In 1997 I had just turned 15 years old, and like any kid with a passion for the game of baseball I thought I knew enough.  Not everything, just enough.  Like any walk of life you find out that when you get older you grow wiser and I found out I was just a kid with a lot of heart - but I didn't know enough.  Otherwise I would have given this baseball manager the benefit of the doubt when he was fired that very same year. 

11 years rolled by and not a single team lined up to hire a two-time World Series championship coach.  He wasn't first on anyone's list.  However, teams lined up to hire never-will-be's like Davey Lopez, Phil Garner, Gene Lamont or Don Baylor.  I could have put together a list of coaches who's records were better than the names mentioned above and they still would not have the resume this man had/has.  Aside from current coaches like Joe Torre, Tony LaRussa and Terry Francona, not one has as many or more championships as this man.  Not Lou Pinella, not Jim Leyland and not Bobby Cox.  In fact, this guy was this year's desperate hire to save the General Manager's job and it looks like he has done just that.

That man is Cito Gaston, the first - and only - black manager to win a World Series.  Not that race even matters in this case because winning a championship is a difficult task.  Ask Cox or Mike Hargrove.

Cito Gaston was not only a sentimental choice in Toronto but a man who's track record deserved more than just minor consideration for a Manager's job.  Granted, he was holding out for the right position and when you do that it cuts your possibilities down, but how does he get passed over?  How does Cleveland not hire him after Hargrove?  What about Seattle after Pinella left?  Boston after Jimy Williams?  The Dodgers after, well, anyone?  Marquee places where Gaston wouldn't be given a fair shake.  The closest he got was the White Sox who hired Ozzie Guillen, who won a World Series himself.  If that title was Cito's we'd be talking about a potential Hall of Fame manager along with about 10 shame-on-you articles from Fox and ESPN asking how he didn't get his shot sooner.     

His hiring was out of desperation from a General Manager who's held his position 2 years too long and knew the city of Toronto would love him for it.  J.P. Ricciardi has saved his job for another year, and if Toronto somehow (and I mean, SOMEHOW) makes the post-season in 2009, Ricciardi will keep his job for another 2 years and will continue to poorly assess talent and damage the farm system.

Take Adam Lind for example; Cito not only wanted him up with the big club, he promised he would play.  Lind has responded since going 1 for a million in his first stint this season.  This is a guy who's a 2-time minor league player of the year and the best prospect in the Blue Jays system for years.  While he was tearing up the leagues, J.P. refused to bring him up (the last time a guy under 23 has stuck with Toronto was Alex Gonzalez - well before the Riccardi regime.  Imagine how he would have held back A-Rod or Pujols if he had them).  He didn't feel Lind was ready, otherwise he would have said bye to Matt Stairs in the off-season and not sign Shannon Stewart after cutting the hard-nosed Reed Johnson due to being over-budget.  Cito wanted Lind, and he has been the MVP of the Blue Jays over the last 3 months. Not bad considering the GM wanted him to linger in the minors this season.  He hit .273 in the second half last season - he was ready this year and many people in Toronto knew it.

Not a bad call by Cito considering his one knock over a decade ago was how he handled the younger players.  Perhaps he could be guilty of loyalty to his veterans like Joe Carter, a Jays icon who only hit one of the biggest homerun in baseball history.  Cito was a players manager who was very loyal to his guys.  We've seen numerous managers do the same thing with little success.  But I bet those managers don't have fans purchasing their replica jersey the way Toronto has with Gaston.  Already I have see 4 Gaston jerseys being worn around town.  That is how much the city loves Cito.

Although he won't win the Manager of the year award, he has taken overrated talent (which means lack of talent) and has gotten the most out of it.  He's had his #2 and #3 pitchers out (Shaun Marcum and Dustin McGowan - Marcum has returned), his starting second baseman (Aaron Hill) and his star Centerfielder out (Vernon Wells - returned last week).  Yet the team now sits 1 game behind the New York Yankees, who have much more talent than Toronto.  The award should go to either Joe Maddon of Tampa or Mike Scoscia of L.A., but the job Cito has done with this team has been outstanding. 

