Current State of Affairs

Sometimes all these thoughts just pile up in my head and after a while, I just forget a lot of them. These days, I’ve been having a lot of thoughts and I can’t afford to forget them, so I thought it would be a great idea if I just threw everything out there. About everything. So here are my thoughts on the current state of affairs… in sports.

First, lets start with baseball. I’m starting with baseball simply because thats the hottest topic that matters. So with the trade deadline 24 hours away (I’ll be back tomorrow if the Mets make a move) there’s been a few intriguing moves and a lot more talk. No one had really answered Milwaukee and Chicago’s trades to get Sabathia and Harden up until a few days ago. Granted, some of the moves weren’t as flashy but they certainly made an impact. The Yankees trading away prospects to get Xavier Nady helped pave the way for them to deal Kyle Farnsworth for Pudge Rodriguez. Obviously, Posada’s injury had a lot to do with it too. I don’t know about a lot of other people, but I like this move. Pudge is a good defensive catcher and he might not put up the kind of numbers he did in Texas and Florida but he can still hit. And as for Detroit, certain people (cough Ed cough) thought they were the team to beat after bringing in Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. I think this pretty much seals the deal for them.

Another big story surrounding baseball is Manny Ramirez and his desire to just be himself. Boston doesn’t want Manny being Manny. At least not Manny with 20 homers and 70 or so rbi. They want Manny being Manny with a .330 avg, 45 homers and 130 rbi. So what should they do? Trade him for prospects, platoon left field, have no protection in the lineup for Ortiz and not pursue the playoffs? Or should they keep him for the next few months, hope he shows up in time for their parade through Bahstin Yahd? Personally, I could care less. I hate that city. And as a Mets fan, I saw they trade him to the Mets for a single-A prospect with no potential at all. What better way for Theo Upstein to show him ManRam than to trade him for basically nothing? And then the Mets get an angry Manny hellbent on showing Boston what they lost. The other night I heard someone on WFAN say the Mets should trade Beltran for Ellsbury and Manny. Clearly, this person wasn’t thinking hard enough.

Why is it that every year at the trade deadline, small market teams get rid of their good players? I know they want to get some value for the guy they won’t re-sign anyway, but some teams do it every year and it never helps. Look at Oakland. Every season, it seems like they’re dumping salary and playing what Billy Beane calls Money Ball. And sure, they’re usually in contention but why not hang on to your guys and see what happens? Imagine if the A’s had Mulder, Zito, Hudson, Harden, and Duchsherer. And then you’d look at the bullpen with guys like Dana Eveland, Joe Blanton, Huston Street, etc. Thats the best pitching team in baseball easily. How does that team NOT win the World Series. Hell, they could trade off some of those guys if they want for some hitting. The best example of what to do is Tampa Bay. Ten years ago, the DEVIL Rays put together the “Hit Show” with Fred McGriff, Jose Canseco, Wade Boggs, and a lot of other guys that were past their prime. Now they’re leading the AL East. Thats right, the same AL East with the Yankees and the Red Sox. Now, I don’t think they’re going to win the division, but they’ve got a shot, which is more than I can say for Oakland.

So I guess thats it on baseball… for now.

I know its been gone over and reviewed and talked about, but is Brett Favre serious right now? Is he serious? An itch? Come on. He’s what? 38 years old? He’s got almost every statistical career record for a quarterback. He’s the Cal Ripken of football. He’s beloved. And now he wants to pull a Joe Montana and show up in a different uniform? I can understand both sides, but at the same time, both sides are wrong. The Packers were wrong for announcing Aaron Rodgers would be the starter. Now they don’t want to look stupid. Favre was wrong for retiring so early without being 100% sure. Now he wants to play and he’s putting Green Bay is a tough spot. There are only two ways to solve this. Either Green Bay brings in Brett and he starts, thereby throwing the finishing blow to Aaron Rodgers and the slim confidence he’s got left… or they release him and let him play somewhere else. Anywhere else. How many people really remember Joe Montana in Kansas City? Unless Brett Favre breaks the single season records for passing yards and touchdowns, leads his team (whichever team it might be) to an undefeated record and a Super Bowl win, Favre will always be a Packer… or in some cases a Falcon… or in even less cases, a Jet. Hmm. Browning Nagle or Brett Favre? Tough choice.

In less Brett Favre-related news, I can’t wait for the season to start so I can finally start making picks and being absolutely right about more than half of them.

Now, onto the NBA. With the Olympics starting soon, its nice to see that USA Basketball is beginning to take these games seriously and may just be able to get past teams countries like Lithuania. Its no secret that basketball has become widely globalized, but is the globalization of basketball come back to bite the United States? If you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m highly upset that a few of our good players are going overseas to play in Europe. I can understand Juan Carlos Navarro, an All-Rookie Second Team player, going to play in Barcelona. He’s from Spain. Or Bostjan Nachbar going to play in Russia. But Josh Childress going to play in Greece? Thats right. Josh Childress. 6th overall pick in the 2004 draft. He was on the cover of College Hoops 2k5, dammit? How could the Hawks… how could the NBA let this happen? The fact that bench warmers or guys that couldn’t land a team go overseas is understood. These guys get an opportunity to play and get paid. Trajan Langdon was a star at Duke, played for Cleveland, and most recently he was named MVP of the Euroleague Finals. But how can we allow decent role players to leave? Maybe if bums like Jerome James weren’t tying up so much salary cap space, guys like Childress could get more money. Why are NBA salaries guaranteed anyway? Why aren’t there more incentive based contracts? And if you think this isn’t going to have a huge impact, whats going to happen when higher caliber players decide they can get more money in Europe? Don’t think it’ll happen? Well, Ben Gordon is currently considering going overseas. That could be just the beginning.

And it doesnt end there. Brandon Jennings is going to play in Italy because his SAT scores weren’t high enough for him to qualify and play at Arizona. So, rather than study a little harder and score higher on the test… or maybe try to attend a college with slightly lower academic standards, he chose to play professionally in Italy until he’s eligible to enter the NBA draft. Mark my words, Jennings is playing with fire right now. He won’t be the last high school player to do this. Guys that coast through high school are going to opt out of going to college so that they can go play in Europe for a year. This is going to ruin the college game, and there are going to be a lot of high school guys going to Europe to make some money before becoming eligible for the draft.

Which brings me back to an idea I’ve had for some time now. Why doesn’t the NBA do what Major League Baseball does? If a player decides to enter the NBA draft out of high school, let him. But if he goes to college, he has to stay for at least three seasons. The college game doesn’t suffer, NBA teams get a better idea of what kind of prospect they’re seeing, and I think it makes for a more efficient system.

So thats the current state of affairs as of right now. With the way things are going with Brett Favre, Manny Ramirez, and the NBA, its hard to see when there might be any change.