Two years ago, my dad and other Yankee fans were telling me that they got the best deal in the world-Randy Johnson, one of the most imposing pitchers ever, had been traded to the New York Yankees. My dad went on and on about how this was a better move than the Red Sox getting Curt Schilling the season before, that this bolstered the pitching staff of the Yankees and gave them a shut-down stopper when they faced Boston's (then) imposing line-up.
I'm pleased to announce that the Big Unit is playing like the Big Sweat Sock. Maybe that's not even completely honest: I'm ecstatic to the point I've heavily debated calling my Yankee loving father and left him some taunting messages. The only thing that stops me? I keep thinking it's no way to repay the man who raised me-I already crushed when I told him I was a Red Sox fan eleven years ago.
Stupid parenting allegiances.
Now Johnson's certainly a Hall of Famer. His career has been impressive throughout, what with 263 wins, both a no-hitter and a perfect game, 4,313 strikeouts (3rd best ever), an incredible 11.12 strikeout-per-nine-innings ratio (1st all-time), 10 All-Star appearances and a World Series win with Arizona in 2001, along with a host of other awards.
I'm not debating his legendary status or his Hall of Fame credentials. I'm not debating the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry and how many championships each has. What I'm talking about is the present and the future. What I'm saying is Johnson's career is closing in on him. What I'm saying is this: you can't hide it anymore, Randy Johnson is no longer an ace-and the Yankees are in trouble.
For years, teams and fans have been jealous of the Yankees and their ability to go out and sign the expensive players. Funny thing is, they didn't start really doing that full-fledged until early this decade. Most of their talent came through the system and was supplemented year after year by a couple big name free agents.
About a month after the Red Sox heartbreaking loss to the Yankees in the '03 ALCS, I made a prediction to my dad: that one day, the Yankees would run out of something. Money, talent, time, trades, options-something. Well, it's finally happening.
They've got hardly any talent left in the minors. You can only trade so many young talented prospects away before the cupboard's bare. And the few that New York does have left have already been called up and are playing, like Robinson Cano and Bubba Crosby.
They're running out of time-Torre, Steinbrenner and Cashman aren't getting any younger (nor are any of the players)-or any less annoyed with one another.
They've got no one they can trade with. Think about it-there are few, if any, teams out there willing to take on the big contracts that the Yankees are saddled with from some of their expendable/trade-able players.
Worst yet (or best yet, as I see it), the Yankees are struggling now. An early 3.5 games back of Boston-and at the bottom of the AL East, if it weren't for a three game home sweep of the lowly Royals, the Yankees would be sitting at somewhere in the neighborhood of 4-9.
Sure, they're going to overpower teams and win a bunch of games scoring 10-12 runs-they're line-up has more All-Stars than an actual All-Star roster with A-Rod, Jeter, Damon, Giambi, Sheffield, Matsui and Williams. It looks like what you get right after buying MVP Baseball and then trading for all the superstars you want at the start of your dynasty's 1st season.
It's the pitching that's going to be their downfall. Start with Johnson, who in four starts has pitched the most innings of anyone on the team-at age 42. Johnson has the most strikeouts, but he's also given up the most hits, the most home runs and the most runs per game.
It doesn't get much better-Mike Mussina, Jaret Wright and Chien-Ming Wang are struggling, while Carl Pavano's butt still hurts from riding so much pine from spending two seasons on the DL.
It makes you wonder: are the Yankees actually one of the worst front offices in all of baseball?
Meanwhile, the Red Sox are starting the season by making themselves look like Theo Epstein is the baseball equivalent of Ken Jennings-in other words, really, really good at his job.
Over the past couple years, while the Yankees have Pavano doing nothing and collecting $9.7 million a season, Johnson picking up $16 million a season and Mussina for a cool $19.6 million last year, the Red Sox have picked up Schilling-who helped deliver their World Series, nabbed the young Josh Beckett and have generally overhauled their World Series roster-mixing veteran stars like Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz with young talent like Coco Crisp, Jonathan Papelbon, Mark Loretta and Kevin Youkilis (who I used to refer to as You-Kill-Us, I admit).
