Diary of a Mighty Bastard

Just some various thoughts as I recover from a work month of hell:

- Politics: I've taken a very detahced look at politics lately, because there's no serious political option for what I believe in (I'm against bailouts of all sorts). It gives me a chance to watch Obama and Congress in action without having any dogs in the fight.

- Congress, IMHO, is still a bunch of morons (I'm against the bailout, but Congress basically demanded that the heads of GM, Ford, and Chrysler put on a dog and pony show for them without addressing the real problems; it was embarassing for all parties)

- As for Obama, he's shown me to be very cautious and do a good job of speaking without committing to anything. I really don't know what he'll do once he takes the Oath of Office.

- Rumors are that Obama's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel helped push the arrest of Gov. Blagojevich this week. I certainly hope so. it was going to happen eventually, and by happening now, they remove this embarassment before Obama becomes President. This is just smart politics.

- On sports, CC Sabathia signed a 7 year, $160 million deal with the Yankees. CC is a great pitcher, but I'd be wary of signing any starting pitcher for seven years.

- The Cleveland Cavaliers have started the season on fire. As a Cleveland fan, I'm desperate for a world championship in one of the three major sports. The Browns has fizzled, and the Indians are good but had injur problems. The Cavs this year are th ebest chance of winning that championship in a long while.

I make a few jokes about the Sports Gods hating me. When my favorite teams are the Cubs, Indians, Cavs, and Browns (combined titles in my lifetime=0), and they seem to lose in some horrible ways (The Drive, The Fumble, Jose Mesa, Steve Bartman). It's like being a Red Sox fan, only without the 2004 World Series Happy Ending. So I make jokes that I'm the cause, that I carry Sports curses to all teams that I root for.


Now I'm no longer sure it's a joke

Congratulations to the Boston Celtics on beating the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Eastern Conference Semi-Finals...

It's frustrating, being a Cleveland Sports Fan. Cleveland has had franchises in the big three sports (NFL, NBA, MLB) for as long as I've been alive. In those years, none of their teams have won a championship.

They've been close. So very, very close. But it's always something that prevents them from getting over the top.

This isn't like rooting for Cubs- rooting for a franchise that makes so many bad decisions that you end up giving up all hope. The Cavs and Indians have made a lot of smart decisions, and even when the moves don't work out, I understand where they are coming from (hell, I applauded the Larry Hughes signing- who would have guessed that he'd be perpetually injured AND not able to work within Mike Brown's system?). The Browns don't have as good of a track record, but they have been improving lately.

I'm not giving up on any of the teams. But I admit it's frustrating to see other cities enjoy championships. We're long overdue for it to be our turn.

OK... I've calmed down enough after Cleveland's loss in the ALCS to discuss sports again.

* Congrats to the Boston Red Sox. They were the best team in baseball this year, and deserved to be the World Champions. They have good young players, and should be a force to contend with as long as Ortiz and Manny continue to hit.

* A-Rod opts out of his contract. Whew. If I had a deal that paid me $91 million over the next three years, I'd think long and hard about voluntarily leaving that deal. The only way I'd consider it is if I knew someone was guaranteed to pay a lot more. Either that, or I really hated playing in New York. The timing of the announcement- during the World Series- was rotten. I want to give A-Rod a break because I think he's an incredible talent, but he has a habit of shooting himself in the foot when it comes to dealing with the public and media.

* NFL: This Sunday's Patriots-Colts game might actually live up to the hype regarding it. The Patriots have been unstoppable, but if I were Indianapolis I'd be annoyed that any other team was geting so much press.

* NBA: The season starts this week. I'm a Cavs fan, but with no progress on re-signing Anderson Varejao or Sasha Pavlovic I worry about the team. Most experts have them 3rd in the division, and I can see why. Hopefully they can step up on offense (defensively they are a championship team; offensively they need someone to help out LeBron)

* NBA: The Kobe Bryant trade rumors continue. My favorite report says that a Bulls-Lakers deal would be nixed by Bryant himself because "Also, Bryant would not want to play in Chicago if the Bulls surrendered all four of those players, believing there would not be enough talent left to compete for a championship, and he would veto that trade even if the Bulls and Lakers were both in favor of it. "

I love that. Bryant demands to be paid a fortune, puts himself in a situation where he is allowed to be the only star, then complains about the lack of talent, demands to be traded (from a team that has backed him up far more than any team should ever back up a player), but ONLY to a team that he approves, then complains that the trade would hurt the team he'd be going to?

