mmmm, Gumbo.

Good morning, ladies and gents! Hope your week has gone well.

I have a bunch of thoughts floating around in my head and wanted to put them down on the greatest site in all of the land...Here we go.

MLB
Bud Selig can suck it. That jack was asleep at the wheel during the home run era, and allowed the moon shot increase to be blamed on the mythological "live ball" instead of cracking down on PEDs. Now, we know everybody and their moms in the league was juicing (except about 10% of the players)...and he's throwing A-Rod under the bus.

It is true though, A-Rod admitting he had cheated is very un-baseball like. Why didn't he like repeatedly like the rest of the schleps who have been fingered by various investigators?

I say hats off to A-Rod...and I've already forgiven him. Clemens, Bonds and the rest of you un-repentant liars can suck it.

But Alex, no one will ever forgive you for dating Madonna.

Meggy Tejada- hats off to you for pleading guilty, and begging for forgiveness from the fans. Granted, you shouldn't lie under oath, but he's just protecting the ole boys network of the MLB.

Valuable lessons above- Don't cheat. Don't lie...or bad things happen to you. But if you do, act like a man and admit your mistakes.
EsPN
The Entertainment Programming Network recently suspended Scott Van Pelt for stating his opinion about Bud Selig stealing MLB's money...and he got suspended for a week. Supposedly, Seligs feewings were hurt. It does hurt when you're nailed as a fraud...and you know you're one.

And speaking of frauds, EsPN needs to drop the word Sports from their title for once and for all. Sports Center is filled with more human interest stories than highlights these days...and the only reason they keep their ratings is because there's no serious competition.

Maybe if Van Pelt would handle himself like a professional, a la Chris "stupid pun here" Berman, he'd get somewhere. In my opinion, Van Pelt ranks up there with Dan Patrick, Craigers and Mayne as the best SC anchers of all time. If the Network wants to push entertainment, use Kenny Mayne more!

Much like Patrick, Van Pelt will probably wisely move on soon...I hope he does.

Nike
Some of you know, I am in my profession because I grew up a huge fan of Nike basketball shoes. But, I fell out of love with the footwear and equipment giant back in college. So, my opinion isn't too surprising.

But Nike is a shadow of its former self. Granted, they still have a giant portion of the market share in footwear and apparel, but their focus has clearly changed. On many of their products, a woven label reads:

"Engineered to the exact specifications of championship athletes"

Well, like so many things in the world, that's become marketing drivel. As you heard earlier in the week, Nike bailed on their meetings with Purdue players last summer for no apparent reasons. The meetings were set-up so Purdue captain, Chris Kramer could give his input to Nike prior to their changing of Purdue's uniforms. Instead, Nike will do whatever the hell they feel like...and Kramer and Co. will like it!

As a product designer, the philosophy of designing at the end user instead of for them pisses me off. And the fact that marketing decides Nike's direction instead R&D teams along with athletes is a far cry from Phil Knight's original vision of the company that he no longer runs. No matter, it's time for Nike, like EsPN, to simply stop pushing a pack of lies upon the consumer, and state what they are- a fashion sporty brand. 14 year old girls love their stuff though...so that's positive.

Yanks-Tribe Postmortem

First of all, congratulations to the Cleveland Indians and their fans. Unlike a lot of Yankee fans (and certain co-authors here) I don't enjoy gloating or rubbing my friend's facing in things when their teams don't do well or minimizing them when they do do (hee hee "doodoo!") well. I mean, unless they're playing Boston.

The Indians deserved to win this series from the start and no matter what you may hear when watching SportsCenter, the Yankees didn't lose this series -- the Indians won it.

The Yankees, always overanalyzed, put up twelve hits in the final game, so they weren't asleep. They were just beat. Cleveland came out prepared in each game and jumped right on the Yanks, the only exception being Andy Pettitte's incredible performance in Game 2 that truly should have been more than enough for a win if the Yankees could have done more than a Melky Cabrera home run off of Fausto "Don't Call Me A Closer" Carmona.

