Top Ten List

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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.

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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?

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!