It should be noted that neither 1992 or 1993 World Series was a lock for Toronto and nobody should look at those years and think any less of the job Cito did.  He won 4 division titles in 5 years and the two years they did not get to the World Series (1989 and 1991) they may not have been the most talented team in the old AL East.  Cito should be remembered at the manager who was ahead of his team, and got the job done when several other managers who've had a lot of talent could not close the deal.  It is a constant reminder that no sport, let alone baseball, should ever pass over a proven winner and 2-time champion the way teams in Major League Baseball passed over Cito Gaston - especially being replaced by a con artist in Tim Johnson.

And I apologize for wanting him out as Manager in the first place.  I guess 15 year olds don't know better. 

I thought I would never talk about the WNBA in any blog I would ever write in my lifetime.  It shows that I should never say never, and that the reason I wouldn't touch that topic is that I don't get ESPN 2 in Canada.  Unless the WNBA is carried by an ABC or FOX or CBS, I'll never get to watch the WNBA.  Needless to say, my knowledge of the game is weak.

However, I have watched WNBA games and it has been rough for the most part - and I only mean the execution rather than physical play.  But the LA Sparks and Detroit Shock (shocked that I knew?) had a brawl that has captured the attention of sports fans across the continent.  Lisa Leslie, a star WNBA player as well as a mom and a player who was involved in the brawl, handled herself so well that I had to write about this.  What she said was this incident will bring more attention to their league and it's not the way they wanted to do it.  I agree that she didn't want the attention to happen like this, but she's got to be somewhat happy that the league that she has worked so hard to help build has become significant for at least a few seconds.  I bet that the other side story to this matchup that people care about is Michael Cooper v. Bill Laimbeer - two former rivals from a long time ago who happen to coach women for a living.  Aside from them, do you have any connection with the WNBA?  I know Candace Parker is related to Toronto Raptor Anthony Parker.  So this brawl hasn't hurt the league thanks to all the exposure and attention it has gotten.  All you have to do is check Youtube for further evidence.

One guy who might get hurt is Rick Mahorn, who pushed the biggest star down to the ground (Leslie).  People can talk about how he was trying to break the fight up, but if you check out the different camera angles you will see he just pushed her down - accidentally or not.  For those of you who don't know who Rick Mahorn is, he was a former Detroit Piston that everyone talks highly about because he was part of 2 championships when in reality he just happened to be at the right place at the right time (yes, that was me deflating Mahorn as a player). 

And Leslie handled herself well.  Would you hear an NBA player talk about how he is a father who wants to set a great example?  Say what you want about the league, about Leslie or otherwise, she proved that perhaps there is a sports league that has a few classy athletes.  Although that doesn't help as it comes on the heels of a brawl that has put their league on the map for the time being.  I would watch the NBA over the WNBA 100% of the time but I now find myself respecting the league after this incident.  Strange...

OTHER STUFF:

- I got to attend the Rogers Tennis tournament in Toronto and stood about 10 feet away from Roger Federer during warm-up.  I have never seen a bigger crowd around a practice court than I did on Monday when Federer was preparing for his doubles match.  He was bounced from the tourney on Wednesday but I bet he could use the relaxation time to get re-vamped for another US Open run.

Side note: Apparently, Andy Roddick's family kicked people out of their row that was not cheering for Andy.  They were in a seating area that was for general admission.  I guess we know where he gets his insecurities from.  I got this from some ladies who sat close to the family.

- Brett Favre might want to use a pay phone and call collect rather than use his team phone.  Although the Minnesota Vikings should know better and deserve to be punished for going against NFL rules, does Brett ever think about anyone but himself?  I guess he wants everyone to bow down or bend over backwards for him.  Sad.

- The AL Central is showing how overrated their division is.  The Chicago White Sox are well below .500 against the AL East, at .500 against the AL West while their record has been padded by their play within their division as well as their weak NL opponents.  Minnesota is worse as they can't beat the East or West.  Detroit cannot win in the central, but that will change over the next couple of months as they continue to make their charge towards first place in that overblown division.  The AL East has and will continue to be baseball's strongest division.

- Dear Lebron, don't tell me, show me...

I can't believe July is almost over!

On April 25th 2006, Frank Thomas was batting .162.  He went on to hit .270 with 39 homeruns, 114 RBI's and was 4th in MVP voting while helping the Oakland A's get to the ALCS. 

On April 21, 2007, Frank Thomas was batting .197.  He went on to hit .277 with 26 homeruns and 95 RBI's, leading the team in both power categories.

