Soriano. Since they shook things up back in early June and traded away catcher Micael Barrett, the Cubs have been playing first place ball. About the same time Lou lost his famous temper and was fined and suspended by MLB. The Cubs have a great attitude, and a tremendous fan base, and enough talent to overcome the Diamondbacks.

West Arizona Diamondbacks
This is the one team that I just don’t have a good gage for. To me they seam like a fluke, yet they have the best record in the National League fifth best in all of baseball. Not one single player in their starting line up is hitting .300. With the exception of Brendan Webb, no pitcher has won more the 13 games. And the team’s ERA is over .350. On the road this season the Diamondbacks are only a game over .500. Yet everyone seems to think they are the hot hand.

My Pick- Cubs in Four.

East Philadelphia Phillies
Way back in April Jimmy Rollins said that the Phillies of Philadelphia were the team to beat in the National League East. But when the Phillies fell eight games behind the Mets on May 30th and were still seven games out on September 6th. Everyone figured J-Ro was all hot air, with no action. Well it took all 162 games but Rollins was right! Not only were the Phillies the team to beat in the NL East, now they are in my opinion the best team in the 2007 National League Post Season. Rollins and Utley and Howard are hitting machines and run producers. Then there is the 15-5 junior sensation Cole Hamels. With the most dominating change up of any left-hander in the game today Cole is well rested and ready for his first career post-season start. But the key ingredient to these Phillies, momentum. Momentum has been on the side of the Phillies for weeks now, winners of five of their last six, and fifteen of their last twenty.

Wild Card Colorado Rockies
Who the Hell are these guys!?! Most baseball fans know Todd Helton, and many have at least heard of Matt Holliday. But names like Troy Tulowitzki and Yorvit Torrealba and the Dragon Slayer Josh Fogg are all news to me! Here is what I do know. The Rockies are winners of 14 of their last 15 games. They are a team united unlike anything I have ever seen. And if I think the Phillies have momentum, then the Rockies have an inconceivable energy yet to be beaten. This first round match up between the Phillies and Rockies will be the best Division Series Baseball to be found in the first round. A battle of conflicting momentum.

My Pick- Phillies in Five

NLCS
A battle of the pinstripes! The two love able losers of the National League will do battle to fight for a trip to the 2007 World Series. The Philadelphia Phillies against the Chicago Cubs.

As for the World Series………….

Destruction, Cheating, and Stealing Are All Keys To Victory In The NFL

2007-09-25T21:06:00.000-07:00

I hate Bill Belichick!

Bill is one of my least favorite people in all of the NFL.

It all goes back to when I was just a young strapping lad, a little tike who against all odds rooted for the New York Jets. I was a huge Bill Parcells fan until he decided to retire, (for the third time) after the 1999 NFL season. With the Jets head coach position vacant Bill Belichick was named by ownership as Parcells successor. As a fan I was saddened to lose Parcells, but excited to have a very capable replacement.

“Smooth transition” is what I figured.

However Belichick had other ideas.

Bill proceeded to play a 72-hour game of footsie with Jet ownership and the New York media before announcing his resignation. He never coached a single game. His reason for resigning was to assume the coaching duties for the New England Patriots where he remains to this day.

Now as a Yankees fan first and foremost; Patriot Nation is my winter home for Boston abhorrence. So I have always looked at the Belichicks actions as vile. Of course 1999 is where the origin of my hatred can be found, but over the last eight years my hatred for Bill evolved well beyond his disloyalty to the Jets.

Belichicks overall physical appearance, how he represents his team, and how he represents the NFL is pretty disgraceful. Bill is just down right nasty when conducting himself with media, most particularly in post-game interviews, but overall too. He is constantly defying the NFL dress code by wearing his customary battered sleeveless sweatshirts on the sidelines.

A stark contrast can be found in Jacksonville Florida, as just one coaching example. Jack Del Rio, head coach of the Jaguars has sported a suit and tie from the sidelines more then a few times over the last two seasons. A classy old school move not found in Foxborough. Polite and courteous with fans and press, Jack is a model citizen in the NFL off the field, and can be found leading his team with morals and ethics on the field.