And here's what's strange about it all: Boston and New York have switched roles. Boston's done with chasing the championship for one season-they're now about staying in contention for a long time, while the Yankees appear to be going after just one more title for the Old Man.
This build-up of money, pressure and talented superstars in New York has to take its toll eventually. It already is, in a way. While Red Sox fans won't care that we lost Pedro, Damon, D-Lowe and Arroyo if it means we're in contention for the next 5-7 years.
I changed my mind-I'm going to give my dad a call.
If you want to know how important, how impressive, how valuable and how legendary an athlete is, just think about this: is he a one-name guy? Better yet, is he a first-name guy?
In baseball, they don't make many one-namers. But try this: is there any baseball player in this era, in the past 20 years, that has been better at what he does than Pedro?
You already know, just by his first name, I'm referring to Pedro Martinez. He doesn't need a nickname-he's just Pedro. The Mets should do a Yao Ming and just put "Pedro" on the back of his jersey.
He's a one-namer. He's a future Hall of Famer-and we can be certain that his squirrelly little frame hasn't juiced so much as an orange.
This season, he's been Pedro, per usual. He's toting a 3-0 record for the Mets that features 17 K's, a .188 batting average against, and an ERA a little over 3.6.
Sure, there's "other" great, classic and legendary pitchers still playing the game, like Curt Schilling, Greg Maddux, and Randy Johnson. And, like Pedro, they're off to great starts this year: Schilling's 3-0 with 16 K's and an ERA of 1.64-opponents are batting just .147 against him. He hasn't looked this good in four or five years. Maddux has been masterful for the Cubs; also 3-0 with 14 K's and an ERA of 1.33-opponents are batting just .149 against him.
You certainly can't forget about Roger Clemens (who could, right?), should he return for a half season. The Rocket has everyone in the Lone Star state serenading him with Bowling for Soup's "Come Back to Texas", while Red Sox fans are searching for Dave Loggins, so he can sing "Please Come to Boston" over and over until Clemens gives in. Seriously, I haven't seen a dogged pursuit like this since Tommy Lee Jones and Harrison Ford in 'The Fugitive'.
Clemens, at 43, is certainly amazing-but he didn't help bring a championship to the Red Sox. Pedro did.
Each makes a case for his dominance-certainly there was a time in the 1990's where they were all basically untouchable. But Pedro's always been different than the rest.
Pedro was there and carried the team on his back season after season (long before Schilling was wooed away from Arizona in '03)-sometimes as their only quality major league pitcher. Seriously, has anyone ever carried a pitching staff like Martinez did for most of his Boston career?
Schilling and Johnson had each other in Arizona. Schilling had Pedro in Boston, now he's got Beckett. Maddux had Smoltz and Glavine in Atlanta. Johnson's also had the Yankees $150 million dollar staff and pen in New York.
With Pedro, from 1998-2003, nearly every start was something of an event; his pitches like works of art. From the varied arm angles, superb control, speed changes and the use of three pitches that have the same effect as nova cane, Pedro's stat lines really are DaVinci like. At 5'11", he's one of the shortest power pitchers ever. Even now, as his fastball tops out at 88-89 mph, he remains dominant by being smarter on the mound than the batter in the box.
I wonder if this means they'll write a book or make a film called 'The Pedro Code', about major league hitters trying to figure out the mind of Martinez-because it would take that.
His first years for the Red Sox were some of the best years ever by a pitcher-and in the A.L. with the DH, that's impressive in itself.
But the difference between Pedro isn't in his stats-though with 2,878 strikeouts, being first among active pitchers in ERA (2.72), strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.31), hits allowed per nine innings (6.82) and 3 Cy Young's, it could be-it's in the way he plays. That's why he's the best pitcher of this generation. His starts are events. His games are legendary.