Earlier today, the Toronto Blue Jays announced they released the future Hall of Famer after they said Thomas would see his playing time reduced.  This marks the second starting player to be released by the Blue Jays in a matter of weeks.  The other was Reed Johnson. 

For a team that ranks 4th last in the AL in homeruns, this move makes no sense.  The move also does not justify how a team would quit on the player who led their team in homeruns and RBI's the previous year.  It also makes you wonder why the team decided to announce Thomas' reduced playing time, yet continue to play Marco Scutaro everyday when he's batting .188 with 0 homeruns and 4 RBI's.  Unlike The Big Hurt, Scutaro does not have the track record of being a feared player offensively or defensively. 

Although the Blue Jays claim Thomas' reduced playing time was not about money, the real reason was money.  The release of Reed Johnson allowed the team to save over 2 million dollars in a cost-cutting move.  The team led people to believe Reed was not ready to play due to his previous back problems.  Reed sits with a .354 batting average for the 1st place Chicago Cubs and is becoming a fan-favorite in Chicago for his hustle, hard-work and ability to play all 3 outfield positions - the same way he was beloved in Toronto. 

What is also disheartening about this situation is how Thomas got to where he is now from 3 short years ago.  The consensus around baseball was that Thomas' injuries were too much to overcome and his career was deemed to be over.  He threw out the first pitch at Cellular Field in the 2005 World Series - which was won by the team he starred on for over a decade.  They won the title without the face of the franchise.  Then he gets one last opportunity to play when Oakland knocks on his door.  By mid-May the Athletics could have released him and nobody looking from the outside would have disagreed with the decision.  But they stuck with the man, and he delivered in a way none of us could have dreamed. 

In fact, someone asked me in May of 2006 if Frank was finished and I boldly said, "No, he's a hot streak away from having respectable numbers.  He has done this during his injury-riddled years." 

Frank proved me right, and without him Oakland would not have reached the playoffs.  He proved all his critics wrong and he showed that not only could he still perform, but that he also had a heart of a lion.  Although Toronto has lost sight of this.

You would think people would learn their lesson about doubting a man who has proved people wrong over and over again.  There is a very good chance that, if given the opportunity, he will turn it on again and prove Toronto wrong for letting him go.  Perhaps a team like Minnesota takes a chance on Frank the Tank and helps the team he use to destroy when he was in a White Sox uniform.  Or perhaps Frank realizes that he has nothing left to prove (which he has proved to be one of the greatest hitters of our generation), retires and begins working on his Hall of Fame speech early.  Regardless, he is a legend who deserved a better sendoff than this.

This should also stand as a wake-up call to Toronto Blue Jays fans and baseball fans in general that the Blue Jays organization needs a significant shake-up, starting from the top all the way down.   

It was an interesting scene in Toronto tonight as I arrived to the Air Canada Centre just an hour after news broke of the big trade between the Los Angeles Lakers and Memphis Grizzlies.  Over the last couple seasons we have waited to see if the Lake-show could pull the trigger on a deal - or if they had the players to deal for an impact player.

With Kwame Brown's contract about to expire and Memphis's intent to rebuild it made sense to make a deal.  Memphis grabs a young kid, a relatively young guy in Brown and 2 draft picks that need lots of prayer to become impactful.  This allows the Grizz to start over amd they will have some cash to show for it.

The Lakers grab a guy who can make an immediate impact.  This move allows them some breathing room as Andrew Bynum recovers from injury, and it gives them a blanket if Bynum does not return to form.  If he does return to form it allows Lamar Odom to slide to the small forward position while Pau plays the 4.  And, it gives them a deeper bench when Luke Walton slides beside some of the other contributors like Ronny Turiaf and Jordan Farmar.

This is a win-win for both teams without a doubt.  The need to crash the boards is imperative in the West and Los Angeles has more weapons than they know what to do with.  I should know; I watched a depleted Laker team roll over the Toronto Raptors.  Kobe Bryant was on tonight and unlike last night he got some help offensively.  Tonight's game proved that Toronto may be able to score but can't hold it together defensively on a consistent basis.  But with L.A. playing their 2nd game in as many nights they should have been stronger out of the gate.  Lakers got momentum and never looked back.