In 2002 former Patriot Linebacker Ted Johnson says that Belichick pushed him to play thru several concussions in preseason. Playing thru these injuries has lead to permanent damage to Johnson. The evidence to these accusations was first made public last January during Super Bowl week. Suffering from Post Concussion Syndrome myself, I know of Johnson’s struggles, and I have no love for a coach who would attempt to push one of his players thru such aliments. Forcing players to compete through physical injury is the tell tale sign of a person who put victory above all else.

And then of course there is the most recent Belichick smut.

During the kickoff to the 2007 NFL season, the New England Patriots were in the Meadowlands to play the Jets in their week one home opener. An old crony of Belichick, Jet head coach Eric Mangini, caught Bill and the Patriots breaking one of the NFL’s most delicate rules. During the first half of the opener Mangini caught a camera technician employed by the Patriots filming the game from the Jets sidle lines. More specifically he was filming in an attempt to steel defensive signals used by the Jets to gain an advantage over their opponent.

Mangini, who has recently appeared in cameo roles on both the Sopranos and Sesame Street, combined Elmo and Big Bird values with Tony Soprano results. He caught Belichick red handed. He and his Patriots were ensnared in the direct act of cheating.

Well now the story is on going. The NFL is currently studying all videotape recorded by the patriots to see if further cheating can be found. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has stated he will continue to reprimand Belichick and the Patriots if further evidence is found that New England has cheated. Belichick has been fined 500,000 dollars and his team has lost its first round draft pick. No suspension or direct reprimand that affects the Patriots this season has been sited.

The punishment doesn’t quite fit the crime.

Bill is the type of guy who will punch you in the junk in a street fight, and think nothing of it. He is like the evil coach in all the sports movies who pushes his players in immoral and unethical ways. But all Hollywood movies end with the fairy tail underdog team defeating the nasty bad guys, and everyone lives happily ever after.

But here in the real world Belichick's New England Patriots are winners of the four of the last seven super bowls and are Eastern Division Champions each of the last five seasons.

The Patriots are 3-0 this season. Experts (including the entire panel on HBO’s Inside The NFL) are predicting that New England could go undefeated this season. No team in the AFC East including my old squad the Jets are going to beat them. So what the NFL and commissioner Goodell has showed is that cheating is ok. Winning at the expense of ethics, right and wrong, or good and evil is completely acceptable.

And Belichick is still the worst coach with the best record in all of professional sports.

Woods, Fed Ex Champion

2007-09-16T19:11:00.001-07:00

Look, I get it!

The three or four of you out there who read my sports blog (optimistic) do not want to read another Tiger Woods story, or another article where I sing the golf pros praises. I hate to keep worshiping my golf hero and kissing his backside at every prospect, but I once again had an incredible Tiger Woods experience. Furthermore not only did I have an incredible Tiger experience, Tiger has once again had an incredible two weeks on the PGA circuit.

Tiger is the type of Iconic athlete that is either loved or hated.

There is no happy medium. There are plenty of great arguable points on both sides too. “He is too dominant, he owns an monopoly on the sport, and he is not fan friendly, he thinks he is better then the game and doesn’t need it.” All valid points against Woods. But sports history has had far greater villains who have accomplished far less.

So I realize those who hate Tiger, and read my blog are being alienated. However every sports journalist has a favorite. Howard Cossell had Muhammad Ali, and Steven A. Smith has Allen Iverson. And Peter Gammons has the Boston Red Sox. So why shouldn’t Tiger be my guy. As for the Blogers who actually stop at my site, if you’re a Tiger hater, stop reading now. Check back in two months, (optimistic) and maybe I will have something new to say.

I was in Chicago last weekend, once again working a corporate event at Cog Hill Country Club. Set up on the 12th hole, I watched Tiger up close and personal as he worked his way from the 11th to the 12th. I was so close to him as he walked through the crowd from hole to hole; I could have reached out and touched him.

The 12th is a Par 3, 212-yard hole. Tigers first shot was a line drive bullet straight up the fairway and right onto the putting green just 15 to 20 feet from the white flag. I moved in close to my corporate tent, which was up a hill to the left of the green. From there I watched Tiger’s second shot. After a few moments of mental preparation, Tiger hit the ball with a slightly aggressive tap. With his short swing the ball just kept rolling down hill along course with the hole.

