Another A-Rod Controversy? Why Not…

I was just relaxing Wednesday night, not doing much. Lots of sports on TV, but I wasn’t really paying attention to anything in particular. While my wife was watching Shear Genius, I decided to check out the score of the Yankees-Blue Jays game and got another reason to hate A-Rod.

As soon, as I switch the channel, Jorge Posada hit a routine infield fly ball. There were two outs in the top of the 9th so the runners (Matsui and A-Rod) were running. As A-Rod was running between second and third, it looks like he yelled, “I got it!” throwing the Jays’ John McDonald and Howie Clark off while their were trying to catch the ball.

The ball dropped and the Yankees tacked on another run to their lead. You could not hear A-Rod say anything, but you can tell he definitely said something as he was passing the Toronto players. After the umpires calmed down John McDonald and Blue Jays manger John Gibbons, the game resumed. The Yankees won 10-5. Just another un-classy move by an un-classy baseball player.

One question: Can this guy A-Rod avoid controversy?

Remember this one?

How about this one?

And of course to two latest ones….

While the Yankees have been losing over the last few days, A-Rod has been out in Toronto going to strip joints, staying in different hotels than the rest of the Yankees, and getting photographed with women who aren’t his wife. Now this?

Here’s a piece of advice: start acting the great player you are. If you want to be remembered as a classless ball player, then you are the right track. But if you want to be known as the great offensive baseball player, then start acting like a man and not a little bitch. Just remember, the Baseball Gods have a way of pissing on those that piss on the game. Have fun at Fenway this weekend A-Rod…hopefully the Red Sox put you in your place.

Here are a couple quotes after the game

A-Rod: “That play happens to me three or four times a week, except it’s not at third base, it’s over in foul territory by the dugout”………..”I just said, ‘Hah!’ That’s it,” Rodriguez said. “Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.”

Blue Jays Howie Clark: “This is my 16th season and it’s never happened once”

Johnny Damon: “I wasn’t sure that was allowed. If it is, maybe we’ll keep on doing it.”

Frustration Sets in for the Yankees

The negativity of the Yankees and their losing ways has finally reached Roger Clemens down in Scranton, Pennsylvania on Monday night. Clemens took a simple, innocent question from a reporter and blew it completely out proportion, getting extremely emotional. Have all the Yankees finally cracked? Will the Clemens experiment be all for nothing?

The answer to both these questions is “yes”.

If you haven’t seen the Clemens press conference meltdown yet, check this out

After listening to ton of sports talk radio in the New York area, I’m getting the impression that Yankee fans are finally coming to the realization that while Clemens will be a fantastic additions to the Yankees’ pitching staff, he is no savior.

This isn’t basketball or football, where one player can come back from an injury and literally take over a game. Clemens will be able control the Yankees destiny once every five starts. That’s it. The other side of the equation is when Clemens pitches, the Yankees need to hit, which they have neglected to do this season.

The question now is this: Are the Yankees done?

I have a real hard time saying that the Yankees are done. But if they continue to lose and if they get swept by the Red Sox this weekend at Fenway, the Yankees will have an extremely hard time climbing out of the hole that they have dug for themselves.

Here are a couple predictions for the Yankees this season

The Yankees will make a run at the American League Wild Card, but will lose out to the Indians

Mike Mussia will complain all season long about being a “creature of habit” and complain when games are cancelled on days when he is pitching

Brian Cashman and Joe Torre will be let go at the end of the season

Don Mattingly will become the new manager, thus bringing the “Curse of Don Mattingly” full circle.

Roger Clemens will take his money after winning 10 games this season, go home to Texas and start preparing to scam another team out of millions next season. (Watch out Red Sox!)

It’s the Stanley Cup! Time for Some Low TV Ratings

You ready for the Stanley Cup finals?? Who’s playing in the Stanley Cup this season you ask? Well the Anaheim Ducks and Ottawa Senators of course! You know who is upset about this match up? NBC.