Last point on the Lakers: Prior to this deal I was still not on-board with putting them into the serious contender category despite their strong record.  Now, my view has changed.  They are absolutely a team that should be a factor in April.  This is a team built to go past round 1.  If they don't there is a problem.  They now have a great starting 5 (with Bynum back) and the forward position was a bigger need than point guard.  Derek Fisher can run the show because he won't try to do too much.  He knows the offense, he knows his limitations, he can still hit shots and knows how to play in big games.  Specifically speaking, Paul Gasol is a better acquisition than Jason Kidd.

Other stuff....

- I just realized Fox used the "Pau-er" line.  I'm pissed.

- After his 13.5 million is up in 2008, Johan Santana will pull in 137.5 million over 6 years.  That is phenomenal.  Hope the kid can hit.

All seriousness, the guy is one of the best pitchers in baseball and barring any setback or injury he should contend for a Cy Young.  Being able to avoid a big bopping DH and getting the opportunity to face pitchers with 1 or 2 out and runners on base will pay off for Johan.  It is a different ballgame with different scenarios when you play in the National League in comparison to the American League.

As for the contract itself, a lot of bad pitchers get paid a ton, so this is not a surprise and not out of this world in comparison to the #3 pitchers who make 8 figures per year.

- When Bill Belichick says his team is "ready to roll", I tend to believe him.  Some may feel the New York Giants can beat New England and they may be right, but I don't see it.  Yes, they played the Pats tight IN New York IN the cold IN front of their hometown.  In Arizona it will be warm and it is a neutral site.  The way I see it, the conditions favour the New England passing attack.  Passes that went through the hands of receivers will be easier to catch, and nobody is as accurate or precise as Tom Brady - even if he is disrupted in the pocket.

The real question should be if Eli Manning can continue his excellent play.  In my mind, he's grown as a player over the last month or so.  And he should be proud of the way he has battled throughout the playoffs.  He has beaten two teams he wasn't suppose to beat, outplay both quarterbacks and has defied expectations, which brings me to this...

- Tiki Barber is trying to protect himself now that his former team has made it to the Super Bowl the year after he reitres.  Tiki came with baggage and now that the baggage is gone the team can re-focus.  He had his quarrels with Eli Manning, Tom Coughlin and Michael Strahan.  This isn't a coincidence.  Somewhere down the line we have to look and say that maybe New York really IS better off without him.  I think they are.

- Who are we kidding when Pat Riley says Shaquille O'Neal should be in the All-Star game?  Should Magic be playing as well?

- Again, I realize nobody really cares about hockey but I will say it again: Alexander Ovechkin is THE best hockey player on the planet.  He is one of the very few players who has to single-handedly carry his team to victories.  I wonder how long he can keep this up.  Eventually he will need a stud playing alongside him.

Time to unwind.  And get ready for the Super Bowl.  I hope to witness history this Sunday.  It will be nice to explain how I got to watch a Football team go undefeated in one season.  Doesn't come around often folks.

The countdown has begun for...

- ...The Super Bowl, as New England and New York square off on Sunday.  What I'm not sure about is whether Bill Parcells or Dave Meggett will be cheering for the Giants or Patriots.  Perhaps Tiki Barber will put on a throwback Drew Bledsoe jersey and pray New York doesn't win.  If he says he's happy for his ex-teammates he's lying - he's wanted a ring so badly and it stings that the team has come together without him or his ego in that locker room.

Speaking of Bledsoe, it would have been interesting if Robert Kraft were to have called him for this game in case Tom Brady's foot fell off during a drive.  Kid you not, I was thinking about it.

What I do know is this is New England's game to win and to lose.  The New York Giants have fought hard to get here and should be credited for coming together and growing as a team through the pains they have shared together.  Nobody expected the week 17 matchup of these two teams to be the Super Bowl preview.  We'd be in for a great game if this was the case.  But instead of the game being played in New York we watch this in Arizona, a neutral site game.

That said, Arizona's warm weather plays into New England's passing attack and if their O-line stays one step ahead of the Giants defensive front it will be a long game for that Giant defense that has a very suspect secondary as is.

My call is New England will win and cap off one of the greatest seasons in sports history.

-...Jason Kidd sweepstakes have begun as the disgruntled point guard wants out of New Jersey.  The backboard and basketball rims inside the area breathe a sigh of relief.