The ball just kept moving and moving.

The noise of the crowd growing and growing, as the ball assumed this magical course.

Finally after what seemed like minutes. The ball hit the edge of the cup and sunk right in. A Par 3 in two of the most gorgeous shots I have ever seen on a Golf Course. The crowd went nuts, as Woods celebrated with his standard fist pump. From there it was a formality! Tiger took the trophy at Cog Hill and then it was off to Atlanta for the Championship at East Lake.

On Wednesday afternoon I was walking the course at East Lake Country Club in Atlanta looking for the concession tent where lunch was being served. Lost in my own thoughts, mainly thinking of food, I walked the spectator’s sidewalks between the sixth and seventh hole. East Lake Country Club was closed to fans, so only employees and tent workers were on the course. Suddenly while I was walking everyone around me had stopped. Golf carts and walking workers dead in their tracks as if time itself had come to a screeching halt. I remember thinking

“What the hell are these fools doing?”

as I walked on by. Then suddenly directly to my right, no more then four feet from where I stood was Tiger swinging his driver. He shot me a mildly dirty look, and I realized what I had just done!

I had just cut off Tiger Woods while he was preparing his tee off on six.

Embarrassed by my lackadaisical clumsiness on the course, I pulled off to the edge of the sidewalk, and watched the remainder of Tigers tee shots. I pulled my arms behind my back and stood at attention. Not even a mouse squeak could be heard from me. Turns out I was the fool!

Luckily Wednesday was just a practice!

But I highly doubt my interrupting the World’s Greatest Golfer slowed him down for even a second. Five days later, Woods recorded his 61st PGA victory. His victory was huge, as he was just crowned the first ever FedEx cup champion. A ten million dollar payday among other things. An accomplishment worthy of Tiger. Greatest golfer at East Lake, greatest golfer in August and September, and well on his way to the greatest golfer ever.

Ok, my butt kissing is done!

Now I promise to write something about MLB or the NFL and leave Tiger alone!

Relax, It's Only April!

2007-05-01T16:47:00.002-07:00

By Ryan Dugan

While tidying up my apartment late Sunday night, my thoughts were with the New York Yankees.

I was cleaning my kitchen counters with a dust rag I keep in a cabinet below the sink. Thinking about the first month of the 2007 baseball season, I looked down at the rag, and noticed that it was an old T-shirt. It was my 1996 New York Yankees World Series T-Shirt. I was 16 years old in 1996 when the Yankees won their first World Series in my lifetime. I regularly sported the World Series t-shirt in my wardrobe. I wore it to High School, ball games, and family functions. Probably somewhere around 2000 the shirt began to fade. Shortly after, it probably started to get holes around the shoulders (where all my shirts inevitably develop holes). I probably kept it on a hanger or in a shelf well past its life, until one day in the last three years, while living in my studio in Voorhees; it turned it into a dust rag. As I threw my Yankees dust rag back under the sink, I began connect the rag with the first month of the Yankees 2007 season. Both the rag and the Yankees are beat up, warn down, and far removed form 1996.

Now although I am distraught as a Yankees fan, as a journalist and anylist, I am far from placing my hand over the “Bronx Bomber Panic Button”. However my colleagues in the New York media are beginning to freak out, as they always do when the Yankees go on long losing streaks.

It’s bad enough Derek Jeter has begun playing the part of the “Angry Captain” in his post game interviews, defending his boss Joe Torre, whose head is on the chopping block. Equally unpleasant, is the written statement from owner George Stienbrenner, expressing his concern. The bosses statements have become as steady as clockwork. But if fans believe what they read in the news papers, hear on the radio, and watch on TV, the season is lost! Yankees Stadium is going to blow up, (not until winter of 2008 in actuality) players and executives are seconds from being canned, goats and monkeys are flying around the sky all Willie-Nillie, dog and cats are living together, and it all going to end with a last place finish for the Yankees this season!

All Total Nonsense!

Lets take a look for a moment at the trouble areas for the Yankees in the first 23 games.

