So much time so little to do! Wait... strike that, reverse it! Tiger apologies. My opinion: he has a really, really good PR team writing for him. Like I've told people before, in this day and age, all famous need to do is apologize on TV, completely throw themselves at the mercy of the public, shoulder all the blame, and ask for forgiveness and support. I especially like when took a stand against the paparazzi and told them to leave his family alone. Very powerful stuff, and it will go a long way with people everywhere. I expect Woods to return sometime around June, three more months of training for the most colossal heckling he's about to receive should do it. Seriously though, you think college students are bad at sporting events? drunk 38 year old men at NFL games? Think again. We will see a whole new low of fan taunting when Woods returns to the PGA Tour. And my belief is most people will react with: that's so terrible, the man apologized give him a second chance. Yet they will keep their TV on and read every article about the jeers and jokes directed Tiger's way.
College basketball is really starting to heat up. Lots of great games left and right. Pitt defeated West Virginia in a triple overtime classic recently. UConn went into Villanova and handed the Cats their first home loss of the season. The Orangemen lost at home to Louisville. I'm telling you this will be one memorable March. The conference tourneys will be intense and the big dance is going to turn your world upside down. Selection Sunday is three weeks from Sunday, one of my favorite days of the year. I was checking out my boy Joe Lunardi's latest bracketology predictions and low and behold he has Purdue as the 4th number 1 seed. Anyone care to go back to my last article and see one of my darkhorse favorites for the Final Four is.... Purdue? Nuff said, my sports knowledge is unreal and unfair.
Spring Training is upon us. Pitchers and catchers reported 2 days ago, position players report on Monday and first official workout is scheduled for Wednesday the 24th, that is the schedule for my beloved BoSox at least. I really don't get too pumped for baseball for another month. The start of MLB 2010 regular season takes place at the greatest venue in sports - Fenway Park. Fate would have it that the Sox open and close their season in Beantown against a familiar foe, our bitter rivals, the defending champion Yankees. Personally, this is the smartest thing major league baseball has done in years. Start and end the season with the most intense rivalry in sports. Anytime the Sox n Yanks meet up it's an epic clash of titans. In one month's time I will extremely juiced up (sorry Canseco for stealing your line) for baseball and we'll breakdown the upcoming season for Boston and NY. Till then let's just sleep on beautiful thoughts such as A-rod striking out on three pitches in the ninth inning with the Fenway faithful going bonkers in the background. Now that's what I'm talking bout!
The NBA trade system needs some revamping and retooling. It's absolutely absurd to me that Cleveland can retrieve one of the essential players in 30 days that they just gave away in a trade. Just makes the entire trade a joke. Go ahead, ask Phil Jackson or Doc Rivers. They'll give spirited responses. With that said, I think the Cavs made a big mistake. Reports throughout all-star weekend had Amare heading to Cleveland to pair with King James and form an unstoppable tandem. Instead they chose Antwan Jamison. This move could prove deadly on two counts: 1 - it could cause them a championship. Stoudemire was the missing piece to the puzzle. Now they will have to rely on an aging Shaq, who is a shell of his former self. I for one can't wait to see how he performs in the playoffs. Jamison is 33 years old and has never played for a team with such huge expectations. Undoubtedly the Cavs will head into the playoffs for the 2nd consecutive year as the favorite to represent the East in the Finals. We all saw what happened last year when the world penciled in Kobe and Lebron to meet up, my boys, the Magic, spoiled the party. I have good reason to believe the same thing could happen this year. Orlando has one of the deepest teams in the league, next to the Lakers. And last time I checked, LA plays in the Western Conference. Case in point, watch an NBA game this Sunday. The Magic host the Cavs in what should be a great game and most likey a preview of the Eastern Conf. Finals. Cleveland won the most recent matchup but that was in the friendly confines of Ohio. Best thing to remember about the NBA is that the real season starts in April, when the playoffs begin. Till then enjoy some dunks here and there and the occasional nail-biter between two powerhouse teams.
Lastly, the NFL Draft is on the horizon. It's amazing that the NFL has become so damn popular that people get so amped up for an event where no live sport takes place. It's astounding. And just think, we might not have football in the fall of 2011! Unbelieveable? yes. Preposterous? absolutely. Impossible? unfortunately not. Personally, I'm preparing myself for a lockout. The owners and players are both stuck on their sides of the spectrum and neither appears like they will budge any time soon. I know we have a whole season to go but the comments we are hearing from players high up in the union are extremely discouraging. Here's an interesting point of view on this situation: 1) The NFL is a multi-BILLION dollar business for starters but let's pretend it's a regular business. Imagine an employee telling their boss, "hey I want to see all the paperwork from 2009 on income, profits, losses, etc." What would the boss say? Imagine if a boss went to an employee and said "Hey can you take a slight paycut so we can enhance our facilities to ensure our growth in the future?" Interesting questions right? Well the first question is what the players are asking of the owners. The second question is what the owners aren't asking, they are demanding of the players. Owners say too many teams have lost money in recent years and the costs of new stadiums are ballooning at an exponential rate. Players feel they are being misled by the owners and want to see the proof of these losses, requesting to see financial statements for each team. I just can't believe a business that creates BILLIONS of dollars annually can't look at the harsh reality of today: we make a lot of money, more than a lot of money, people love our product, the demand for our product is at an all-time high, we can't risk our image and lose the faith of our fans, let's compromise and find a happy medium for the sake of this long-time American sport and the desire of our die-hard fans. Sadly, I believe the rich just want to get richer and once greed sets in there's not a whole that can be done. What happened to the fat cat CEOs on Wall Street when the housing market crashed? Now I'm not saying the NFL will crash, but if football does not take place in the fall of 2011 it will take a serious hit. We are a year and a half away from this devastating, possible catastrophe. For now, let's just enjoy the draft and try to understand exactly what the hell is going to happen in this "uncapped" season.
That's enough for now. Gotta get ready for work and the lil guy is tearing my house apart. Hopefully the next article will come sooner than two weeks. Till then, enjoy college basketball Saturday. Lots of good games today, upset special to watch for: Vandy over Kentucky. UK has been on a roll, especially with the likes of John Wall flying all over the court. Something just tells me to expect a big home win for the Commodores. Happy basketball season everyone! The countdown for March Madness is on!
Nuff said, my sports knowledge is unreal and unfair...and ever so modest! :-)
ReplyDelete