Let's remember how he showed up; he left a deep West Conference and a checkered past with Phoenix to a depleted East with virtually no dominant point guard left (A.I. had moved to the 2 spot by then).  Though he couldn't shake off the rusty jump shot or his wife's makeup from his knuckles he gave New Jersey a lift into the NBA finals twice and quickly helped himself to becoming the best point guard on the planet - facing nobody in the East to get there.

Since then he helped Byron Scott get fired and he still dents rims with regularity.  He also went through a messy divorce and hasn't been that leader New Jersey can depend on.  Perhaps he will head back West to help a decent team get better, but he will quickly find out that there are point guards - LOTS OF THEM - that will shread him to pieces every night.  If he goes to the West he isn't a top 4 point guard in that conference.  Good luck with that trade.

-...Johan Santana is looking to get PAID by the New York Mets.  Is it just me or are these prospects not what they seem?  If I'm giving up potentially the best pitcher in baseball why would I want a mid-20's pitcher with a losing record and a 22 year old who makes Richie Sexson a batting champ?  I suppose the Mets needed this one as they held onto Lastings Milledge so long that they got, well, nothing in return.  Unless this 22 year old becomes legit overnight and learns to hit at least .260 in the major leagues this trade will be a success for the Mets - unless Santana goes Francisco Liriano in two months.  God forbid.

-...Tiger Woods attempt at the Grand Slam.  We say this every year and we see him fall short.  No slight on the guy - it's not like he sucks or anything.

But Tiger is entering his golf prime, or at least according to history as guys in their early 30's find their best success on the golf course, Seve Ballasteros excluded.  So if there was a shot at it we could see the best attempts over the next couple of years.  After that, we may not see another male golfer bring the kind of game or intensity or desire to win like Tiger Woods. 

It's sad, but wait and see when Tiger hits 45; we'll watch Tiger past his prime and obviously not the golfer he once was KILLING himself on the golf course for another major championship and he'll be playing with a young stud who just doesn't have the same will, focus or guts Tiger brings to the golf course.  It's great now that we see the guy who wants it the most winning the most - but how will we react when we see that same man unable to beat random Joe's who luck out a major victory? 

We'll probably be cheering for the fallen hero to return to glory one last time the way we rooted for Jack Nicklaus in 1986 and, for me, 1998.

The countdown has begun.  Tick tock, tick tock.

Woke up this morning to read a terrible headline on foxsports.com's website stating the NLCS suffered it's lowest TV ratings in history.  Apparently people have decided they would much rather watch garbage, over-the-top drama shows than a team that is in the midst of perhaps one of the greatest runs in Major League Baseball history.

We've seen some great runs by MLB teams in recent years.  One of the most famous runs that people talked about for years was the 35-5 record of the Detroit Tigers to start the 1984 season.  They went on to win the World Series.

There was the 2001 Seattle Mariners who, despite losing in the ALCS to the New York Yankees, had an incredible regular season.  However, people quickly forgot how good they were because they didn't get the job done.

Then there was the run in 2002 by the Oakland Athletics in which they ripped off 20 consecutive victories to propel themselves into first place in the West Division.  They went on to have an unmemorable playoff loss to the Minnesota Twins.

But the biggest reason why this run is special is thanks in part to the 1-game playoff victory as well as the 7-0 start to the post-season.  That doesn't cover their 13 wins out of 14, including 11 in a row, just to climb from 4th place on September 16th to tied for 2nd on the very last day of the season.  Nobody saw this coming - and anyone who says they did ought to be a betting man for a crime family.

They got spanked 3 games in a row prior to the 11-game winning streak, once by Philadelphia (12-4) and twice by Florida (7-6 - not a spanking, and 10-2 - a total spanking).  What was impressive about their climb in the standings was that all the wins came against teams that were above them in the standings.  Then they blew right by Los Angeles after sweeping them and then tore apart San Diego.  Then they administered some more punishment on LA before swiping two of three against the team they just eliminated last night, Arizona.  They didn't have the luxury of crushing Pittsburgh or Cincinnati during their run.  They beat teams that were considered contenders all year long.

If someone came up to you in August and said, "one team will win 13 of their last 14 to force a 1-game playoff and win that playoff game", you would have maybe thought of Detroit, Atlanta, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Minnesota or even Seattle.  Colorado would have been in your top 10 but certainly not option #1.  Perhaps the shock of seeing Colorado this far in the playoffs is the reason why some may believe that this is the greatest run of any team over the course of a 20-25 game span.  