I said it all year -- the Yankees were a great offensive team but great offensive teams rarely win it all. You need to have shutdown pitching to win in the playoffs and the Yankees haven't had that for a long, long time. Why is this such a shock? They score a ton of runs because they play the Devil Rays and Orioles 38 times a year. It's got nothing to do with choking in the playoffs or the pressure of New York or any of that crap. It's got to do with how they're put together. It's also got nothing to do with "heart" or any other made-up sheet like that. The Tribe has heart and hustled and played outstanding. But did you see the Yankees dogging it? Did it look like they didn't care? I don't think so. They cared and they played hard and they got beat. End of drama.

The Torre Situation

This is so sad to me. The fact that Joe Torre care so much about his guys and puts together twelve straight playoff runs, averaging somewhere around 95 wins a year over that time, yet has to sit there and answer questions about being "fired." Well, first of all, his contract is up and he's 67 years old. Who's to say he definitely wanted to come back to the Yanks? I think it's possible that this was Steinbrenner wanting to act like he had the final say and was "firing" Torre, because if Torre walked away after this year, Steinbrenner and the Yankees would possibly appear to not have complete control of everything. You and I know they indeed don't have control of everything but we live in reality world -- Steinbrenner and his jackass sons live in YankeeLand.

To put that quote out there about Torre having to win this series or else he wasn't being brought back was just bush league. Bush. League. All you haters who were all over Alex Rodriguez for shouting at the Blue Jays rookie months ago -- pay attention to this behavior by the frickin' owner of the franchise. This is bush league.

Your team is already down 0-2 in a series and they know the expectations in New York and with their much-maligned payroll. So they come home and now hear they have to win or else the manager they all love is going to be gone. Well, yeah, that's a really good way to loosen them up, jackass. Well-played. And I'll tell you this: there's no way Joe wanted them playing for him -- he wants his guys playing for the team. And they almost always do.

Torre is an average field manager but he's a brilliant manager of men and that's what's probably most important in baseball. In football, being a great game-planner is critical. In baseball, it's more about keeping things rolling along smoothly, keeping the highs under control and the lows from being too low. Torre was masterful and, as someone who watches probably 110-130 of their games each season, to see Torre have his postgame press gaggle every single night and practically never seem moody or impatient is just awe-inspiring. I hope I can be a fraction of that patient one day.

I understand that leadership changes have to happen sometimes. And I understand it might be good for the Yanks to have Joe leave and remain the hero that he is to Yankees fans. But I wish he was allowed to do it with all of his dignity and not be painted as having been yet another casualty of the George Steinbrenner iron fist. I've said many times that Yankee fans have no clue how good they've had it and that people who write headlines like this one on ESPN.com just don't get it. Their "Era of Greatness" didn't just come to a halt last night. If championships are what define greatness, I guess it ended in six years ago. If 90+ wins a year and making the playoffs every year count, then it's far from over.

A final thought on Joe Torre -- I've never understood how people can hate the Yankees when a guy like Torre is running the show. And when you confront Yankee-haters about it, many of them agree he's a great guy. And many have even said (to me, at least) that they like him enough that they would have had no problem with him managing their team. He's universally liked and respected and he should be. And this treatment he has endured from Steinbrenner has always irritated me. Yes, yes, Joe is highly paid. Fine. But think of your own job and make your salary your dream salary and then think about being de-pantsed publicly by your irrational boss a few times a year. While you might put up with it, you wouldn't think it was warranted.

As for replacements, I sincerely hope they do not go with Don Mattingly. I think we'd be in for a dark time for the Yankees if they go that route. I think the best possible hire would be Joe Girardi. The only questions will be whether he'll want to put up with the crap that comes from being the Yankee manager and whether he'll be okay with following Torre.

The A-Rod Saga Continues

Well, nobody was booing A-Rod last night and that's a good thing. But he didn't give the haters or the supporters anything solid to stand on. He hit .267 for the series, with a homer and one RBI. Certainly not what should be expected from a guy with a .314/54/156 season, but also not .071 like last year. Let's put it this way: ARod wasn't the problem.

And let's also keep in mind Derek Jeter, "Captain Clutch," grounded into three double plays in the series and seemed to come up small many times. He went 3-for-17 (.176) with one RBI. Where's the outcry? I know, I know, he's come through before so he's immune. And maybe he should be. But let's not just pile on ARod. They all lost, and they all could have come up bigger.

