I was thinking about all the different types of sellouts around sports and I think I have come up with a few different examples of how many different ways Players, teams, and or fans are sellouts or will sellout. In no order of significance.

1. Yankee fans selling out on A-rod. It is already happening in New York that many fans and reporters are willing and advocating the trade Alex Rodriguez. Trust me now is not the time to bail out on the youngest player to hit 450 HRs because he is the highest paid player of anything in the World. This is the same guy that the Yankees traded Alphonso Soriano for and have been rumored to want to reacquire. The Yankees and fans sold out on Soriano in trading him, the fans and media are selling out on A-Rod and Brian Cashman (ironically named in being the Yankees GM) has sold out the Yankees future by making far too many trades.

2. The city of Detroit for not scheduling a Lions game and Tigers game on the same Sunday. When the Lions open up their season and the Tigers close theirs down, it would have been possible to sellout two games on the same intersection of downtown. The Lions continually sellout the home games and the Tigers have been selling outain and are making a playoff run which in turn may be the only way they would be able to have the two-fer of sellouts in October. Being the great sports town that Detroit is, the fans would sellout both games for sure.

3. Chris Brown of the Tennessee Titans is selling out on the Titans and his fans. The oft injured Brown is in the final year of his contract. The Titans drafted Lindale White as well. Brown's agent, Wynn Silbermann, formerly asked for a trade last week. Brown and his agent believe being traded away from a crowded backfield is his best career move. To me that tells me he is either not competitive or just does not believe he is good enough to get the bulk of the carries. How much does he think he is really going to get as a free agent? I am not looking for a player who wants out at the first sight of serious competition for his job. To me he is just a sellout.

4. Monday Night Football is a sellout for selling out to itself. They moved MNF to ESPN this year and changed the crew up. To me if they were really looking for an improvement in ratings, they would have made adjustments to the actual games! There were so many things to tweak but they never really did anything bout the actual games. They should have had more variety of teams on, less Packers (so we didn't have to hear Madden say Brett Favre's name over 100 times per and besides he is washed up now, move on!), and had an 8 O'clock start time EST. They should have had some signs that the games didn't mean anything because there wer so many games that weren't sold out.

5. The Brewers and Carlos Lee are sellouts. The fans of the Brew Crew are the big losers in this though. The Brewers need to trade Carlos Lee or resign him to a multi year deal. The fans have not had a World Series contender since 1982 and have never even won the World Series. They need to run the team less like a business and more like a team that wants to win. How about making a run for once instead of setting new lows in mediocrity. The Brewers and Detroit Lions are like distant sports cousins I guess, but do they both Sellout on their fans?  Either way they have never won it all.  The Lions only claim to a chamtpionship in way back in 1957 before it was even called the Super Bowl.

6.  Maurice Clarrett was a sellout to the team that made him famous, the Ohio State Buckeyes.  He was also a sellout to the fans of OSU, and he was a sellout to coachs of OSU.  Then to top it off he sold out his NFL career by having a year off.  He then sold out his future when he was arrested for aggrevated robbery.  He is now better known for non football activities, which is not good.




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     Major League Baseball has made the error. The MLB having the All-Star (exhibition) game decide home field advantage in the World Series is absurd. Next year they need to put a stop to this. Now I am happy that MLB tries to be innovative. However they need to just say that the All-Star game will only be played in nine innings or maybe even ten. But to have an All-Star game decide who have home field advantage is just terrible. It is like deciding a world wide tournament that only happens every four years be decided by a shoot out........oh wait.

     If MLB is so intent on bringing meaning to the All-Star game they need to forget about it. This is supposed to be a fun game and teams do NOT want their guys getting hurt. They wouldn’t even be in this predicament had the All-Star game in Milwaukee had not been called a tie in the 11^th inning. Bud Selig getting on that microphone to tell the crowd they were going to end the game was surreal to say the least. It did cause quite an uproar by fans everywhere. That is when it was decided that they will try to make the All-Star game have more meaning.

                                              
      Could you imagine any other sport letting their respective All-Star game decide this. I am guessing that the NBA isn’t going to do this anytime soon. If they want to have the players play harder and the game to mean something, give them another payday. That is what gets these guys going is money. They could have each player on the winning team get 500K and the losing team get 50K. I think you would then see both teams having fun and playing hard. There is also just something about players deciding where the World Series will be played at that won't even be in it. But hey what do I know?

NFL


Tennessee Titans- Former San Francisco 49er first round pick Ahmed Plummer has played only nine games in the past two years after a succession of injuries. Twelve-year veteran Ty Law picked off 10 passes for the New York Jets in 2005, but also comes with a high price tag and, even more troubling, a warning label. They have had both in this month to see what interest each player has in Tennessee and a decision will come soon.

Detroit Lions- Warren Sapp a Lion?  The Lions released Dan Wilkinson yesterday in a move that suprised some.  He has talked about retirement all off-season.  He also has pending law suits in Maryland from a restaurant deal he had going from his Redskins days that didn't work out.  Ironically his lack of working out is what got him cut from Detroit. New head coach Rod Marinelli wants players who want to play and put in the extra effort needed to turn the franchise around.  Since Wilkinson was paid pretty well, that money can be used to pursue other free agents, if any players become available who might interest the Lions. There has been speculation in Oakland that the Raiders might part company with Warren Sapp, who had a strong relationship with Marinelli with the Buccaneers.

