Baseball’s Image Crisis

It seems like I’ve talked about this topic for far too long. This time instead of a fading superstar going towards the end of his career. An All-Star in the prime of his career has tested positive for PEDs (performance enhancing drugs). At this point I could care less if it was a supplement that triggered a positive test or an actual steroid. The bottom line with me is that you tested positive.

Brewers OF Ryan Braun, this past seasons National League MVP no less has now been put into a new category. A performance enhancer. A cheater. Whether he can successfully appeal the 50 game suspension coming his way, public opinion will not change.

I find it hard to believe that the majority of fans don’t care about guys testing positive for PEDs. There was a lot of pressure from the media, congress and fans to clean up the sport. Now that the sport is testing players, suddenly the fans don’t care if a star player tests positive?

The big picture here is that Ryan Braun is still going to get paid. He’ll be making $127.5 million dollars for the next nine years in Milwaukee. Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez is still the highest paid player in baseball. OF Manny Ramirez will be looking for a new team to play for this year. Heck Mark McGwire was welcomed back with open arms as a hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals.

It’s not right in my opinion, but it goes with risk now in baseball. You’d have to think that everyone isn’t cheating now. These guys are being tested through the minor league system before they even get into the majors. What will be interesting though is how many are using HGH (human growth hormone). That test won’t go into effect until next season. Things could get worse.

You can’t assume anything anymore in baseball. I admit that this news isn’t shocking to me anymore. You’re always wondering if that once in a lifetime season was done without any help from PEDs. It’s unfortunate, but it has become the reality. I love this sport, but I also know that in the post steroid era we are going to have more guys testing positive. Even if it has nothing to do with steroids.

Week 14 Review of the NFL

Two more teams are in the playoffs

Just a few weeks ago it seemed as if the Houston Texans were dead in the water. They had lost their starting quarterback Matt Schaub and their backup quarterback Matt Leinart in consecutive weeks. In steps 5th round pick QB T.J. Yates. In his first two starts he’s up against the Atlanta Falcons and the Cincinnati Bengals. All that’s on the line is a playoff berth. The first in franchise history. No problem. Yates threw a TD pass against the Falcons, but the Texans defense stepped up and held the Falcons to only 10 points. In Cincinnati though it was a different story. Houston was down by 9 going into the 4th quarter. The Texans running game was being shutdown all day long. Yates lead the Texans to a come from behind victory throwing for 300 yards and 2 touchdown passes. Amazing to think that Houston will be hosting a playoff game with a rookie QB getting them to that point.

The New Orleans Saints didn’t make it easy for themselves in Tennessee. But QB Drew Brees makes it look too easy and lead the Saints to another playoff berth. With their division rival Atlanta Falcons coming from behind to beat the Carolina Panthers, the Saints will have to wait another week to see if they can clinch the division title. Assuming the Saints beat Minnesota at the Metrodome and the Falcons beat Jacksonville in the Georgia Dome. It will set up a fantastic Week 16 Monday Night matchup between Atlanta and New Orleans at the Superdome. I’m really hoping for that outcome.

The reason the Cowboys struggle

It really isn’t that obvious, but it was after watching them play this past Sunday against the New York Giants. Dallas’ problem is expectations. Owner Jerry Jones has put far too much pressure on this team to win a division title every year. Finish with at least 12 wins. And always play for a championship. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s not working with these Cowboys. I believe QB Tony Romo can win in this league, but not with the Cowboys. It won’t happen. Why? The players around him don’t know how to handle the pressure. You mean to tell me that WR Miles Austin after playing in that new billion dollar stadium for a couple years now can’t find the football in the lights? Pretty lame if you ask me. What happened to that spectacular defense we were going to see from the Cowboys new defensive coordinator Rob Ryan? It shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone knowing that Ryan’s two previous jobs as defensive coordinator were with the Cleveland Browns and the Oakland Raiders. Ryan’s defenses have been ranked in the top 10 only one time; 2006 in Oakland. The rest of the time they’ve been ranked near the bottom. Also head coach Jason Garrett seems to be wilting under the pressure as well. Time after time he has made some boneheaded decisions that have cost his team wins and it could cost him his job as well. Put it to rest once and for all. The Dallas Cowboys shouldn’t be counted on to be Super Bowl contenders unless they prove it otherwise.