Yes it’s true; hockey usually gets low television ratings. But Anaheim vs Ottawa? Unless you are a die-hard hockey fan, or live in one of these respected cities, I’m pretty sure that you will be tuning out during this Stanley Cup.

Of course this is bad news for NBC since they will be broadcasting games three through seven (if necessary) to all of America.

I could imagine what Dick Ebersol acted like after the Anaheim-Detroit game Tuesday night. He was probably sobbing and shouting, “Why oh why couldn’t Hockey Town USA be in the Stanley Cup!!!”

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m sure there will be record setting television ratings in Canada, since a Canadian team hasn’t won the Cup since 1993 with the Montreal Canadiens.

But for American television ratings, this Stanley Cup will be a bust. Just another “bump in the road” for hockey in America. How does a league regain their popularity when the less popular teams continue to make it to the Stanley Cup?

The only way that hockey will regain its popularity in the United States is with a Stanley Cup final featureing two extremely popular NHL teams. Think the New York Rangers vs. the Colorado Avalanche…or the Pittsburgh Penguins and Sidney Crosby vs. the Minnesota Wild.

Until then, hockey will continue to suffer.

This Guy Tavarez Ain’t That Bad

I was telling a friend who is a Yankees fan, before the game that Julian Tavarez was going to have a big game. Yes I said it in a sarcastic manner, but hey…..Tavarez (on his 34th birthday) came through and the Red Sox won the game, 7-3.

Boston Red Sox fans couldn’t ask for anything more from Tavarez. He’s a fifth starter, with little upside. Still this guy goes into Yankee Stadium and pitches a game that would make any Red Sox fan smile. Of course there were some issues, but look at the bright side, the Red Sox won!

Listening to the first inning in the car as I was coming home from work, I was extremely giddy to hear Manny Ramirez hit a home run off of Mike Mussina, giving the BoSox 3-0 lead. From that point on, the game was in the Red Sox hands….kind of……

After the game, Michael Kay (probably the worst play-by-play announcer ever) turns to Paul O’Neil, and starts complaining about a bad call that happened on a Coco Crisp stolen base. O’Neil looks at Kay and says, “well, you can’t gauge an entire game on one bad call”. Classic!

Here is a recap of the game.

Over all, it is the non-super stars on the Red Sox that are keeping games out of reach of opposing teams. Kevin Youkilis with two hits and one RBI and Mike Lowell with two hits, one home run, and one RBI have been unbelievable this season including this game vs. the Yankees

Looking forward to the Schilling-Pettitte match up Wednesday night.

Don’t be surprised if you hear from the Boss, George Steinbrenner, tomorrow night if the Yankees lose…

“Hey Vince…have fun down in Charlotte”

After the Nets loss to the Cavaliers, 88-72, therefore ending their season, all the talk has been on if Vince Carter will stay or go.

If you ask any Nets fan, you’ll get the sense real quickly that Carter has to go. Nets fans were waiting for Carter to step it up in this playoff series versus the Cavs, and it never happened.

Here are a couple scenarios that might happen with Carter during the off-season

Vince Carter stays with the Nets for another season. Hey…it could happen. Carter even said himself that he wants to stay with the Nets. This will piss off Nets fans, but I think people need to understand that this is Vince Carter. VINCE CARTER! You could do worst….

Vince Carter leaves. Jason Kidd is so upset that he asks for a trade and leaves the Nets. Please don’t believe this garbage. This is just another lame rumor courtesy of the folks over at Fan Nation. Don’t go to Fan Nation for you lame rumors…. go to SportsFaction. Wait…scratch that.

To be honest, Nets president Rob Thorn is no dummy. He’ll do the best thing for his team. If the Nets want to get rid of Carter, then Thorn will pull the trigger.

As for Carter, well…these Eastern Conference Semi-finals might be as far as Carter goes in his career. As WFAN’s Evan Roberts said: “Hey Vince…have fun down in Charlotte.” Well put Evan…well put.