First off they are 9-14, which is not as bad as it looks. There are three games already this season that they should have won; April 8th against Baltimore, the 15th against Oakland, and the 20th against Boston. But there are also two games they should have lost. Those two games are the “A-Rod Walk Off Homerun Games”, April 7th against Baltimore, and April 19th against Cleveland. So if those five games had slightly different turnouts the Yankees record would be hovering somewhere around .500.

The big concern of course is the pitching which has been absolutely awful!

Ninety-six times in twenty-three games, Joe Torre has changed pitchers! That is an average of once every 2.25 innings! The average starter for the Yanks has lasted only 4.5 innings over the last eight games. The bullpen has been over worked and it's weaknesses have been over exposed. The team ERA is 5.02 ranking them 27th in all of baseball. Andy Pettitte, Mike Mussina, Chin-Ming Wang, Carl Povanao, and Kei Igawa have all missed starts. Their backups Phil Hughes, Jeff Karstens, Darryl Rasner, and Chase Wright have pitched more like independent leaguers then minor-leaguers!

Then there is Mariano Rivera. The Yankees Hall-Of-Fame closer and all time team saves leader. Rivera has yet to hit his stride to put it nicely, and some are beginning to think his career maybe reaching its twilight.

Maybe the most disturbing thing about this recent skid of losing eight of nine, has been watching the offense come out of their game. The Yankees hitters have been pressing. They have gotten off balance, and are trying to do too much to help get the team out of this funk.

So what is the remedy to the awful April numbers and worst Yankees start in over two decades?

Patients!

Just A Little Patients!

First off the Yankees start the month of May on the road in Texas, which is exactly what they need. They need to get out of New York, out of the American League East, and away from the Boston Red Sox for a few weeks.

That’s exactly what they are getting!

They also need good pitching, and they need their starters to pitch deep into some games. This all starts Tuesday night with Phil Hughes. Then Mussina will return Thursday, and by the weekend it will be back to business as usual for the Yankees.

This team has been here before, and has always rebounded. The core of this team has seen bad starts the last three Aprils in a row. I give anyone reading this (the one or two of you) a money back guarantee that come September the Yankees will battling right at the top of the Division.

The Yankees will be contending for the AL East Title, with or without the

Rocket Roger Clemens.

Tiger Woods, Golf Legend

2007-02-02T16:48:00.001-08:00

By Ryan Dugan

Usually I could care less about any sport, or athletic event that does not take place in what I call “The Big Four” of professional sports. "The Big Four” would include, MLB, NFL, NHL and NBA.

If it does not include a team or an athlete within the big four, nine times out of ten I turn my head. However that was before I found myself working a corporate event in San Diego California for the Buick Invitational.

The experience of working a PGA tour event was something I will not soon forget. The most remarkable aspect of working the Buick Invitational was watching the hype, excitement, and the overall performance of Tiger Woods.

I first saw Tiger tee off from the 7th green at Torrey Pines as part of a practice on Wednesday morning January 24, 2006. The crowd that followed the man and the hush over the spectators was a sight to see.

Tiger was all business!

A few shoulder stretches before a few practice swings and then it was off to a power drive! Wearing his standard blue Nike shirt with black pants, Tiger is taller in person then I had expected. The seventh green is a par 4, 462-yards long and it plays to the southwest. Tiger’s first shot was well over 250 yards! The drive was more powerful than any other I had seen on the course Wednesday. He began eating a banana after his drive, keeping his protein levels up while playing the course.

Few people in the world can capture a crowd like Tiger!

The people that followed him were like a herd of cattle being driven thru fences on a farm. Hundreds of fans followed him as he worked the course. And this was just an average practice on a Wednesday morning!

After watching the practice, I began researching Tiger’s accomplishments over his eleven-year professional career.

Tiger has won over 70 tournaments including 54 on the PGA tour. He started 2007 with his 7th straight PGA victory. He owns the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines. In ten career appearances in La Jolla, he has always finished in the top five, which includes five victories.

Then we get to the purse!