Like Game 5 of the ALDS in '99, when he came out of the pen with a slight injury to absolutely shut down the Indians over the final six innings by striking out eight and walking just three-carrying Boston to the ALCS. Or getting a perfect game without actually getting it-he retired the first 27 Padres he faced in June of '95, before giving up a double in the 10th inning of a 0-0 tie. Just three years earlier, it would have counted.
Maybe it's the way he handled the rivalry with the Yankees-famously quoted as saying, "Wake up the damn Bambino, have me face him-maybe I'll drill him in his ass." Or the fact he still isn't afraid to knock somebody down with an inside pitch, even if it's the insane Jose Vidro.
His win last night made him the second fastest pitcher to reach 200 wins, at 200-84. He's still just 34-but we were so used to dominate Pedro that the last three years it seemed like he jumped the shark. But as last night proves, it also makes him the most effiecent pitcher with 200 wins ever, with a win percentage of .704. Is there anyone better, perhaps ever? Certainly not in skill and entertainment value combined.
Vote for Pedro-because one name is all you need.
Over the weekend, as my wife and I waited for the arrival of our baby girl (which still hasn't happened), we got sucked into one of those Saturday afternoon viewings of Rudy on TBS.
I love Notre Dame Football, and it's great to see the enchanting and heartwarming tale of this kid who had a huge heart and no talent, don't get me wrong. But what really got me thinking was when I started comparing this semi-fictionalized tale with what we really see in the Sports world.
Today, UConn sophomore forward Rudy Gay makes it official-he's declaring for the NBA Draft. The mass exodus out of the Northeast will certainly be felt by the Huskies next year, as it was felt the last time we saw a roster lose this many quality players-Arizona in 2001 and North Carolina just last year. UConn will lose Josh Boone, Gay, Marcus Williams and Ed Nelson, at the least.
After losing to Duke in the '01 National Championship, Arizona lost Gilbert Arenas, Loren Woods, Michael Wright and Richard Jefferson to the NBA. Let's just say 2002 was as good as it could have been under the circumstances.
Though the exits are usually blocked with underclassman handing in their draft papers, (draft papers used to mean something different, about thirty years ago, no one wanted draft papers)-the impact of losing so many players normally doesn't just happen to a team at once. Usually, it's a freshman or sophomore one year, then a junior the next-but losing 4 or 5 players is tough.
This is going to sound strange; it's going to be a lot different next year. Yes, most all the McDonald's All-American's will play one year of college basketball and bail, so in a way the process continues.
But truthfully, I think this helps college basketball. How many guys might stay for 2-3 years that previously would have never gone? How much will the quality of the game improve? Who really knows, but it will be different in men's college basketball next year.
This is why I applaud Rudy Gay bolting to the NBA. Get out while the gettin's good.
He seemed bored, anyway. Kind of like he was pulling a Randy Moss on the Huskies for most of the tournament and at least half the season. He mailed in more games than Ferris Bueller did school days.
It seems like most UConn fans saw this coming. And they appear to be as indifferent to him leaving as he was to playing.
For Gay, there couldn't be a more perfect time. Expectations can only go up in Storrs next year if he and Marcus Williams would have stayed. He would have had to play in the Big East again and might have had to prove he can play defense.
What about his draft status? It wasn't exactly going to get better in '07 if/when Greg Oden comes out for the draft. Not to mention the players who appear to be staying in school for this season, like Joakim Noah, Glen Davis and Josh McRoberts.
Yes, run Rudy, run. Get the money while you can.
I have a feeling he won't ever get the response during a game that another Rudy got as a walk-on football player at Notre Dame. He'd have to put out some effort. No, Rudy Gay doesn't exactly have the spirit and attitude of Rudy Ruettiger. Gay's more likely to remind you of the antagonistic slacker tailback Jamie O'Hara (played by a young Vince Vaughn)-he thinks people putting out maximum effort to really achieve and go beyond their potential are show-offs.
Gay doesn't get it on the court-but now he'll be able to get the money off the court for massively under-performing with his abilities in the NBA. It's a perfect fit, really.
Because for every athlete or fan that believes in putting forth time, effort and heart to get ahead and win, there are dozens that don't care about it at all. It is about money and fame for them. NBA Champion? Scoring leader? Defense First Team? Who cares, as long as they're getting paid.
