What would Bobby Knight do?

The Big East tournament is turning out to be one of the best conference tournaments in college basketball. Last night the world regrettably watched one of the worst officiating jobs since the Seattle-Pittsburgh SuperBowl. Rutgers was hacked, fouled and shoved repeatedly for the last 3 minutes and the referees turned their backs and called fouls only in favor of St. Johns. As if the missed calls weren't bad enough, with 1.7 seconds remaining Rutgers was pummeled and not called again, lost the ball while St. Johns ran out of bounds with it and launched it into the crowd with 1.7 seconds remaining on the clock.

Turnover, Rutgers ball with 1 shot to win the game, this is gonna be great. Wait...where are the referees going? They're gone? We're trying to play a basketball game here and they just left.

What's really amazing is how cool Rutgers coach Mike Rice was during the postgame interview, he admitted to bad mistakes, no hard feelings, it happens...

Wow. I was ready for chairs to go flying. I was ready for accusations that could draw blood. Instead I saw the book being written, "How to Take the High Road" by Mike Rice. Put that book in Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com and...  nobody's buying that crap.

I want Bobby Knight back. What would Bobby have done in that situation? He would tear down the basketball hoop and jam it down someones throat while yelling, "YOU WANNA MAKE SIDE MONEY AGAINST MY TEAM YOU S.O.B.". He would throw every single chair onto the court while causing himself an aneurysm. They would have to restrain him with security guards, place the referees in witness protection and then they would play out the last 1.7 seconds.

He may have been a psycho but he was a champion and there was a method to his madness. The only important difference between Mike Rice and Bobby Knight is that Bobby is gonna see that game finished. They're going to get the ball back,  get a shot off with a guaranteed foul called because the referees owed it to him.

The high road is a difficult example to set. I don't mean to take too much away from Mike Rice. It wasn't his fault the refs are dining with Tim Donaghy. But to Rutgers fans, they want to play out the last 1.7 seconds and sometimes the low road can give you that chance. Fans everywhere miss Bobby Knight and we appreciate him even more today then we did yesterday.

Lets all remember why we HATE the Yankees so much.

As a new resident of New York City I find myself surrounded by fans of the evil empire. At least the Yankee fans here are justified because they live here.

Not like Yankee fans scattered every where else across the globe; those fans have the sporting sense of canned heat. They cheer for the Yankees because they've already won 27 championships, not because they are baseball fans. Its like cheering for Bill Gates to win the publishers clearing house or hoping Justin Bieber can meet a hot girl. These "fans" need to be slapped for jumping on the band wagon. Any real fan knows that the Yankees stand against all things sacred in sports.

And it seems lately that Yankee fans are somewhat discouraged. The Yankees don't have a pitching staff that can hang with the Red Sox and they're not the favorite to win it this year. I almost started feeling sympathetic for them and I thought, "it's OK, they're gonna get Felix Hernandez from Seattle, you're gonna be OK." (sorry Mariner fans but you heard it here first).

I should have slapped my self immediately; pity for the Yankees?... the Yankees are EVIL. They exist to be hated. They will pay an endless number of dollars every year to win the championship.

The real shame of the Yankees is that they don't win it every year. They fired Torre because he lost the 1st round of the playoffs, 4 years in a row. The next year under Girardi they didn't even make the playoffs. Come on man, I could have managed them to the playoffs, seriously with all that talent and money I could manage the Yankees and they would make the playoffs today. I wager that George W. Bush could even manage the Yankees into the playoffs or even, Steven Hawking could be wheeled in and lead the Yankees to the playoffs while speaking through his computer. They should have moved the whole team to Albany for not making the playoffs, New Yorkers deserve better than that. NOT.

Of the many things that make the Yanks so evil is that legitimate teams scout players; they invest millions, they pour time, blood and sweat to make them great. Then the second they become free agents, here come the Yankees. They come blowing their noses with million dollar bills, clean hair cuts and a fresh shave...why so clean-cut you ask? Because that's the way the devil likes them to be.

Remember when Johnny Damon sold his soul? I can still see him sitting in that chair with the cameras rolling as the barber went to town shearing his glorious locks of hair, just like Samson in the hands of Delilah. The devil took his soul that day and it was all captured on camera as one of the most disturbing moments in baseball. I can still see the look on his face... it was as if you could hear the 30 pieces of silver falling to the ground as he realized it was too late, he was officially Yankee, a mercenary, and all things good about Johnny Damon have blown with the wind.