Man, Kobe Bryant is like a killer robot or a telemarketer. You don't end up feeling guilty about despising the guy.

Some thoughts coming out of a VERY busy sports weekend:

* I loved the Brown's draft pick of Joe Thomas. I've been complaining forever that the Browns needed to get serious about the offensive line to protect their quarterback, and Thomas is the first Offensive Tackle they've taken in the first round that I can recall. This pick alone made me happy for the Browns.

* The Quinn trade? I'm not so sure. Dallas made out like bandits (and the trade was fantastic ont heir end, no matter how Brady Quinn turns out). Trading a #1 next year to move up 11 spots in this year's draft is expensive. On the other hand...
(a) Quinn can potentially be the Brown's QB for the next several years
(b) Since he dropped to #22, he should be signed at a relatively bargain price
(c) Most drafts had him as a very high first round pick
(d) He's from Dublin, Ohio and wanted to play for the Browns
(e) For the first time since Bernie Kosar, our Quarterback will have some decent protection
(f) Brady Quinn's going to have a chip on his shoulder. I expect him to want to make all of those teams regret not picking him

Add it all up, and I liked the move. This is Phil Savage's "All In" move- more than any other single move he makes, this pick will determine his legacy for the Browns.

* New England picked up Randy Moss for the 4th round pick. It's a good gamble for New England, but I suspect Moss is on the downside of his career, and won't really matter. He might help New England because their Wide Receivers were below average last year, but he's not an All-Pro anymore.

* Moving to the NBA- Golden State's up 3-1? HOW?! Dallas has been dominant for so long that I expected them to destroy Golden State. Give the Warriors credit- they match up well with Dallas. And Baron Davis, when healthy, is an outstanding player.

* One bad month, and the rumors are starting about Joe Torre being fired? *rolls eyes*. OK, I have a rule about New York teams- tone everything down by 70%. Every rumor, every statement, everything.

* Steroids. I'm starting to come around more and more to the idea that baseball should just say publicly "The steroids era happened, and we do not care about any steroid use that happened before our current policy came into play. Anyone using steroids since the policy began will be subjected to the appropriate punishment, but we are not retroactively punishing anyone."

I fear that unless baseball tries something like this, every single accomplishment from the 1990's until 2005 will be suspect (and probably longer than that- you don't think there wasn't someone who was juicing in the 80's, 70's, or 60's?) Right now, people are discounting everything done during these times, and it's put a pall over the game.

Players used steroids. Just like they've try to cheat in 1,000 other ways. When they are caught, they should be punished. But right now it seems every player from that period is branded with a scarlet 'S'. Hell, some reporter decided not to vote for Ripken or Gwynn because he wasn't satisfied they didn't use steroids.
Unless all of baseball- the owners, the players, the reporters, and most importantly, the fans- acknowledge that there isn't much that can be done about the past and move on, it's going to hang over baseball for generations. Hell, Mark McGwire wasn't elected to the Hall of Fame, despite beating any criteria people could argue for the induction.

That means accepting that Bonds hit 73 home runs in one season, and that he will most likely break Aaron's record. These accomplishments can't be ignored because it was the steroid era.

Look at it this way- Bob Gibson in 1968 had a 1.08 ERA. One. Point. Zero. Eight. If someone pitched that today, he might break $30 million a year. But 1968 was also known as 'The Year of the Pitcher'- everything was in the pitcher's favor that year. Hell, in the AL Carl Yazstremski was the ONLY player to hit above .300

Does that mean that Bob Gibson wasn't a great pitcher? Nope. But baseball people acknowledge that, while he was a great pitcher, he wasn't as great as the raw numbers appear.

It's the same with Bonds, and McGwire, and Sosa. People should acknowledge that, in this era, the numbers were high. But acknowledging that fact doesn't invalidate what these players did entirely.

And until baseball realizes it, that scar will never heal.