Tiger has won over 68 million dollars in tournaments alone (55 million on the PGA). Then there are his endorsements! Tiger is arguably the most marketable athlete on the planet presently. He has signed deals in the past with McDonalds, Gatorade, and EA Sports. He currently holds a 100 million dollar deal with Nike. He earned an estimated 87 million dollars in 2006, and is ranked number one in both golf and in athletic income.

By the second day of the Buick Invitational, Tiger had made his long awaited start on the south course. The buzz of his play on the south course was a week in the making! He went par for the day including some trouble on a par five on the 18th. Caught in the rough twice, Tiger bared down and brought out the best of his bunker game. Using his pitching wedge on his third shot, he was able to get up on the green. The amazing thing about watching the whole experience was that Tiger was in seventh place only eight under and trailing the leader Brandt Snedeker by 7 strokes. Brandt played the 18th two groups later. The crowd that remained to applaud him was impressive, but not nearly what Tiger had. Brandt was 61 in Round one, 70 in Round two, for a –13 score. Tiger was 66 in Round one 1, 72 in Round 2 for only –6.

By Sunday the fourth and final round of the tournament, everyone knew what was coming! The Tiger victory could be sensed by everyone course wide! The beginner’s luck of Snedeker was wearing off, while Buckle and Howell also began to slide on the back nine.

In the end it was Tiger!

Up two strokes with one hole to play, Tiger continued his troubles on the 18th to make things slightly interesting for a moment before winning the Buick. His final putt was a three footer to close out the day, giving him his 7th straight PGA victory.

This week Tiger is in Dubai, where the stellar play has continued.

Once every one hundered years or so, a player comes along that dominates his sport so remarkably, he becomes a legend. When placing a human face with a given sport there is always one particular person that comes to mind. Baseball= Babe Ruth, Football=Vince Lombardi, Basketball= Michael Jordan, and on and on! When one thinks about Golf, it is almost impossible to not immediately think of Tiger Woods.

Tiger Woods, a legend in our time!

Who Is Running The Yankees?

2007-01-20T15:09:00.000-08:00

By Ryan Dugan

First and foremost I am a New York Yankees Fanatic!!

Before I am a writer, reporter, blogger, technician, Stage Manager, joker, smoker, or a midnight toker, I live for the New York Yankees!

So as a combination Yankee Fanatic, and independent sports blogger, I would like to think I have a pretty good pulse on my boys in midnight blue.

That being said, something has not been quite right in Yankee land for sometime now. This feeling I have, pertains directly to the organizations leadership and ownership, more specifically to the principal owner George H. Stienbrener III.

Consider the time lines facts.

On January 3, 1973 George M. Steinbrenner III bought the New York Yankees from CBS, and the era of baseball’s most ruthless vicious owner had begun. Over the last 34 years everyone who follows the game of baseball, knows of Stienbrenner’s short fuse, demand for perfection, and his outrageous cutthroat actions.

From 1973-1995 George fired over 12 managers, hired and fired Billy Martin five times, fought publically with Reggie Jackson, Don Mattingly, Dave Windfeild, and Yogi Berra. Stories leaked from within the organization of the George’s constant vocal badger and harassment of employees, from Managers right on down to parking lot attendants.

Twice Major League Baseball has even suspended “The Boss” from the game.

A colleague of mine who does freelance lighting for ESPN and NBC told me that Stienbrenner once had his lighting cables cut, along with video cables, simply because they were hanging along the outfield wall, in a location that “The Boss” did not approve of. A normal CEO would just ask to have them moved. Not “The Boss”! He had them cut!

As a young fan I grew up with this crazy owner, who kept his team and fans on constant edge.

In 1995 when the Yankees lost the Division Series to the Seattle Mariners, I cried myself to sleep. I knew my favorite manager Buck Showater and my favorite player Don Mattingly were sure to be fired. Sure enough they were, and the 1996 New York Yankees were a completely different team (but in hindsight I shouldn’t have been so sad).

Since 1996, and over the last ten years things have been very good for the Yankees. Four World Series Championships, Six League Pennants, and Post Season appearances every year for eleven straight years to name just some of their accomplishments.

George Steinbrenner interfered with Yankees operations less and less over this time, however his presence was still very noticeable. His vocal badgering continued, but his actions became almost nonexistent.