Pittsburgh Steelers- Joey Porter missed the first week of the Steelers' voluntary workouts, and now the question is whether he will participate in any of them.  Porter, a Pro Bowl linebacker, attended the team's mandatory three-day minicamp May 13-15 but was the only veteran absent from all four of their follow-up voluntary sessions last week at their UPMC training facility on the South Side.  He has two years left on a contract he signed in February 2004. He is scheduled to earn a salary of $3.85 million this year, and earn $5 million in 2007, which includes a $1 million roster bonus.


MLB


New York- take your pick which New York team picks up Dontrell Willis.  Both have had scouts following him the last two weeks.  He has had a slightly down season on a team that sold everyone else off before the season even started.  He was kept because he is still very young and has not had his first big pay day yet.

Kansas City- The Royals are now 19 games back of Detroit in the AL Central.  It is only May 23rd.  Yes their season is done and they will be unloading some players.  They made several off-season free agent signings and nothing has worked for them this year.  The biggest reason is they didn't sign pitching.  They have several veteran players they can trade off that may bring them plenty of young prospects for a team that has traded off every prospect that has every come to fruition for them.

Washington Nationals- Alfonso Soriano may also be headed out of town very soon.  He has been rumored to be traded since the time he was traded to Washington.  He may be headed toi the Mets, White Sox, Philadelphia, or St. Louis.

Los Angeles- If Morales struggles, the Angels will turn to the trade market, with Arizona first baseman Tony Clark considered a possible target. Clark is an attractive short-term option because he is signed only through this season and, because he's stuck behind young first baseman Conor Jackson, wouldn't cost as much as some of the front-line players the Angels are pursuing, such as Alfonso Soriano and Shea Hillenbrand.  The Angels are 11 games below .500 and in last place, a perfect fit for Tony Clark.  Ask any Detroit Tigers fan.

NFL news
 The New England Patriots had Ty Law the 32-year-old, five-time Pro Bowl cornerback in for a physical last Friday as part of a free agent visit.   Pats coach Bill Belichick has kept in touch with Law this offseason through a series of private phone conversations.  Law had 10 interceptions, a career best, last season.  Ty also only spent one season with the Jets and played the rest of his career with the Patriots.

Dolphins to sign Marcus Vick?  According to league sources when they had him in for the teams mini-camp they saw enough in him to think he may be able to land a roster spot.  The team recently traded for starting quarterbacks Daunte Culpepper and Joey Harrington so it is unlikely he would make the team as a quarterback. There are said to be several CFL teams interested as well.  They have also not had Joey play for them yet either.  Miami fans may be excited to have traded for two starting quarterbacks, but there is a reason they were available as well.

Lions fans say goodbye to Joey Harrington and hello to two back up quarterbacks.  Jon Kitna is the likely starter and it is up to Josh McCown and Dan Orlovsky to battle for the 2nd quarterback position, although the best move is the addition of offensive coordinator Mike Martz.  Best subtraction, Joey Harrington.  It is rumored that Martz had a qb school in the off season where he gave the participants IQ tests.  Harrington's came back negative (insert rim shot here), also see his exit interview with Mitch Albom, that will explain a lot.


MLB news

Soriano headed to New York?  According to several sources the Yankees and Mets both have interest in acquiring the outfielding second baseman.  Both teams will inquire about him closer to the trade deadline so look for scouts from Washington in New York for the next month.  Another possibility for both New York teams is Detroits Dmitri Young.  He plays outfield, third base, and first base but mostly is a DH.  Neither team would have to give up much to get him as the Tigers are 1/2 game behind the White Sox and have the second best record in baseball without Young.

San Fransisco - look for the Giants to make one final run with the current team and then try to rebuild the organization through younger players.  The giants have a large number of aging veterans and it has been rumored that Bonds may move to the American league to DH and the Giants may not bring back their ace Jason Schmidt.  Bonds is one of nine Giants veterans in the final year of their contracts, along with Jason Schmidt, Moises Alou, Ray Durham, Pedro Feliz, Steve Kline, Todd Greene, Jose Vizcaino and Jamey Wright.  They count for more than $50 million of the Giants' $90-million-plus payroll, with Bonds' $18 million and Schmidt's $10.5 million the largest hits.

NBA news

Ben Wallace has hired an agent.  Wallace will become a free agent this summer and will likely land the biggest contract of his entire career.  Wallace is in his prime and is a four time NBA defensive player of the year.  He is looking to remain in Detroit and hopes to complete a deal after the season. 

In case you have not opened your eyes and had your ears plugged for the last 48 hours, the New York Knicks may be ready to part ways with Larry Brown.  The Knicks may be the model for how not to run a franchise.  Would the Knicks actually pay $40 million to get rid of Brown?  After setting records for payroll and paying members not even on the team or in the league, can they really afford to pay Brown and a new coach?  With Larry Brown they need to have one thing they have never had, patience.  The coach is a proven winner, and then he leaves.  Isiah, you have to let him do the winning first.  Brown may now be the biggest coaching distraction in all of sports for the past to off-seasons.

Lebron James has drawn comparisons and played  a parallel career thus far in his NBA career to Michael Jordan.  He even has to go through the same team the Detroit Pistons to get to the promise land.  The biggest difference is that Lebron is in his third season as Michael was only a rookie at this point due to James playing in the NBA straight out of high school.  This off season look for the cavs to add veteran depth and specialty players to the roster much as the way the Pistons have done.  New Cavs owner Dan Gilbert has modeled everything after the Pistons, a team he sponsors, while owning the Cavs.  Gilbert owns the Cavaliers and named the arena Quicken Loans arena and sponsors the Pistons with Rock Financial, the same company marketed with a different name in Michigan.  He also hired a like announcer to the Pistons that gets the crowd pumped up and making plenty of noise.