One Season Is All Randy Moss Needs

For all you Randy Moss haters out there, I’ve got something to say: I’m with you. I totally agree that Moss is a problem case and can disrupt any team, any time. But I think next season will be different.

Randy Moss is looking for something that all football players in the NFL are looking: a Super Bowl ring. Of course, the team with the best chance to get to the Super Bowl next season is the New England Patriots. So here is my guarantee of the year. You listening?? Ok…here goes…

Randy Moss will play nice for one season and the Patriots will win a Super Bowl

Moss understands that this is his big chance. This is his chance to win a ring and to prove to all his critics that he can get along with his teammates. So far the reviews of Randy have been quite positive.

Technically, Moss doesn’t have to show up in Foxboro until June 2. But last week, Moss was in the weigh room, meeting his new teammates. Not only did I expect this to happen, I’m pretty sure I predicted this would happen on SportsFaction radio.

Listen, Moss is not stupid. He knows he is surrounded by many NFL veterans and unbelievable talent. He knows the sacrifice that Tom Brady did to make sure he had a spot with the Patriots. Moss will repay the Patriots by playing in spectacular fashion next season.

After the 2007 season…well…that’s another issue

If the Patriots win a Super Bowl, Moss will play nice most of the 2008 season.

But if the Patriots don’t win a Super Bowl, I’m scared to think of what’s going happen.

I could see Moss start acting like the ass he really is, beginning with disrupting the Patriots locker room, then moving to dropping easy passes (which will piss off Tom Brady). After a few week of his antics, Belichick will get feed up and the Patriots will figure out a way to either get rid of Moss or keep him out of games. But I digress…

I think at this point the Patriots just want to take it one season at a time.

Are the Yankees in Trouble?

Are the Yankees falling apart? Not yet, but depending on how this weekend goes, the writing could be on the wall.

Besides going into this weekend’s subway series with a losing record, the Yankees have a lot of issues that need to be addressed. First stop, on field issues.

Pitching
Andy Pettitte is pitching Friday night against Oliver Perez. In the past, I would have given Pettitte a free pass on this, but Perez is pitching well (kind of). This game is going to be a toss up.

As for the next two games, the Mets will be having Tom Glavine and John Maine on the mound. The Yankees? I’m not even to sure who the hell is pitching for them. Advantage: Mets

Hitting
The Yankees two best hitters are Jorge Posada and Derek Jeter and everyone else is in a slump. If Torre wants to get some runs in, he should put Posada near the top of the line up in either the 3rd, 4th, or 5th spot. A-Rod has cooled off, Abreu stinks, Cano is having a terrible season, Matsui loves hitting into double plays, and Giambi won’t be playing that much due to the fact there is no DH in the National League. The Yankees line up is to good to be this bad. Maybe they’ll “wake up” as A-Rod suggested, but shouldn’t the Yankees have woken up already? If the White Sox can’t wake up the Yanks, I don’t expect a series with the Mets too.

Overall I feel the problem with the Yankees is that they have been inconsistent. When they have good pitching, they don’t hit…when they are hitting, they don’t pitch. Basically all these signs point to the Yankees being a bad team.

A couple other off-the-field issues that could annoy the Yankees are how Kyle Farnsworth disapproves of Roger Clemens’ “family plan” and the fact that Jason Giambi apologized for taking steroids.

First off…. Kyle who? I’m not one to defend Roger Clemens, but Farnsworth should be the last person who is going to complain about this. This over-priced pitcher has barely played in any games this season! Once a Jeter or an A-Rod complains, then it’s a story. Don’t worry though…the New York media is all over it.

As for Giambi and steroids, this is another “no-story”. After Giambi apologized for using “that stuff”, he went on to say that Major League Baseball should apologize to the fans about the steroids era. Let me make something quite clear: there is no way that the MLB will apologize anytime soon for the steroid era. Maybe in about 50 years, another commissioner will apologize, but not in this decade.

