Well That Didn't Work Out

So, I predicted the Rays in 6 I believe.  And it looks like I was wrong, oh well.  I do have to hand it to the Phillies though, as they are the new World Champions of baseball.  It's not that I don't think the Phillies are any good, because I know they are, it's just that I really thought the Rays were the stronger team heading in.  Being a Mets fan, I've seen the Phillies many times over the past season, and I can safely say they are much better than the Mets.  They can pitch, field, and hit very well, and are coached by a very smart manager.

Now, I don't want to take anything away from the Phillies, but I think that even with the World Series win, they might not really be the best team.  Who really is, I don't know, but if you look back in baseball's recent history, the World Series champs have done little after their win.  The Cardinals, Whitesox, Diamondbacks, Marlins; what have they done recently.  To me, if you can win consistently, like the Yankees did in the early part of the decade, or even the Red Sox winning relatively close(03,07), then you are the best team.

In baseball, especially with the way free agency can tear apart a team, one year can be a fluke.  Look at the Rockies, they went to the World Series, and this year barely competed.  The Tigers went to the World Series, they haven't done anything since.  Baseball is a long long long season, and so much can happen.  A team can flounder around all season, get hot at the right time and win it all.  If you win it once nice, but if you can do it again, then my friend, I will consider you among the best.

It's Basketball Season!

Tonight is the start of the 2008-2009 NBA season.  Another grueling year of 82 hard games has begun, and as always, there are many intriguing story lines.  The first off is the Boston Celtics, the defending champions.  With the addition of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, the Celtics went from last to first in one season.  They won it all, and now the question is can they do it again.  The next plot line to watch is the Los Angeles Lakers, the defending West Coast champs.  They have the MVP Kobe Bryant, and get Andrew Bynum back from a knee injury.  People are already talking about a championship for them.

Since were talking about the Lakers, it would be a good time to mention their opponent for tonight, the Portland Trailblazers.  They are a young team, and were surprisingly good last season, starting off strong.  Sorry to say, but they fizzled out, but with a new year and the addition of their previous first round draft pick, Gregg Oden.  Oden was the number one pick last year, but after having knee surgery, he missed the season.  So now we finally get to see what he's made of.  Other rookies are the top two draft picks, Derek Rose and Michael Beasley.  There was a lot of debate over who should be taken first, who would be the better pick.  Well now we get to see.

As always we look to forward to great dunks, close games, and Lebron James going crazy and tearing it up.  And for my finals pick, I say Lakers vs. Knicks.  Just kidding, I have no idea.

Isn't College About Learning?

Now, I'm not 100% sure, but I think the point of college is to get the best education possible.  However, what about the college athlete.  These kids come in, their sights set on making it in their respective sports.  Many times these kids are highly recruited, and picking a college to play for is like going into the draft.  With the amount of pressure these schools are put under to win, it is no surprise that they expect these athletes to perform at the highest of levels.

So, no one can expect them to balance school work and training for an upcoming season, game or tournament.  These kids used to go to school, and in addition they played a sport, sometimes even two.  But today, the importance placed on winning has become too much that these kids have to concentrate mainly on sports.  So they get tutors, or teachers to help them, they learn on the road, they get extra attention.  But, with all the time they spend in the gym, or in practice, it can be hard to find time to study or look over those notes.

So maybe a student athlete starts failing, and the coach needs them in the upcoming game, so they talk to some people.  Next thing you know, that kid is playing in the game, and his grades are not really a problem, in fact, no one really pays attention to their grades.  Now, what happens if a student who does not play a sport starts failing, what happens.

Do they:

A) Get help from an appointed tutor

B) Have to take things into their own hands

The answer is B, they're on their own.  In fact, the school will tell them, you pick up the grades or you are out.  Hold on a minute, isn't the point of college to better a person's education?  So that means those college athletes who aren't doing well should be out of school too.

Oh wait, the school needs their athletic teams to do well, help bring in money and notoriety, so it's no wonder they don't have the same problems as a normal student if they start failing.  Now, let's say for the sake of the story, that an athlete plays two years, gets drafted, and goes to the pro's.  He plays for awhile, then gets hurt.  That injury never fully heals, and now that athlete is with out a job.  Good thing he has that college degree...wait, no he doesn't. 

How Did That Work Out?

