When hockey came back and had a salary cap this year, no team thought it had improved more than the Pittsburgh Penguins. In the prior season they had a crappy team and crappy players. This season they acquired the following players, Mark Recchi, John Leclair, Sergei Gonchar, Jocelyn Thibault, Ziggy Palfy, and Sydney Crosbey. "This team could make a run at the Stanley Cup" people around here thought. "How can they lose with all this talent?" Well let me tell you, they've found a way (and boy howdy did they ever), and I for one wasn't surprised

If you've ever done the franchise mode in the Madden football games you know that if you sign a bunch of good free agents your team will invariabley get better. This is not applicable in real life sports however, although you'd be hard pressed to convince certain pro GMs it seems. That goes for all sports, not just football.

Remember in 2000 when the Redskins signed Bruce Smith, Deion Sanders, and Jeff George among others, and also had 2 of the top 3 choices in the NFL draft? This was added to a team that made the 2^nd round of the playoffs the previous season, and they were the sexy pick to win the Super Bowl. Well, you know the rest, 8-8 season, no playoffs.

Remember in 2003 when the recent 3 time champion Lakers signed Karl Malone and Gary Payton? Again people were ready to crown them champs before the season started. They did make it to the Finals, but really had no business making it that far, and were pretty much run out of the building by the Pistons.

The New York Rangers ruined the NHL by signing an all-star team with gigantic contracts that no other teams besides Detroit and a few others could match. Of course they didn't make the playoffs for I believe 8 straight seasons while doing so, which makes the whole thing look even stupider.

The Baltimore Ravens started this season with 5 guys in their secondary alone who have made the Pro-Bowl at some point (including Deion Sanders, again) and for the last 2 years have been deemed the off-season "winners" by the prognosticators. They are currently 4-9 and tied for last in the AFC North.

The Miami Heat, who couldn't leave well enough alone this season after their long playoff run last summer, signed Jason Williams, Antoine Walker, and Gary Payton (second mention of him, doesn't anyone pay attention?). They are in first place, but they will not go far in the playoffs if all stays the same

Even the Yankees have had no success since 2001, when they began giving out giant contracts to the top free agents. Before 2001 they were a good mix of homegrown talent, middle of the road free agents, and high priced starters. Now everyone's high priced and they can't make it past the 1^st round of the playoffs.

The odd thing is, when teams with many all-stars are formed through drafting and good trades it seems to work 1000 times better than signing all-star free agents, even though you would think you'd end up at the same point. Why is this the case? Who knows? From what I've seen it has most to do with dueling egos, bad chemistry, and maybe even just thinking "Man we're so good I don't have to try my best". All I know is next time your favorite team adds a bunch of high priced talent, don't start the parade just yet.