"The Boss" interfered with the team one final notable time when he negotiated the signing of Gary Sheffield to the Yankees, after the 2003 season. Joe Torre and Brian Cashman then asked "The Boss" to stop meddling.

In 2003, his meddling came to a complete end.

December 27, 2003 while attending a memorial service in Sarasota Florida "The Boss" fell to the ground and become unconscious. He was rushed to a medical facility where further tests were done, but no results were released to the public.

May 22, 2005 The Yes Network aired the last public interview with "The Boss". As Michael Kay interviewed Steinbrenner he appeared slow to articulate himself, and mentally lost at times turning the Q and A. Since that one-hour interview on Yes, all of Steinbrenner's comments have been thru written statements as part of news releases. "The Boss" has only briefly addressed the press himself since the spring of 2005.

At the end of the 2005 season the Yankees lost to the Anaheim Angels in the Division Series, and it was expected that Brian Cashman would not return as Yankees General Manager. In a shocking move, Cashman not only came back, but he received a significant salary increase, and was given more executive power within the organization then ever before. Cashman now has final say in all office operations between New York and Tampa.

On November 1, 2006, Steinbrenner once again collapsed and was rushed to a medical facility in North Carolina. He was attending a school function of his granddaughter, when he became ill.

That brings us up to this past season. The growing urgency for the Yankees to return to the World Series became very clear to all in baseball. Steinbrenner said, thru his written statements, that he expected victory in 2006. The thing the made victory critical was the Yankees overwhelmingly huge, and league-leading payroll.

On October 1, 2006 the Yankees finished the regular season with the best record in baseball. Then they landed the reeling Detroit Tigers in the Division Series. It was expected the Yankees would sweep Detroit clean.

The Yankees lost the series 3 games to 1 and were eliminated in five days.

Just like 1995, I began preparing for the worst. I thought for sure the organization would once again be turned upside down. I expected to turn on ESPN in my Las Vegas Hotel room to hear, Joe was gone, Lou Pinella was in, and half the team had been traded to Seattle. I remember having this feeling of being in a clam before a storm.

Then something amazing happened!

The calm remained, and the storm never arrived.

For the life of me I couldn’t figure out why "The Boss" hadn’t shaken things up. I couldn’t figure out why Steinbrenner had changed his ways. I returned home from Las Vegas, and spoke to friends and family about Yankee Baseball. It was then that I heard my Uncle G.T. Steltz tell me something that made perfect sense. He told me,

“George is not running the team any more”!

My uncle told me that Steve Swindal, and Brian Cashman were probably calling the shots, most likely because of Stienbrenner's age and poor health.

It all makes perfect sense!

It has to be true!

Of course a great deal of my thoughts, as well as my uncle’s are speculation. Nothing has been officially released from the Yankees. No hard factual evidence that George Steinbrenner has lost his mental capacities or that he is no longer running the team exists. However when considering Steinbrenner's history, and considering the moves the Yankees have made the past two winters, it really removes all questions. The only thing left is actual physical proof.

Think about it!

Why else would Joe Torre and Brian Cashman still have jobs with the Yanks? Why else would the Yankees AAA organization, (which has had great ties to George’s home state of Ohio) be so easily moved to Scranton Pennsylvania. Why else would Gary Sheffield say publicly “I would have never been traded to the Detroit Tigers if I had gotten a chance to met with Steinbrenner”? And lastly why else would Steinbrenner’s Son-In-Law Steve Swindal, (the heir apparent to take over the Yankees) be seeking permission from the Commissioner’s office to own racehorses, while also owning a Major League baseball team (a taboo combination in baseball’s history).

Steinbrenner will be 77 this July fourth. By such an age, most normal CEO’s publicly step down. They hold a huge retirement parties televisied, with celebrities!

They hire a guy like Jimmy Kimmel to host a roast!

An announcement like that would remove all speculation as to who is running the Yankees. That would be the normal thing to do. However George M. Steinbrenner III is anything but normal!

Is Steinbrenner still running the show?

Not likely!

But the good news is the dysfunction of Steinbrenner’s leadership has been replaced with function and competence. The 2007 Yankees baseball season already holds more promise then either of the last two years!