Dog Days - It Doesn't Need to Be Like this

OK...the dog days of summer are here at last, and it doesn't need to be that way for several reasons. Before I begin, dog days can be losely translated to mean the following: a long, hot summer where baseball is the only spectator available to watch, and when one's particular baseball team happens to suck. This in turn means there really isn't anything to watch, unless you enjoy getting angry everynight as your team loses, repeatedly.

On a grand scale - it doesn't need to be like this. First, if the NHL was anything like it used to be, before ridiculous overexpansion ensued (Columbus Blue Jackects, Phoneix Coyotes!?!?!). Because of all those new, completely fanless clubs, the playoffs now last well into June. Moreover, because of TV revenue, there are often multi-day delays between games. Exampel - the Rangers played Sunday, and then the following Wednesday. This makes watching Hockey painful.

Of course, the same can be said for the NBA. Now the NBA is infinitely more popular than the NHL, and also MLB. I don't want to discuss why here, but the dramatic action and Hip Hop subculture are a major factor. But the NBA is nowhere as exciting as the NCAA tournament, which they apparently allow an extra month before starting the playoffs to allow that experience to fade from the rabid fan's memory. The NBA is takes far too long between playoff games, and there are too many rounds. Equally important - no major market teams really make the playoffs on a regular basis besides the Lakers. The New York Knicks, hahaha. This year is somewhat different because Boston is still in it, but its frequently San Antonio or Detroit, or Phoenix that makes it to the finals. Sorry, but those teams do not have the ratings draw, leaving people on the East Coast with really not much to watch. I don't even need to go into how the pros apparently don't play defense, and detail how there are no transition offenses in the NBA.

Now shifting gears to a micro level, this paritcular summer will constitute as a "Dog Days" one for the Tri-state area (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut) for one reason in particular: The New York Yankees.

Where to begin? Why not go with the most obvious - pitching. They have none. They took a huge risk in the offseason, by electing not to sign a high price free agent such as Santana or Dan Harrin, instead choosing to trust unproven Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedey. Ooops. Hughe's - the crown jewel of the farm system that the Yankees couldn't part with - has an ERA around 10.0, and Kennedey has already been sent down to the minors (thankfully though, he's coming back tonight). That leaves Wang, Pettite, and Mussina. Wang is an ace, no doubt about it, and he could collect the Cy Young this year if he stays healthy. Pettite will win 15 games, but he get hurt at some point. In fact, he has already been on the DL once this season. Mussina, can't throw the ball over 90 MPH anymore, and is a 4th or 5th starter at best. That's barely enough to make it to the Playoffs, let alone go deep into October. More importantly, other teams have strengthened their rotations - like Toronto and Baltimore.

And why has no one been fired for the Kei Igawa disaster. They spent $42 million on him, and he basically throws batting practice. I had to change the channel over the weekend, every ball was being hit to the warning track. Unlike Dice K, Mr. Igawa was in the 2nd tier league in Japan - which is the equivalent of picking someone from England's Champions League, and not the Premier League.

Moving on - let's look at 1st base. Jason Giambi??? I don't care what his On Base Percentatge is. He's terrible, and batted a whopping .256 last season, and he cannot hit in clutch situations. By the way, he's paid $120 million dollars for 6 years.

Robinson Cano has been figured out - two words: Curve Ball. He can't handle a curve ball, and pitchers have picked up on that. Damon continues to play up to his usual unimpressive form, which yet again confirms someone on the Red Sox knew what they were doing in not re-signing him. And Matsui has be, yawn, predicatable thus far.

Let's not forget that A-Rod and Posada are on the DL. A-Rod I can understand, because if he comes back and tears his quad after a few games - that's $275 million down the drain. But signing a 36 year old catcher to a 4 year contract was absurd. And big surprise, the season after the season of his career, he's having problems with the shoulder that was operated on two seasons ago.

In unrelated news, NFL Commissioner Roger Gooddell announced today there is nowhere else he knows of to go regarding the Patriots's videotaping scandal. I thought he was serious about cleaning up the league, and holding players to a better standard of care. Evidently that does translate into punishing teams that lie and cheat collectively.

Celebration at Old Tratfford

Manchester United won their 10th Premier League titled today, on two goals from Ronolodo and Giggs, beating a game Wigan. Clearly United deserved the title the most, because of the number of victories they had over the Big 4 this year, in addition to Ronoldo's amazing campaign. The best part of today, however, was watching Chelsea draw against Bolton. If Chelsea had won, they would have had the same points total as Man U, but Man U would have won title because of the goal differential between the two teams. Of course, flaming Chelsea fans would have claimed they won just as many games as United, and United won the title on a technicality. However, today, they held a 1-0 lead over the vastly inferior Bolton, but they became complacent in the final 10 minutes as word of Giggs's second goal leaked out over Stamford Bridge, basically announcing that United would win the title regardless of what Chelsea did. Then, in stoppage time, lightening struck, and Bolton scored a goal on a free kick, which went right under Cech's legs on a deflection. United won the title on a lot more than just a technicality today.

And there is more...both teams will face each other in 10 days time, in Moscow, for the UEFA final. Now Chelsea will have their chance to show they are just as good as United, and there will be no excuses of technicalities here - its win, or go home. If you hadn't noticed, I don't particularly like Chelsea.