Will ARod stay or go? I've felt most of this season that he will indeed opt out of his contract in a few weeks, regardless of how the Yankees did. I still think that's likely and the only reason I think he might stay in New York is because his Scott Boras-inflated price tag of $30M per season is just ludicrous and there aren't many teams that can even consider paying that.

That said, I think the smart money is on only two suitors for ARod -- the Angels or the Cubbies. I think Chicago is a city that could eat him up, too, but he might hit 70 homers playing in Wrigley and he loves Lou Pinella. The Angels -- well, they showed they need some more offense and Arte Moreno, their owner, isn't afraid to spend money. Plus it's LA, and doesn't ARod just look like a perfect fit for Los Angeles?

I definitely hope he stays because he's the best player any of us will see, regardless of what he did in two postseason series in 2005 and 2006. He's a career .279 hitter in the postseason, even with those two terrible series, with 9 doubles, 7 homers and 17 RBIs in 39 games. Nothing spectacular but also not a complete flop. And without his monster season this year, do people not realize the Yankees would probably have been close to a .500 team? No, the answer is they do not realize it.

So if he leaves, prepare to laugh hard at New York, Yankee-haters. You'll be well within your rights.

Back to Cleveland

As I said earlier, congrats to Cleveland. They deserved this victory and they are a far better team than many of us (including me) realized. They do a lot of things well and they seem to manage around their weaknesses. For example, their closer is a bit of a joke, so they give him multi-run leads to protect. Well-played. I don't know if this will work all the way to the Series, though, so let's keep an eye on that.

The Indians are going to be good for a while now. They've got excellent young talent and have shown some smarts in signing good veterans to help bring it all together, such as Willie Mays Hayes -- err, I mean, Kenny Lofton.

Seriously, though, have fun with Boston, Tribe fans. More analysis on that series coming later this week.

Don't Get Your Balls Mixed Up

Yes, this is another post having to do with Alex Rodriguez. Hey, it's baseball season, what do you want from me? boilerdowd will provide you with your F1 news and I'll ramble on about baseball... and eventually, mercifully, Boilermaker Football will be upon us.

Anyway, so Alex Rodriguez hits home run number 499 last night as the Yankees continued to beat up on quadruple A teams. Leaving aside the fact that ARod will only be 32 years old on Friday and he's already at 500 dingers (okay, 499), how about this interesting fact:

Prior to their game against the Orioles on Friday, the Yankees have to complete a game that was suspended due to the weather on June 28th. So if ARod, who will bat in the completion of the game unless Torre removes him, hits homer #500 then, it won't technically be #500 and the one from last night will now be number 500. Right?

Or do we count them in succession... and this one will literally be the 500th of his major league career, according to chronology?

Geez, ARod, you can't even do this right. You're such a choker.

What Will Happen With A-Rod?

It's hard for me, as a Yankee fan, to truly enjoy the season that Alex Rodriguez is having this year because I think there's a really good chance he's going to be elsewhere next season. And the reason will be the endless beating he takes from the media and fans of the New York metropolitan area about how he's no good, and non-clutch, etc.

Everyone piles onto Alex and I actually do feel bad for him, despite the fact that he's a bit aloof at times. But since he's been in New York, I've come to like him a lot more and Derek Jeter a lot less. I still marvel at how good Jeter is at the game, but Jeter seems to be getting more and more arrogant all the time. That's unfortunate.

A-Rod, on the other hand, is putting up insane numbers, year after year, and is still bashed. He's hittong over .500 this year in the 9th inning with something like seven home runs. How do you define clutch? How many games does he have to win by himself? There have been studies of this year's numbers that suggest Alex has been responsible for 7 or 8 wins, by himself. And if you don't think that's a lot, you don't know baseball. For one guy to swing a team that much is amazing. So instead of being on the fringe of contention they'd be under .500 and fading fast. Big difference.

It also almost feels like the Yankees are setting Alex up to be the villian in all this. He's a free agent at the end of the season, if he wants to be. He would need to opt out of the remaining three years of his ginormous, famous $252 million deal. But if you could make $25 million per year for three years or perhaps more than that per year for, like, six or eight years... wouldn't you at least find out about the possibilities?