That is the question I would ask the L.A Galaxy, a MLS team who agreed to pay $250 million to David Beckham over 5 years.  Now, here's the thing.  Yes Beckham is good, in fact, they based a movie loosely on his free flowing kick.  Yes, he's popular, and yes he's marketable.  But when you pay that much for a soccer player in America, you are just throwing money down the drain.  This is America, soccer is not a big deal here.  And for you to spend that much money on one player is ridiculous.

Whoever thought that Beckham or "Becks", would help put soccer on the map is nuts.  No one cares to begin with, and a super star who plays in L.A isn't going to change anything.  The rest of the world goes crazy, CRAZY for soccer.  Americans just don't share that passion.  So it was no surprise to hear that the L.A Galaxy have agreed to ship Beckham to A.C Milan.  Duh, they spent $250 million!!!  They need to get some money back some how.

On a side note, tonight is the first game of the World Series.  And who would have guessed back in April that it would be the Rays versus the Phillies.  I hope this will be an interesting series, and for the sake of predictions I say Tampa Bay Rays in 6.  There I said it, lets see what happens.

Dear Wade Phillips

Do you remember what you said before the current NFL season started?  It was something along the lines of "the Dallas Cowboys will win the Super Bowl."  Now, you did have a talented team when you said that, and even though you failed to win a playoff game, it was understandable that you would make such a comment.  But now your QB has a broken pinkie on his throwing hand, one of your RB's is injured, and you've lost a CB to suspension(but that's what you get for taking felons on the team).

So, now do you still want to say your team will win the Super Bowl?  No, of course not, you know you can't win with your current injuries or suspensions.  But, you're not going to admit you were wrong for saying what you did, you'll just say that you meant the current team before injuries could win.  Should have been more specific in the words you chose.  Anyway, I think from now on people should stop making predictions.  Case in point John Kitna, who last year said the Detroit Lions would win 10 games, and they won 8!  It was all fun and games and people actually thought they could do it.  But they didn't, and this year Kitna predicted 10 wins again.  But now they're winless and Kitna is out for the season.  Should have kept your mouth shut.

Speaking of keeping your mouth shut...ESPN...DO NOT BEAT THE RAYS LOSS TO DEATH!  They lost, okay so what.  It happens, but please let it be.  Don't make it any worse please.

Well...It Was Going To Happen Eventually

You hear that?  That's the pressure being taken off the Giant's shoulders.  They lost, and I'm okay with it.  Don't get me wrong, I'm angry, I mean the Giants were the better team, but they had to lose some time, and better to do it now, before the playoff race gets tighter and tighter.  If there was one thing that upset me about last night, it is that Eli could have played better, no should have played better.  But bad games happen, it is part of the league and sports in general.

People always say nothing beats a win, and while that might be true, I feel sometimes a loss can be just as important.  Take for example, week 17 of last season.  Giants vs. Patriots, no one gave the Giants a chance.  People even said the Giants should rest their players, no sense in risking them getting hurt in a game they can not win.  And while the Giants did not win, they took a lot from that game, and I feel it showed them what it would take to beat the Patriots, and other playoff teams.  While last nights loss was not the same, it certainly had an underlying meaning for the Giants.  It showed them they can not sit back and win every game, sometimes you can underestimate an opponent.  Heck, thats what the Patriots did in the Super Bowl!

In the end it is just a loss, and the Giants will learn from it, and I still believe they are among the best in the NFL, despite what ALL the analysts over at ESPN will say today.  The Giants are still the defending champs, and are still first in the division.  Plus, the Cowboys lost their QB for about a month, so that can't hurt the Giants.

Shifting gears for a second, I want to take the time to say the Phillies are much better than I gave them credit for, probably much better than anyone gave them credit for.  Being a Mets fan it sucks to see them doing so well, but it makes me realize I'm an idiot to think the Mets can compete with them, they definitely can't.  

Believe the Hype(But Not Too Much)

As a Giants fan, nothing makes me happier than seeing them at 4-0, atop the ESPN Power Rankings and the NFC East.  Especially when everyone (except me) was saying that they Giants were barely going to compete in their own division, let alone do anything big in the playoffs.  It makes you wonder why people follow what these "analysts" over at ESPN, CBS, or Fox so seriously.  They said the Giants couldn't win a game in the playoffs last year, and they won the Super bowl.  Now, week 6 almost upon us and the Giants are the talk of the NFL.