Why is that? For starters - I have been a Man U fan since Middle School soccer. Second, Chelsea fans all complain that United is overrated, and has no real fans, because the city of Manchester sucks. However, most Americans who root for Chelsea only do so, so they can enjoy the same Red Sox mentality of pulling for the wild, cowboyish underdogs. Manchester United are the Yankees of the Premier League, and they are quietly stoic and classy. Chelsea fans tend to complain about money, but they seem to forget the amount of money that their Russian tycoon owner spend on them - including paying 90 million GBP for Shevchenko, and also picking up Anelka mid season. Moreover, they seem to forget that Manchester United beat Chelsea, Liverpool, and Arsenal (who was running away with the title at one point) this year.

So the season that begun last August is finally over. I have to say that I am sad. Alot happened for me during that period. Friends came and went, I had several relationships, wild nights out, good soccer games of my own, several new bosses. It was quite a time, and now its over. Some of the best weekends I had would begin with watching soccer games at Nevada Smiths or Baker Street. Sadly, I have to wait until next fall for that to come again.

Will Man U prevail in Moscow on May 21? Its hard to say, because Chelsea was in top form until today. But I know this for sure, it will be the last game of quite a period for me personally - August 07 to May 08, sort of the final chapter. That's about as personal as I want to make an entry here - go back and read my first blog posts for clarification there. So let's wear the jersey once again, and order beers at 11:00 AM one final time this Monday.

Greetings from Blog Land once again...My apologies for not writing sooner, things have been busy and interesting - I'll get to that later.

First off, most recently - the New York Rangers...what can I say, the NHL wanted Crosby in the finals. That's why they called a 4, yes a FOUR, minute penalty for high sticking with 1 minute left to go in the 3rd period, when the game was tied 2-2. However, during the 2nd period, no penalty was called when a Ranger bled all over the ice, after an obvious high stick foul. Congrats NHL, you will have Crosby in the finals, although Pittsburgh has a TV audience 1/5 the size of the Rangers, way to go...Too bad you didn't realize Crosby's contract with Nike means nothing for the NHL in general.

Moving on...the Yankees. Um, pitching anyone. Ian Kennedey is "surprised" that he went down to the minors?? He claims he was doing well? If 0-2 (not reflective of no-decisions) and an 8.37 ERA is considered good, Mussina and Pettie must be in contention for the Cy Young, and Wang must be going to the Hall of Fame. And let's not forget Phil Hughes - the crown jewel of the Yankees farm system. He's supposedly the reason why the Yankees didn't trade for Santana, or Harrin. He should be joining Kennedey, what with his 0-4, 9.00 ERA. For this post, I'll spare everyone with my rantings about Giambi, or Cano (who pitchers figured out can't hit curve balls). Bottom line - this is a third of fourth place team at best, and the Yankees are guilty of not acquiring adequate pitching in the offseason - while competitors such as Toronto and Baltimore built up good rotations. They are lucky that Detroit has been so terrible, and that the Red Sox have not run away with it yet. It seems New Yorkers are in for a long, hot summer of mediocre baseball.

Going further back...Happy Days Are Here! Isiah Thomas is no more, finally. Nobody has explained why he was allowed to keep his job not only after such a terrible record and waste of money on players like Curry and Marburry, but also after being found guilty of sexual harassment. Do you think he cares? Not really, since he getting paid every cent of his ridiculous contract. The Knicks became a laughing stock in basketball, and the sad part is that only 1 person has been dealt with for allowing that to happen. Dolan still owns the team, and he is hugely responsible.

March Madness sure was fun, especially if you picked UCONN to go to the Sweet 16, like most people did, along with Duke. Everyone is so amazed that the 4 number 1 seeds ended up in the Final Four. Why? That was easy after legitimate number 3 and 4 teams, such as Duke, UCONN, and Tennessee were outed by unheard of teams. USD? It was easy for teams like Kansas to blow by Davidson. Still, the final game lived up to the Hype - going to OT with an incredible 3 point shot. Those players who remain at Memphis better start practicing their foul shots NOW.

As for UCONN, the team I follow and root for - what can be said, except that they had zero intensity or momentum going into that game. It appears Thabeet is intent on staying for another year, but a lot can happen over the summer with agents whispering into your ear. Until David Stern raises the draft requirements to at least two years of college, it will be impossible for teams like UCONN or Kentucky to build programs. Rudy Gay anyone?

Manchester United nearly threw away the Premier League Title and also the UEFA cup, by drawing against Blackburn, and then against Barcelona at Nou Camp. But this past weekend they held up against West Ham with a 4-1 victory - which keeps them even with Chelsea for the league title. And Scholes saved them with a spectacular goal to send them to the final against Chelsea in Moscow on May 21 (I won't be in the office that day).

The Olympics kick off in August, in China. I'm so glad the US media has been so open to reporting the human rights abuses of China, and their wonderful reputation as the world's worst polluter and consumer of arms. Maybe it has something to with Nike and Walmart sponsoring TV slots on NBC, and pro-Athletes competing in the games. If you want to have the games in a country like China - fine, they were once held in Moscow, in the USSR. But at least report it fairly and detail the reasons for the protests - Darfur, Tibet, pollution, secret executions, over 40,000 protests a year inside China's borders.