For others, they don't care how they get there, as long as they do. For every Rocky that won't take steroids (even if Sly Stallone probably was), there's a dozen Ivan Drago's.
The romanticized way we (and I) view sports just isn't always the truth-and sometimes, at least for fans, we enjoy the break from life and reality, escaping to a world where everyone tries hard, is honest and wins "The Right Way."
Personal thoughts aside, I bet Gay will make a terrific fit for some NBA team. Like the Knicks. Cheap shot, I know. If he ends up playing for the Lakers, I might react differently and ignore everything I just said.
Not trying to generalize, but the tagline of the movie really does say a lot about Rudy's-at least these two: "When people say dreams don't come true, tell them about Rudy." We certainly will.
For the past two months, I've been regretting the decision I made last December. Here I come, hat in hand, crawling back to the Lakers. If you don't remember, in early December I proclaimed the life-long relationship between the Lakers and I was over in a post called "A Fan Breaks Up". I wanted out of my Sports relationship with the boys in purple and gold.
At the time, I gave a great big list of reasons why I was willing to part with them-why the team wasn't mine anymore; despite the fact I'd been a Lakers fan since the days of Magic, Worthy, Kareem, Kurt Rambis and Byron Scott.
Was Kobe eroding my sense of team? Absolutely-I was at my wits end. But isn't that the case throughout the NBA? Is Allen Iverson the true essence of team basketball? Or Kevin Garnett? How about Vince Carter? Better yet, does the NBA even have 'the true essence of team basketball' left? Maybe you could point to the Pistons, the Spurs and the Suns.
Twenty years ago, all the great teams were built around players that had superstars that played multiple facets of the game well. And then you had your role players-like Kurt Rambis, who filled the "Dirty White Forward Thug Enforcer" role brilliantly.
Now, it's like NBA teams are built on a one-dimensional or two-dimensional superstar and a bunch of role guys. So when I look at what the Lakers have become, my team isn't much different than about 90% of the league.
In December, I proclaimed I wanted to see them share the ball more like the Showtime Lakers did. Again, who am I kidding-that's not happening in many places in the NBA today. I should just embrace my inner Y-league gunner and love the current version of the Lakers for who they are.
Was Mitch Kupchek's Isiah-like GM prowess driving me mad and destroying my favorite team? Certainly. His draft abilities are worse than Rob Babcock. Let's just say that Kupchek's the kind of guy who can't make a decision on paper or plastic, let alone which players to target in the free agency market. For goodness sakes, he nearly lost Kobe to the Clippers, back when they were still the Clippers in 2004.
The "support" staff for Kobe is going to make Bryant take a long walk off a short pier. Seriously, these guys are worse than The Replacements, yet they manage to win more than 50% of the time-which is a small miracle.
Maybe my problem and anger wasn't necessarily at Kupchek; perhaps I'm lashing out because I believe there is no risk in these GM's making bad business decisions-Kupchek will have this job until he leaves or really, REALLY screws up. Two years later, he'll be hired in another city and will fondly be remembered as the architect of this team. Teams somehow forget all the previous bad decisions and less than mediocre management that is the true backbone of their resumes.
GM's and coaches are recycled more than a milk carton-or a Marissa-Ryan break-up on The O.C.
So as disheartened as I was at the Lakers, the management and the direction of the team, I broke a cardinal rule-I turned my back on them when times were lean. I'm ashamed of myself, I've never done it before, and how could I do it now?
To get back in good graces and earn my penance, I'm confessing this Sports sin.
Look at it this way: having the gumption to stay loyal to your team is like a parent loving their child when they do something wrong. The key to any Sports relationship is loyalty. I forgot that; I ignored it as I was berating the Lakers over four months ago.
I'm keenly aware that Sports loyalty is largely a one way street. Owners change, players leave, arenas and stadiums don't last forever-sometimes as fans, we're pretty cruel as well. But sometimes, in some seasons, all we have are our jerseys, our hats, our memories. For some teams and franchises, that's all they've had for their whole existence-so what am I complaining about, I should be proud that the Lakers were handed down to me.
