I love it when people say there's a controversy as to whether there should be playoffs in college football.  I say that because if there were playoffs in college football, there wouldn't be any "controversy."  I don't believe we'd have any nostalgics out there craving for the days when computers chose champions.  What this so-called "controversy" reminds me of are those "right track/wrong track" polls for the country and one always wonders who those eight percent nuts are out there who say that everything is on the right track and they're probably the same people who love the BCS to boot.

Those 8%ers will wax poetic about the tradition of the Bowls, you know those time hearlded classics such as the Motor City Bowl, or the Outback Bowl.  They'll say that the regular season in college football is made much more meaningful, except that I'll counter that argument by saying if you define a successful season as being in the running for a National Championship, chances are if you're a one loss team you need help and two losses well forget about it.  Now that's not to diminish a season that culminates in a BCS Bowl victory, much like a team that reaches the Sweet 16 or Final Four in NCAA basketball, again its how one defines success. 

Another point to be made about the regular season's importance premise, is that in college basketball one will be inevitably be hooked on one's team right up through conference tournaments and hanging on right up to selection Sunday to see whether their team can run the table or stay on the bubble.  A late season rivalry game between Duke and North Carolina could decide seeding and region, while this season's rivarly game between Ohio State and Michigan is rendered virtually meaningless aside from pride and bragging rights.

While I applaud the idea of having the supposed best team, undefeated team winning it all just like baseball used to do, unlike baseball there's just too much judging and biases and formulas and computers when the games should ultimately be decided on the field.  Besides their big brother the NFL has pairity and is the most popular sport in the country.  And as one SI writer opined on FanNation, the undefeated team as it turned out was not the best team after all.

Apparently that brand new HD scoreboard in Kansas City didn't come with a quality drainage system, though the Yankees bats seemed to go right down it on Wednesday night.  If we're going to have a Northeast team that can't hit in the cold weather, be it April or October, perhaps they may want to add a retractable roof on the new digs across the street.

Honestly though in all fairness, this was a game that only "Mr. Slip 'n Slide" former catcher Rick Dempsey could love.  No there weren't any "Lake Erie Midges" out there this time, though there may have been termites.

While I understand it is early and some guys are hitting .700, I still can't understand how Jason Giambi is batting .056, Robinson Cano .194 and Johnny Damon .212.  And before everyone jumps on me about there being no such thing as "clutch hitting," there is such a thing as timely hitting and this group leaves a lot of people on base, 14 to be exact, scoring no runs against the Kansas City Royals! 

Way to go Brian Cashman!  A-Rod's not going to duplicate last year's totals, nor is Posada who is a year older.  And then you are naieve enough to think that Jason Giambi is going to play first and be productive for 130-140 games a whole year older?  Thus with no power in center or at first you neglect to sign either Torii Hunter or Aaron Rowand?  Having Cabrera-Hunter/Rowand-Abreu in the outfield seems like a much more solid configuration to me!

And oh what you couldn't afford these guys or decided not to sign off on a Johan Santana deal because of lack of "payroll flexibility."  And yet YOU sir signed our vaunted Triple-A "ace" Kei Igawa for $46 million and gave A-Rod a "hardball offer" of $300 million (yeah you guys really show him huh?) and somehow with the four-million plus migrating to the final year of Yankee Stadium and the flood rush of revenue coming in next year from the new ball park, you were having issues with "payroll flexibility?"  OH COME ON PALLY!

To be fair for the record I was for getting Santana, but not for getting ripped off by the Twins in order to get him, just as they were by the Mets.  But really YOUR "genious" robbed us of another year from Bernie Williams, because you said Jason Giambi couldn't play first base a year ago and so you decided to give him the boot, sign Josh Phelps who didn't even last through June and Doug Mientkiewicz who is now history.  And yet now again Giambi is somehow capable of playing first and you have no true defensive first baseman off the bench.  Oh and the Yankees could've used Bernie off the bench to DH when Giambi was hobbling around last October in the playoff and Matsui was having knee issues hitting into double-plays!