As happy as it makes me to see the Giants getting the love they deserve, it does scare me.  People pick the best teams to win obviously, and they rarely come through.  Look at the Patriots last year, week after week they were the top team, and people kept hopping on the band wagon.  Then boom, stunning upset.  The Giants, as much as I love them, are better at being under dogs.  When no one wants to believe they can do it, they come through.  I feel it is a curse to be the top team in the power rankings.

Not only do people hype up the teams to the point of I don't know, the Patriots being the best team ever, but it puts a target on their backs.  Teams who come into games against the top teams have something to prove.  They want to show they can hang with the best, and it can alter their game play.  Now, I'm not really that worried, because I do think the Giants are a great team and can hold their own, but it does worry me.  I just would hate to see the G-Men let the talk get to their heads and ruin their playing ability.  The last thing they need is to think they can coast into the playoffs, which they can NOT.  This is the NFL.  You can get bombed one week and then do the dominating the next, no one is safe, and you can never get too full of yourself.  You just might find yourself watching the Super Bowl and not playing in it if you do.

One More Year of Waiting

Well, the Cubs were the best team in the National League heading into the playoffs.  But when it came time to play they seemed like the worst team.  They couldn't even get a win, the wild-card Brewers managed at least one win!  The Cubs won 57 games at home, and they couldn't even get a win there, in front of some of the most die hard fans in the world.

Now, you might be sitting there asking what the big deal is.  There can only be one winner, one champion.  The Cubs played well, and they lost, oh well, there's always next year.  But that's just it, there's been 100 next years.  The Cub's haven't won the World Series since 1908, the longest streak in baseball.  The Cubbies haven't even been to the World Series in 62 years, so it is safe to say that for them it is beyond "next year".  You know people take things serious over there in Chicago when there is a priest sprinkling holy water in the Cub's dug out before game one at home.

So its been 100 years since the Cubs won a World Series, hmm sounds almost like they're...cursed.  That's the story, that during one game a fan was kicked out because he had a goat with him, and upon leaving he placed a curse on the Cubs, which to this day still stands.  The Cubs aren't the only team to have a curse on them, everyone knows about the curse of the Bambino on Boston.  Only Boston exercised their demons in 2004, and then again in 2007.  

Cubs fans have had their share of pain, this year just another addition to the list.  Remember Bartman?  The Cubs were just 5 outs from the World Series!  When a ball was hit foul and Cubs fan Steve Bartman interfered with Cubs outfielder Moises Alou and knocked the ball as Alou tried to make a catch.  The Marlins would go on to tie and then take the lead and advance to the World Series.  Cubs fan can probably recall plenty more sob stories, or heart breaking games, after all it has been 100 years.  

Eventually the Cubs will win, maybe next year, maybe in 2018, maybe in 3008.  However, Cubs fans need a win now, it's been too long for them, and who can blame them.  Yet, people are always quick to point a finger at the coach or players if things go wrong, and while they are the ones playing out there, something can be said for the fans.  There will always be expectations, but at what point does it become too much and it begins to interfere with the players and their psyche?  But hey, thats why they get paid the big bucks.

October=Great Month of Sports

It's officially October, and with that comes cool weather, the leaves changing color and some very good sports.  October has the MLB playoffs, and weeks 5-8 of the NFL.  While the NFL will play on until February, I always felt that weeks 5-8 are when the action really picks up.  Teams have four games under their belts by now, and the rust has essentially been shaken off.  By week 5 division leaders have begun to emerge and we can start to see what teams are going to be forces in week 16 and what teams are going to be done by week 10.

However, as great as football is in October, the main stories will come from baseball.  Tonight was the first day of the divisional series and already there has been one upset, with the NL best Cubs losing to the red hot Dodgers.  In the other games the Phillies beat the Brewers and the Red Sox are currently beating the Angels who they have owned in the post season.  Not only are there great series to be played, there are great story lines.

In the National League you have the Cubs, who haven't won the World Series in 100 years, and then in the A.L there are the Tampa Bay Rays who not only had their best season in the franchises history, but won the A.L East and are in the playoffs for the first time ever in the teams history.  With all of that happening how can you not be excited for a great post season, which regardless of the story lines never ceases to be great.  Combine that with four weeks of hard hitting football and you have one great month of sports.  Plus my birthday falling on the 17th doesn't hurt either.  And Halloween too.