The Yankees, though, asked him about extending his contract, mainly because they like the fact that Texas is on the hook to pay $9.5 mill per season of his $25 mill for the next three years (the remaining years on the original deal). Basically, the Yankees are getting ARod for a modern-day steal, since he's costing them about $15.5 million a season. Or less than Giambi... or Jeter.

So when ARod said, hey, I'd like to maybe consider testing the free agent market, the Yankees made this public knowledge and painted ARod as tying their hands since, you know, they're on such a strict budget and all.

Of course, nobody can win here. If ARod signs another mega-deal, he'll further cement his legacy as a money-hungry athlete (again, not that I think anyone can blame him) and he'll be further buried in the press. And if the Yankees sign him to a $30 million a year deal, they'll be further demonized by the press and other fans as a team "buying" their titles (even though they haven't won since their payroll began to really skyrocket).

Which brings me to another point: who the hell could afford to pay one player more than $30 million per season? I can only imagine the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Dodgers, Angels and maybe the Cubs as being in that category.

The Mets won't do it, not with Wright and Reyes on the left side of their infield. Although, if it were me, and I was running the Mets and was opening a new ballpark the same year as the Yankees, I would throw as much money as possible at him and either make him a first baseman or move David Wright to first. What difference would it make? If ARod retires in ten years, you move Wright back to third. Who cares? And wouldn't that just piss off the Yankees if the Mets won even a single World Series with ARod as the hero? Of course, he'd still have to deal with the New York media and he's shown how that can get to him. Still, and this is a Yankee fan speaking, I think the possibilities would be delicious.

The Dodgers think Garciaparra is a good third baseman so that shows their baseball sense.

The Sox won't do it because Theo Epstein thinks he's a genius based on one eight-game luck-steak in 2004. Plus all of Boston hates ARod, including the mouth-breathing, overrated captain of the Sox.

The Cubs could consider it, especially if they're primed for a real run in the next few years. Pinella has a good connection with ARod and if Mark Cuban ever really did buy the Cubs, I think the chances of them going after ARod increase dramatically.

However, I think it's most likely that ARod ends up in Anaheim. The Angels have money to burn and an owner willing to burn it. It's Los Angeles, which means ARod is still in a big market but nobody there really cares that much about sports so the pressure would truly be off. He'd be at every awards show and his hookers would be from Rodeo Drive instead of Toronto. Major upgrade.

He could, of course, still end up back in New York because when push comes to shove I think the Yankees leadership is run by good baseball men, such as Brian Cashman, who hopefully knows just how amazingly, jaw-droppingly good ARod really is. Plus, in eight to ten years or so when he's beloved as he approaches Barry Bonds' all-time home run record, it would be nice for the Yankees to have him in their still-fairly-new Yankee Stadium.

Still, my guess for next year? LA Angels.

The Infallablility of Jeter

In the interest of honesty, I should point out that I do like Derek Jeter as a player and I also like ARod as a player, though I'm not some huge ARod defender. That said, I wanted to point out a play in tonight's (ongoing) Yankees-Mets game on ESPN. I'm kind of curious if anything gets made of a bad baserunning decision by teflon Derek.

In the top of the third, Jeter doubles and is on second base with one out. Matsui gets up and doubles to center, but it's off the glove of Carlos Beltran, who dove to try to make the catch. Jeter, somehow, only makes it to third base. Somehow, Jon Miller and the perpetually retarded Joe Morgan don't really make anything out of it.

So wait a minute... Jeter, who is supposedly always in the game and thinking ahead of everyone else, can't score from second on a double? Is there any way to interpret this other than a miscue, and a significant one given how hard a time the Yankees are having lately scoring runs?

I mean, Hideki Matsui -- Godzilla, for crying out loud -- managed to get to second on a hit to center field, and Jeter can't get home from second on the same hit?? Just seems kind of.... ridiculous.

If ARod makes this blunder, it's all over the place. But since it was Jeter -- and since the Yanks are now blowing out the Mets as I write this -- not a peep will be heard. Not sure that's right.