Bomber Bites: Can't say I blame manager Joe Girardi too much on his pitching strategy, except for when it comes to using another brilliant Brian Cashman signing, Kyle Farnsworthless.  FARNSWORTHLESS SHOULD NEVER EVER EVER BE USED AGAIN PERIOD!

While Girardi said he was sure he could straighten out his old battery mate from Chicago, its too bad he couldn't coax Cashman into bringing back another one of his old Cubbie teammates, Jon Lieber.  Lieber who pitched pretty decent with the Yankees in 2004, is the long-man/spot-starter for the Cubs this year (something the Yankees don't have) and is 1-1 with a 0.00 ERA pitching in two games striking out three in five innings of work.

The Yankees had won two in a row with Giambi out of the lineup, they've lost two in a row since his return.  Well ain't that a co'inkie'dink!

Mr. Matsui, Johnny Gomes and Ross Gload thank you for contributing to their hit totals on this young season.  I guess it always was King Kong who was more prone to scaling large buildings than Godzilla.

Memo to Cashman, I applaud your willingness to cultivate the farm system, but I'm starting to believe that the Yankees need their own version of the "football Giants" Jerry Reese. 

For the first time since October 4, 1995, (Game 2 of the ALDS to be exact) a Yankee manager not named Joe Torre led the Bronx Bombers to a victory.  That man was Buck Showalter and just as Buck had a young up and coming star centerfielder in Bernie Williams, so too does the Yanks new skipper Joe Girardi in Melky Cabrera.

And as we embark on a change from this Yankee Stadium to a "new Yankee Stadium" it is evidently clear that change is a good thing (and no I'm not an Obama supporter).  That change in philosophy, brought on by Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman should put the minds of Yankee fans at ease.  When we wonder if we'll ever see the next "Bernie Baseball" we get a young switch hitting kid with speed and a rocket arm, making diving grabs and catches up against the wall with a new confidence and swagger.  That confidence with a little help from the "Ghosts" hanging out on the Bambino's short porch, allowed Melky to take Toronto ace Roy Halladay deep.

Yes it is that same peace of mind we get as fans as we once pondered if we'd ever get an "Andy Pettitte type" pitcher out of the allegedly dry farm system until it produced Chien-Ming Wang.  Like Pettitte, Wang isn't flashy, but he's a workhorse and all the guy does is win and give the team an opportunity to win.

And it is that same pitching first philosophy on the farm which has given us a glimpse of hope that we may have the next Mariano Rivera in Joba Chamberlain.

Folks, Opening Night 2008 was certainly "night and day" in scope from Opening Day 2007.  Wang was on the hill, not Carl Pavano, Cabrera was in center, not Johnny Damon, in the 8th inning Chamberlain was on the mound, not Kyle Farnsworth and at first base it was Giambi, not Josh Phelps.

I know it's only the first game and that Melky is projected to hit 80 homers and Wang to win 30 games and the Yankees to go 162-0, but one can't help but notice the drastic change in preparedness in this ball club.  This team just looks primed, ready and in shape to win.  A lot of that credit goes to manager Joe Girardi

Change is good for these Yankees, especially if the "winning" refrain remains the same.

Bomber Bites: A-Rod looks very comfortable and motivated this season already.  It is obvious that he has taken to New York and the feeling is mutual.  The reassurance that he'll be a Yankee for life, makes him an even more likeable figure in the Bronx.

Anyone else thankful that Melky was doing that in our yard and not in the Metrodome?  Well that and thankful that one is allowed to appeal Spring Training suspensions.

Robbie Cano, slowly but surely creeping up to 6th in the batting order.

Jason Giambi flashes the leather.  Donnie Baseball left the building and apparently left his glove.  Well at least Giambi has a glove, unlike that Shreck character up in Boston.

And finally, though Jonathan Papelbon may be in his prime and the premiere closer over the length of the season in the American League, there's no question in my mind that when it comes down to getting one batter out with the game on the line I'm taking Mariano Rivera every time, hands down.

     The Boston Celtics are the most storied gloried franchise in the history of professional basketball.  Winners of a record 16 NBA titles with 29 Hall of Famers, the Celtics mystique and tradition in recent times has gone the way of the old Boston Garden and its parquet floor.