Leaving the Lakers isn't right-I'm just as guilty as anyone for "breaking-up" with my team because I didn't like the way they played, who was on the roster or who was pulling the strings. It's like leaving a girl because she cuts her hair, starts dressing differently and begins listening to classical music. Still the same girl--a little different, but still the same.
Just because my team changed their make-up, their uniforms and their style from what I like the most about them, doesn't really give me an excuse to bail on 'em.
So, forgive me, Lakers. I'm coming home-and I'll never leave again.
With all that's going on in the Sports world, like Dick Cheney "gunning" down Jose Vidro at second base from the first base line yesterday, we're always looking for a little bit of good news.
I can't find it in the NBA today-where I'm disturbed by Kevin Garnett's unwillingness to play or travel with his team due to tendonitis in his right knee, which is nothing more than a cover story.
Remember Cal Ripken's Iron Man streak, the record of consecutive games played (previously held by Lou Gehrig) that he shattered in 1995 and added the total to almost insurmountable proportions before taking a day off and finally retiring after the 2001 season?
How many of those seasons that the streak encompassed were losing seasons? After looking into it, there were plenty. In 1988, the O's went 54-107. In '91 Baltimore was 67-95, the '98 team went 79-93 and '99 wasn't much better at 78-94. The one constant was franchise player Cal Ripken, who gutted out every game in every season.
Why do I bring this up? Because the exact opposite is going on with Kevin Garnett in Minnesota.
Granted, I know it's hard to compare athletes from different sports, but in this case, there is some kind of parallel.
In case you don't know, Kevin Garnett's been sitting out of Timberwolves games since Sunday, due to apparently knee tendonitis. He had played 351 regular season games in a row, the NBA leader in that category.
Maybe he's really hurt-and that makes me look like a fool-but how bad is it? Would he take off and skip the final week of the season if the Wolves were in a race for the Western Conference eight spot? During his consecutive games streak, which dates back to February of 2001, the Wolves were always in the playoffs or the playoff chase.
This season, the T-wolves sit at 32-46 and are lottery bound (unless they were in the east, were they'd be fighting for home playoff series this week).
Garnett seems to do better when there is a sidekick, like Stephon Marbury, Latrell Spreewell or Sam Cassell. But judging by his play and his stats, was he really the leader of those teams, or were they? For example, he's only 5-for-20 in game-winning shots since the 2003-2004 season. And he was once ranked at the top in player combos in the league, but is it because he had better team mates then or worse team mates now, making him look both better and worse than he is?
Where's the pride though? Why doesn't he play out the season? If he's earning the paycheck-don't they call him the Big Ticket-then he ought to be. He's mailing in the season without even being on the court to mail it.
Garnett's not even made the trip with the team on their three game road swing before the two game home stand to end the season-can't KG at least attend the games in NBA-approved dress clothes? Or is he busily rehabbing the knee in order to play the last couple games of the season?
Why do I want to know and why do I care? Because, I think we've heard a lot from Garnett about being a franchise player, and this isn't something a franchise player should do. I think we've heard a lot from the league and KG apologists who defend him so readily.
It's not that he should be forced to play through the pain-it's that he should want to, as a franchise player. Didn't Larry Bird do that? Throwing himself into every rebound and loose ball as if the NBA Championship was always on the line? Didn't Isiah Thomas play on that sprained ankle against the Lakers in '88? Wasn't he probably sick and tired of losing to the Lakers in the playoffs every year? (One more question: isn't it amazing that's the same Isiah Thomas that's in New York now. It's like the transformation of Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars Episode III.
If Garnett is troubled by this injury so bad, I certainly hope he's getting the rehab at home that he needs.
But ask me if I believe it, completely, then let me put it this way: Garnett's basically Elton asking to go to the nurse in Clueless. The Wolves need him back next year to underperform his contract and help them lose in the first few rounds of the playoffs. He's a key ingredient and he needs to rest up for that.