It’s not all about one guy

I know I’ve talked about Broncos QB Tim Tebow a lot this season. Rightfully so. He’s a unique individual and a unique quarterback. And I do know that he isn’t doing everything to help the Denver Broncos win. Their defense has done so much this season to put Tebow in position to win the game for them in the 4th quarter. Or to tie it and then win it in overtime. Also the other teams have done their part as well. Case in point this past week when Bears RB Marion Barber runs out of bounds with a minute to go. That gave the Broncos time with no timeouts to drive down the field and tie the game at 10 going into overtime. Then in overtime Barber fumbles the football giving the Broncos another opportunity to win the game, which they did. Get ready to see the Denver Broncos hosting a playoff game this year. Because I don’t see the Oakland Raiders waking up anytime soon.

A Dangerous Precedent

Now what was the point of the NBA lockout? I figured that the players wanted a bigger piece of the money pie and the owners didn’t want to give that up. The usual billionaires vs. millionaires war of words. But now after the lockout has been lifted and the season set to begin on Christmas day, I believe there were different reasons for the owners.

The players and owners want what’s best for them. I get that. My only problem with it is that there is too much money involved to not come to a reasonable agreement. NBA commissioner David Stern saw that he had to make a deal. The players union wasn’t going to budge on their stance and neither were the owners. He got the owners to relax their stance and the players saw a change in their attitude. Thus a deal was made. At least that’s what it looked like to most of us.

However, with the recent fiasco caused by Mr. Stern himself in the Chris Paul trade proposal. I now believe in my opinion that he went about ending the lockout a different way. My thinking is that he knew that the majority of the owners, the ones who owned ‘small market’ teams didn’t want a season at all. Those owners didn’t want to see a monopoly in the NBA where star players could dictate where they could go. So David Stern made a promise to them that he wouldn’t let that happen anyway that he could.

How else can you determine why he vetoed the trade that would have sent Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers, Pau Gasol to the Houston Rockets and Lamar Odom, Luis Scola and Kevin Martin to the New Orleans Hornets? That is to me one of the fairest trades I’ve ever seen in any sport. Each team gets an All-Star player and in the case of the Hornets, they received three.

The initial reasoning behind the trade getting rejected was for ‘basketball reasons.’ What that means I don’t know. But what I do know is that since the New Orleans Hornets were purchased by the NBA almost a year ago tells me that they want a new owner to buy them while Chris Paul is still there. But why would any potential owner want to buy the team knowing that Chris Paul is going to leave after the season as a free agent? It’s better to get something for that player now rather than wait until the last minute ala the Denver Nuggets last year with Carmelo Anthony.

The bottom line here is this. In every sport there are ‘small market’ teams. But the success of those small market teams is entirely up to the front office. Just in the case of the NBA the following small market teams have made an appearance in the NBA Finals; San Antonio Spurs, Indiana Pacers, Detroit Pistons, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks and Orlando Magic. And the Portland Trail Blazers, Utah Jazz, Memphis Grizzlies and Oklahoma City Thunder have been involved in the playoffs on a consistent basis.

By my count that’s 10 ‘small market’ teams. One third of the entire league. David Stern no matter his reason(s) for vetoing the trade has set a very dangerous precedent. Those who have said that the NBA is always looking to prop up the big market teams in some sort of conspiracy now might have some credibility. Except it’s the exact opposite in this case. He might have had the best intentions in keeping Chris Paul in New Orleans, but he better keep him there for good now. Forget about seeing Chris Paul as a New York Knick or a Los Angeles Clipper. Those are big markets.

Now the Los Angeles Lakers have dealt a disgruntled Lamar Odom to the Dallas Mavericks. The Houston Rockets are still looking for someone to replace Yao Ming. And the New Orleans Hornets, specifically general manager Dell Demps wonder if they can even operate under normal circumstances. There is no way around this one. David Stern screwed up.

2011 Winter Meetings Recap

First things first. I didn’t expect to be writing about the Winter Meetings in baseball. Nothing epic usually happens during the meetings. There’s always chatter, but most of the time deals aren’t made until afterwards. Not the case this year.

Only two teams made some moves, well major ones at this years meetings in Dallas, Texas. The Florida … I mean Miami Marlins were making most of the major moves. First they signed closer Heath Bell to a 3 year deal. It makes sense for a team that hasn’t had a legitimate closer since Armando Benitez in 2004 when he saved 47 games for the Marlins. Then they followed that up with the signing of the best leadoff hitter in the game today in SS Jose Reyes for 6 years. He brings the Marlins instant speed at the top of the lineup. That should bode well for their best hitters. Namely Hanley Ramirez, Logan Morrison, Mike Stanton and Gaby Sanchez. They signed a starting pitcher in former Chicago White Sox ace Mark Buehrle for 4 years. He has history with Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen in Chicago. Both won a World Series together and Buehrle brings some stability at the top of the rotation with Josh Johnson.