     The decline of the Celtics has seemingly coincided with that of the NBA.  Some might say that Red Auerbach got off easy and you can sure as hell bet he's rolling in his grave all the way to China. Sure they won a division title two years ago, but anyone attune to NBA history knows that a team with a tradition from Bill Russell and Bob Cousy to John Havlicek to Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish, division title doesn’t cut it.

     Of course every team goes through their dry spells, until you notice that since the last Celtics won a title in 1986, the Red Sox have won a World Series and the Patriots have won 3 Super Bowls.  In fact the only team in Beantown saving the Celtics from complete embarrassment is the Bruins, because let’s face it misery loves company. 

     The decline all started back in 1987 when a young superstar named Len Bias, an All-American out of Maryland whom the Celtics chose with the 2nd pick overall, died of a cocaine overdose before he would ever lace ‘em up for Boston. 

     Then the team continued to get older, Dennis Johnson retired, Danny Ainge was traded for the immortal Joe Kline, Larry Bird’s back and Kevin McHale’s knees were shot and Robert Parish couldn’t log the minutes of a starting center anymore. 

     Perhaps the biggest blow to the team was the death of their leading scorer all-star forward Reggie Lewis in 1993.  When practicing in the off-season Lewis collapsed and subsequently of cardiac arrest. 

     After many ensuing losing seasons, the Celtics could not even rely on the luck of the lottery balls to turn themselves around.  After going 15-67 during the 1996-97 season the one silver lining was that Tim Duncan was going to be the number one overall pick.  The San Antonio Spurs inexplicably won the lottery and the rest as they say is history.

     During this time the rival Los Angeles Lakers had fallen apart as well after the Magic Johnson era was over.  However as the Lakers started to rebound with Shaq and Kobe, the Celtics continued to stumble over their own feet making poor coaching hires in M.L. Carr and Rick Pitino as well as poor draft choices.  Even when they hit on an occasional good pick like Chauncey Billups and Joe Johnson, the organization would become impatient and trade them away for journeyman vets.   

     Recently the Celtics have gotten back to some semblance of respectability reaching the playoffs the last 4 seasons in a row.  Paul Pierce has become a huge part in that revival as the face of the franchise and the teams’ lone all-star.  However during this time the Celts have been unable to find another star to compliment Pierce in order to put them over the top.  Thus this season has become the start of another re-building era.

     Granted the Celtics have some promising young players in Al Jefferson, Delonte West, Gerald Green and Ryan Gomes but it appears that a championship team is still light years away. 

     Perhaps what is ailing the Celtics is that they need another Larry Bird just like the NBA needs another Michael Jordan, because neither has been the same since.  What Boston, a city that has had a contentious relationship with its own black athletes in the past including even amazingly Bill Russell, needs a young star black superstar like LeBron James or Kevin Garnett to sign with them.  Much in the way that Reggie White broke the stereotype in the early 1990’s that superstar black athletes didn’t want to play in Green Bay when he signed with the Packers and ended up winning a Super Bowl, restoring that franchise back to its past glory. 

     Like Charles Barkley said on TNT during the NBA all-star weekend last year, the NBA sorely needs the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks to be elite playoff caliber teams.  Barkley is absolutely right, I say forget competitive balance.  New York and Boston making the playoffs virtually every year works for baseball and last time I checked St. Louis and Detroit were playing in the World Series, so you can have your cake and eat it too.

     It would also help if big market franchises with storied traditions had winning records, such as the Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago Bulls and Philadelphia 76ers.  You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t exactly care for parity in the NBA and think that they including the other 3 major pro sports leagues could use some contraction. 

     Imagine how much more enticing the league would be with Shaq in New York, KG in Chicago, LeBron in Boston and Duncan in Los Angeles.  Talk about some star studded teams and rivalries to boot, which would really add some much-needed juice to the league. 

     A giant step toward a great revival for the NBA is to have your most historic cornerstone franchises return to a level of greatness.  One that seemingly starts with restoring Celtic Pride in Boston.