KG has always said he was "The Man", "The Big Ticket" and "The Kid"-the cornerstone of the Minnesota franchise. Isn't it time he proved it?
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Now Johnson's certainly a Hall of Famer. His career has been impressive throughout, what with 263 wins, both a no-hitter and a perfect game, 4,313 strikeouts (3rd best ever), an incredible 11.12 strikeout-per-nine-innings ratio (1st all-time), 10 All-Star appearances and a World Series win with Arizona in 2001, along with a host of other awards.
I'm not debating his legendary status or his Hall of Fame credentials. I'm not debating the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry and how many championships each has. What I'm talking about is the present and the future. What I'm saying is Johnson's career is closing in on him. What I'm saying is this: you can't hide it anymore, Randy Johnson is no longer an ace-and the Yankees are in trouble.
For years, teams and fans have been jealous of the Yankees and their ability to go out and sign the expensive players. Funny thing is, they didn't start really doing that full-fledged until early this decade. Most of their talent came through the system and was supplemented year after year by a couple big name free agents.
About a month after the Red Sox heartbreaking loss to the Yankees in the '03 ALCS, I made a prediction to my dad: that one day, the Yankees would run out of something. Money, talent, time, trades, options-something. Well, it's finally happening.
They've got hardly any talent left in the minors. You can only trade so many young talented prospects away before the cupboard's bare. And the few that New York does have left have already been called up and are playing, like Robinson Cano and Bubba Crosby.
They're running out of time-Torre, Steinbrenner and Cashman aren't getting any younger (nor are any of the players)-or any less annoyed with one another.
They've got no one they can trade with. Think about it-there are few, if any, teams out there willing to take on the big contracts that the Yankees are saddled with from some of their expendable/trade-able players.
Worst yet (or best yet, as I see it), the Yankees are struggling now. An early 3.5 games back of Boston-and at the bottom of the AL East, if it weren't for a three game home sweep of the lowly Royals, the Yankees would be sitting at somewhere in the neighborhood of 4-9.
Sure, they're going to overpower teams and win a bunch of games scoring 10-12 runs-they're line-up has more All-Stars than an actual All-Star roster with A-Rod, Jeter, Damon, Giambi, Sheffield, Matsui and Williams. It looks like what you get right after buying MVP Baseball and then trading for all the superstars you want at the start of your dynasty's 1st season.
It's the pitching that's going to be their downfall. Start with Johnson, who in four starts has pitched the most innings of anyone on the team-at age 42. Johnson has the most strikeouts, but he's also given up the most hits, the most home runs and the most runs per game.
It doesn't get much better-Mike Mussina, Jaret Wright and Chien-Ming Wang are struggling, while Carl Pavano's butt still hurts from riding so much pine from spending two seasons on the DL.
It makes you wonder: are the Yankees actually one of the worst front offices in all of baseball?
Meanwhile, the Red Sox are starting the season by making themselves look like Theo Epstein is the baseball equivalent of Ken Jennings-in other words, really, really good at his job.
Over the past couple years, while the Yankees have Pavano doing nothing and collecting $9.7 million a season, Johnson picking up $16 million a season and Mussina for a cool $19.6 million last year, the Red Sox have picked up Schilling-who helped deliver their World Series, nabbed the young Josh Beckett and have generally overhauled their World Series roster-mixing veteran stars like Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz with young talent like Coco Crisp, Jonathan Papelbon, Mark Loretta and Kevin Youkilis (who I used to refer to as You-Kill-Us, I admit).
And here's what's strange about it all: Boston and New York have switched roles. Boston's done with chasing the championship for one season-they're now about staying in contention for a long time, while the Yankees appear to be going after just one more title for the Old Man.
This build-up of money, pressure and talented superstars in New York has to take its toll eventually. It already is, in a way. While Red Sox fans won't care that we lost Pedro, Damon, D-Lowe and Arroyo if it means we're in contention for the next 5-7 years.
I changed my mind-I'm going to give my dad a call.