Whether or not you believe that is your call.  Nobody can take away what appears to be one of the most clutch performances by any team who could have folded up and played .500 ball and nobody would have thought any less of them. 

The people who have chosen not to watch this team has missed the opportunity to witness baseball history.  If they become World Series champions it will become part of sports history and those who watched this amazing performance will have stories to tell for the rest of their lives.

Maybe even Eric Byrnes.

You may be wondering what in the world "Showcase Revue" is.  Well for those of you who plan on checking in to tomorrow's "What's The Deeley-O" for blog day on BTN (9-Noon at www.chevradioam.com), I have now given you some new material.

Showcase Revue: A movie shown on the channel "Showcase" in Canada which is guaranteed to feature nudity, sexuality, and maybe violence and coarse language.  These movies are played in the late hours.  Think borderline soft core porn.  

Examples of movies that would be played are: Basic Instinct, Crash (1990's version), Red Shoe Diaries, Shakespeare in Love, etc....you get the point, Canadians can be sick puds too.

With that said, we'll move on to the other "revues"...

Author Sam Moffie contacted me about 3 weeks ago about his sports/sex novel "SWAP".  When he contacted me he eluded to the time two New York Yankee players decided to swap wives back in the 1970's.  This book involved that kind of swap, but it really dug deep into the sex lives of two couples and the sex lives of those around them.  I ripped through the book in about 4 nights and this was the first fiction book I had read since High School.  I prefer to read books that are either autobiographical or non-fiction but I must say that I was thoroughly entertained by Sam's book.

If you are a big fan of baseball and love to read about sexual intercoarse then this is the book for you.  Check out Sam's website at: www.samsstories.com.  You will find the book to be interesting if you happen to take a look at it.  If Sam is reading this post, I thank you once again for sending me a copy of the book.

Staying away from sex but keeping with the swapping theme...

The Atlanta Braves were the runaway winners of the trade deadline deal this year.  Mark Teixeira is not only there to help the Braves reach the post-season but he could be the man that replaces Andruw Jones in the cleanup hole.  Tex is only 27 years old and he's proven to be a masher.  If they lock him up or trade him to another team they will get a lot.  Once Chipper is gone this team could have Tex, Jeff Francouer and Brian McCann as their stud hitters for many years to come.  Also, the pickup of Octavio Dotel was big.  They needed an extra guy in the bullpen that can dominate and Dotel can still bring it. 

Speaking of bullpens, Boston's pen is absolutely unreal with the addition of Eric Gagne.  Remember when they had a terrible bullpen back in 2003?  Well those days are long gone as they will shut down opponents anytime the pen is called upon.  Their main rival, New York, decided their bullpen was ok so they shipped Scott Proctor for the great Wilson Betemit.   Not exactly the marquee player you would expect the Yankees to get.   He can play about 5 different positions but does that help your bullpen?  No. 

If Juan Rivera does not come back this year, the Angels of Anaheim will have made a mistake not grabbing someone.  Having Bartolo Colon dinged and Ervin Santana dropped to AAA did not help their trading leverage either.

If Johan Santana was completely lights out in the playoffs during his career then I would agree with his statements.  He hasn't, so the next time he wants to get out of round 1 I suggest he pitch better than 1-3 and a 3.97 post-season era.  But we know what that outburst was all about: getting paid and looking like the victim while laughing straight to the bank.

Kenny Lofton is nice and we expected him to be traded eventually but doesn't Cleveland have a pitching problem?  They just sent Cliff Lee to the minor leagues and Jeremy Sowers is looking more like Josh Towers than Jeremy Bonderman.  Jake Westbrook also might want to pitch as if he deserved a fat contract.

Has Kyle Lohse ever met expectations?  Or has he turned into the next Jason Bere?  Sorry, that was a low blow to Bere who was a legitimate All-Star once.

Where's Prior and Wood?

Nevermind.

***Tomorrow is YOUR DAY Bloggers so tune in between 9AM-Noon EST at www.chevradioam.com.  What's The Deeley-O will be at 11:05 AM so check in with an e-mail at chevradionoise@gmail.com.  Would love to hear from you.

In the meantime, Frank Irizarry's foxsports.com blogger show begins in about 3 hours.   Get in and get it.