If you look hard you can see that same look in the eyes of Texeira, and A Rod; they look just like Robert the Bruce in Braveheart; you know that scene after William Wallace rips off his helmet to see he's been betrayed. The Yankees will offer players the world but the cost of wearing those pinstripes can cost a man far more than his pride.

A Rod, Tex, if you're reading this there is still dignity to be salvaged, you could pull a Randy Johnson and run. Never look back, just keep running. You could find yourself in a city where baseball dignity is restored and love for the game reigns supreme, a place like Minnesota. A Rod, put the walkman down and stop listening to Madonna tapes, I've got some Purple Rain you need to hear.

With 22 days left until opening day lets all recognize where our allegiance lies. We have not forgotten who the bad guys are... we will all HATE the Yankees.

           

   Hollow Johnny                                                                      Purpose filled Johnny
(After)                                                                                         (Before)

NL MVP: The Machine...again

I would love to sit here and give you 10 reasons why, beyond any reasonable doubt, Albert Pujols will not win the NL MVP this year. But the bottom line is, I am hard pressed to find even 1 good reason why he won’t.

Of the best reasons I can find why he shouldn’t win this year is a question about his actual birth year. A hypothetical question as to whether or not he was actually born in 1980 is the best reason we can come up with to put a dagger in his MVP hopes.

Hasn’t the man been disrespected enough already? He was drafted in the 13^th round of the ’99 draft. As far as I’m concerned all of baseball owes him an overwhelming apology for our failures at evaluating talent.

Last year Pujols hit 42 home runs with a .312 BA and 118 RBI’s. If Pujols may have a 10% increase from last year, which is a conservative estimate considering is has been statistically proven that players have a heightened performance during contract years. If this proves true we can expect 46 homeruns with a .344 batting average and 130 RBI’s with numbers like that he could be chasing the Triple Crown.

I wouldn’t say Pujols is going to win the first Triple Crown since Carl Yastrzemski but after being snubbed last year and missing the playoffs, ‘The Machine’ will be playing with a vengeance. There is no question Pujols will do his part to win the NL MVP. Now the only question remaining is: will the voters do theirs?

Adrian Gonzalez my pick for AL MVP

Adrian Gonzalez AL MVP

Adrian Gonzalez has spent the last 5 seasons at Petco Park in San Diego. Hitting homeruns at Petco is like bowling a 300 game, it’s not impossible but it’s worth your name on a plaque. Petco Park is the most difficult homerun park in all of baseball. If that didn’t hurt his numbers enough, his supporting cast didn’t help much either. With Eckstein, Headley and Hairston as his supporting cast Pitchers didn’t even have to pitch to him.

Now Gonzalez has moved to Fenway Park where pitchers will be pressured to pitch to him. He will have Ortiz, Crawford and Perdroia next to him in the lineup. Plus Fenway Park is one of the best hitter’s parks in the game, it is built for guys like Gonzalez to thrive. It is such a hitters field Victor Martinez was able to post .335/.389/.562 rates at Fenway last year and just .271/.315/.426 on the road. Fenway is a hitters dream.

What does this mean for Gonzalez? Better pitches and closer fences means his 31 homeruns, .298 avg. and 101 RBI’s will now be more like 42 Homeruns, .330 avg. and 130 RBI’s. Plus the Red Sox have made all the right moves to win the World Series this year. The equation looks something like this; a (great supporting cast) plus a (homerun field) plus (an early favorite to win the World Series) equals an easy pick for AL MVP.

Tampa Bay doesn't deserve the Rays

The last few years baseball fans have been lucky enough to watch a team rise from the ashes and into baseball awesomeness. The Tampa Bay Ray have given fans some of the best games in all of sports. They have battled with Boston and New York and held there ground every step of the way. For Tampa and Baltimore to play against these 2 powerhouses every year makes us all feel like the injustice of the world will never be set right. Somehow though, Tampa Bay has fought hard enough to be beat both Boston and New York.

The tragedy of this resurrection is that nobody ever goes to these games. The old saying is "if a tree falls in the woods and nobody is there to hear it does it make a noise?" Perhaps what we need to ask is, if the best baseball games are played and nobody goes to see it should they stay in that city?

No way... If Tampa Bay won't go to these games then they don't deserve the Rays, give them a AAA team like the Pittsburgh Pirates... oh there not AAA? oh sorry. Seriously there are some great cities within proximity of other AL East teams that would give there full support of the Rays if they would only come. I recommend Raleigh North Carolina, or New Orleans, LA. There is zero reason for the Rays to stay in Tampa, they are doing them selves dirty by staying, and the time to move was yesterday.