By May 24th, we’ll see if the Yankees are in serious trouble. The next two series versus the Mets and Red Sox will either seal the Yankees fate as a bad team or give them the opportunity to bounce back in the month of June.

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The Spurs Are A Bunch Of Punks And/Or The NBA Is Back!

The Spurs-Suns series took a turn for the worst during Game 4 when Robert Horry hip-checked Steve Nash. After all the smoked cleared, three players were suspended: Horry, Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw. The one person missing off this list: Tim Duncan.

 Now I haven’t been watching the NBA extremely close all season, but it is very obvious to me that the Spurs are a bunch of whining, rough, dirty players.

Listening to Horry and coach Gregg Popovich talk about the suspensions on Wednesday was irritating.

To infer that Nash was “acting” after Horry hip-checked him is insulting. And yes, there have been harder fouls in the past as Popovich stated, but to call Horry’s foul not excessive is a load crap. Popovich and the Spurs sent the Suns a message during Game 4 and it said “Don’t Fuck With Us”.

Stoudemire on the other hand took his punishment with class. He knew he was going to be suspended, even explaining why he thought that he was suspended and Tim Duncan was not.

To be honest, I’m not surprised. I had a feeling this was going to happen at some point in this series. The only questions that I had were “when” and “who”.

In the end, the foul might have been rough and some players might not have been punished accordingly but at least people are starting to talk and watch the NBA again!

Cliché Statement of the Week: Pitching Wins Games

A few weeks before the baseball season started, a co-worker of mine bet me that Carl Pavano would have better numbers than Daisuke Matsuzaka.  Let’s just say I have already collected on that bet. Matsuzaka pitched a complete game Monday night against the Detroit Tigers and don’t be surprised if you see him do it again a few more times this season.  Last season in Japan, Dice-K had 13 complete games.  According to manager Terry Francona, “[Dice-K] was better at the end that he was at the beginning”.    This is good news for the Red Sox, since it is unclear how Josh Beckett will bounce back from his finger injury.  The reality is, you can’t stop this Boston Red Sox starting rotation.  With Beckett, Curt Schilling, Dice-K, and Tim Wakefield all healthy, any team would be intimidated to face them.  Even Braves third baseman, Chipper Jones, is upset with how they have to play the Red Sox in the upcoming week.    Basically pitching wins ball games.  Let’s take a look at the top 5 teams in this week’s baseball power rankings.

1. Red Sox

 I just pointed out that this rotation is extremely intimidating to any team in the baseball.  With the bullpen stocked with pitchers like Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon this pitching staff is unstoppable.

2. Braves

With John Smoltz off to a good start and Tim Hudson finally producing, the Braves have a fantastic one-two punch when it comes to pitching.  We’ll see how this latest injury to Smoltz effects the Braves

3. Mets

Who knew that Oliver Perez and John Maine would be this good so far?  Well, I had an idea about Maine…. but Perez??  Add Tom Glavine to the mix and the Pedro coming back in the summer, and the Mets pitching rotation could lead this team to the promise land.  The only question I would have is with Aaron Heilman in the bullpen.  Heilman has not been good and could screw the Mets in close games.

4. Brewers

 The Brewers are the team that just came out of nowhere.   Well, not exactly. But I did not expect them to be this dominant.  When you have consistent pitching by Ben Sheets, Jeff Suppan, Chris Capuano, and even Dave Bush, it is no surprise that they are ranked 4th this week.  Hitting also doesn’t hurt.

5.Tigers

This rotation was good last year, and they are proving that the 2006 season wasn’t a fluke.  Jeremy Bonderman, Nate Robertson, and Justin Verlander have been helping the Tigers at the beginning of games and Todd Jones is staying consistent and closing out games making the Tigers a top contender in the American League Central. 

The Unruly Fan

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