Now the Marlins would be the lone topic of conversation had they signed the pair above in Albert Pujols (left) and C.J. Wilson (right). However, the Marlins were turned down by both of them for another suitor. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Their new general manager Jerry DiPoto swooped in at the last minute to reel in Pujols. The Angels were talking with Wilson for almost the entire offseason, but he agreed to sign with the Halos after Pujols said yes. Some will say that signing a player for 10 years is a very bad investment. I would agree. I don’t like being tied down to one player, but what else were the Angels going to do?

Owner Arte Moreno had lost out of the top free agents the last two offseasons. That was in large part to the involvement of the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. They have been dormant so far this offseason and the Angels took advantage of that. Also getting a 3 billion dollar local TV contract with Fox helps too. It was a brazen move on the Angels part. And it reminded me of their 2004 free agent frenzy. They surprised everyone with their signing of Vladimir Guerrero for the bargain price of $70 million. Pujols and his $250 million price tag isn’t a bargain, but considering the Red Sox and Yankees weren’t apart of the discussion it is.

Getting Wilson at 5 years and just over $75 million was a bargain as well. The Marlins offered 6 years at well over the Angels offer. Wilson couldn’t resist being apart of one of the best rotations in baseball in Jered Weaver, Dan Haren and Ervin Santana. Also it helps that Wilson grew up in Orange County as well. This is perhaps a bigger signing than Pujols because it puts their division rival the Texas Rangers in a tough spot. They have now lost Cliff Lee and C.J. Wilson in consecutive seasons. Who will be their top starter now?

It was a breathe of fresh air for the baseball community. Like I said at the beginning of this post, these meetings don’t offer much in storylines. A lot of here-say and rumors, but hardly anything major happens during these get togethers. Maybe this is a sign of things to come from now on. Or it’s just a freak occurrence in which two teams were ready and able to bring in the best free agents on the market. Either way it looks to be a very interesting season. And we’re only in December.

Week 13 Review of the NFL

Two teams are in

It’s time to acknowledge the first two teams to have clinched a playoff spot in the NFL. The Green Bay Packers (12-0) will be defending their Super Bowl championship this season. And the San Francisco 49ers (10-2) have clinched a playoff spot and their division for the first time since 2002. That was the Steve Mariucci and Jeff Garcia days. Both teams are starting to bring back memories of those Brett Favre-Steve Young days of the late 90s. They haven’t played each other yet this season, but I am anticipating that they will meet. Either way you can rest assure that the NFL scheduling czars will put Green Bay and San Francisco against one another next season. Congratulations to both teams. I look forward to the NFC playoff brackets to be the best this season.

The undisciplined Lions

I tweet quite a bit when there is football on TV. I was almost speechless during the Sunday night game as the Detroit Lions were basically falling apart at the seams. They committed 11 penalties for 107 yards. My tweet to this was, “11 penalties for the Lions. are they trying to be the Oakland Raiders of the NFC?” It was a valid point. What has happened to this team? It was their first game without the suspended DT Ndamukong Suh. Some folks thought that Suh was the only problem. Not the case. It starts with the head coach Jim Schwartz. He has done a great job to turn around the culture in that organization. However, he has done a terrible job in reeling in his players. The Lions attitude is a reflection upon their head coach. Now I don’t expect that to happen again, but make no mistake that the Lions are losing some scoring opportunities thanks in part to their stupid penalties.

Trouble with a capital ‘T’

Can you hear the entire Chicago Bears fan base screaming, “UH-OH!” QB Caleb Hanie is not the answer. I can say that for a fact after just two games. A freak hail mary touchdown to end the first half by the Kansas City Chiefs was the clincher in their game at Soldier Field. That entire place was stunned and probably realized at that point that the game was over. I sure thought so. The Bears need WR/KR Devin Hester to score all of their touchdowns for the rest of the season. Why is WR Roy Williams still playing football? And why are there discussions of QB Brett Favre willing to play for the Bears if they call? I’m glad I’m not a Bears fan right now. Time to prepare for the offseason.