Baseball has the home run derby.  Hockey has the skills competition.  Basketball has the slam-dunk and 3-point contests and Football has, well, great weather.  Today we sit hours away from the mid-summer classic and we have something to beef about.

Depending on the person, some feel the home run derby has run it's course.  I remember when I went to the 1991 All Star festivities to watch the old timers game and the home run contest I was thrilled about it.  I was 8 years old at the time so perhaps the joy was caused by youthful intrigue.  But some of the complaints are invalid.  While you see the derby as the same thing over and over again, watching long bombs, you get to see some guys you may not really know well.  Granted, you see more of the same thing but the difference now from 1991 is you have more than one round (as well as the body-type, but that's another story).

What probably set me off was the notion that there weren't enough big names in the contest.  They wanted to see guys like Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey - great power hitters.  However, why was there complaints about the competitors last night?  We watched 2 hall of famers, Albert Pujols and Vladimir Guerrero, who are the two most consistent and best hitters of this decade.  Yes, I just snubbed Alex Rodriguez - ask yourself when Albert and Vlad hit under .300 and the answer is never.  Vlad and Albert are the two best hitters in the game today - and had Miguel Cabrera not pulled out of the competition we could have had "The Next One", so to speak.

We also had reigning MVP's Justin Morneau and Ryan Howard (also the HR champ and last year's derby winner), current home run leader Prince Fielder, current batting average leaders Magglio Ordonez and Matt Holliday, and newcomer Alex Rios.  Aside from Rios, who ended up hitting the most bombs yesterday, there were guys who deserved to be there.  So the knock on the competitors not being marquee or not being big-names is horseshit.  Years from now we could be saying "wow, that 2007 derby had some great players", and potentially more hall of famers.

Now, we would have loved to have seen Barry in the competition simply because it's his house.  But he declined and that was his choice.  But we did listen to him being interviewed during the broadcast and he really handled himself well during the interview.

There are a lot of people who are defending Barry's actions and will continue to use the argument that there is "no proof" that he did a thing - which is naive to think.  However let me play devil's advocate for a second: one of the parts of both Bonds books stated that he was ticked that guys were getting away with using illegal supplements (by law) yet he was getting by on pure natural ability without any #### in his system.  If you had the opportunity to take something to enhance your legacy with the knowledge that the game itself does not care would you at least think about it?  Barry Bonds has a huge ego and quite frankly that is not necessarily a bad thing.  I'm not the person that will condone what he did but I have always seen the reasoning behind it.  Ungrateful and undeserving players taking the awards, credit and respect that he felt he earned during his career.  Had he been better to the media when he was younger they may have been going out of their way to say something great about him during the midst of baseball's dark age.  Regardless, many baseball players know they have gotten away with something both Bonds and Jason Giambi haven't, along with the rest of the players who have tested positive over the last few years.

At least Bonds isn't the one losing his head over this record.  That goes to Commissioner Bud Selig.  He's taken this personal because he doesn't want to see his buddy Hank's record broken, and that is human nature.  He also may feel deep down that he let this happen under his watch.  Or he knows more than he's letting on and cannot share it with anyone - allowing it to eat away at him.  Only those close to the situation knows the truth, but Selig not being present for the record-breaker does not provide fans any confidence of this entire scenario.  True fans know he has to be there and if he doesn't show up a lot of fans will lose faith in the game if they haven't already.

Let's just get through tonight and then we can focus on the pennant races for the second half.

...Other notes...

- How does a guy get robbed twice in his life?  Antoine Walker managed to have that happen to him.  That is either a total coincidence or someone really enjoys taking stuff from him.  He may want to leave Chicago and head to Miami.  It's warmer down there anyway.

- There is no question that Roger Federer is more dominant in his sport than Tiger Woods at this present time.  He has been in the finals of every major for the last 9 Majors.  That is incredible.  That is pure dominance.  This does not take anything away from Tiger, who's phenomenal.  What needs to be pointed out is Federer's lack of hype surrounding his greatness.

- The Tour de France started already?  Did anyone notice?  Even the NHL said they were pretty quiet.

What's The Deeley-O back this Thursday.  Doesn't matter what you write to me just WRITE.  Thursday's are your day bloggers so check in and dazzle me.  Cheers. (chevradionoise@gmail.com).

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