Dude, relax, you've got like 100 more games

ESPN’s Colin Cowherd recently asked, “Do we think that maybe, just sometimes, baseball takes it’s self a little too seriously?”

         Yes and definitely.  

         This week the Chicago Cubs make a historic trip to Boston’s Fenway Park, in a series that has baseball fans flocking to Boston and TV’s everywhere.

         And WHHATT a glorious time for this series to come up.

         After a sweep of the Yankees, and several close games in late innings to follow, the Sox have won six in a row and things are starting to come together. Better late than never right?

          Too bad the talent didn’t ignite till over 40 games in, but no matter, Crawford singled to center allowing McDonald to score, thus winning the game in Detroit, late in the ninth. And just like that the faithful are back in the swing of believing. Oh and add a little Adrian Gonzolez in there, mix with the usual Youk, Papi and Papelbon and you’ve got a win streak and finally an over .500 percentage.

         Pitching, in a season perspective, will still be a concern, even as Bucholz has found his confidence and Beckett has been well, stunning, even though he left his last game early with a stiff neck.

          Worries still lie with Lackey, who gives me a heart attack every time he’s on the mound, and Dice-k, both moved onto the 15-day disabled list. That being said I couldn’t think of a better time for the Sox to check themselves before they wreck themselves.

         After all, I loved the wins against the Yankees, but the New Yorker’s were worried about more things than just grass stains on their pinstripes; A losing streak and a well-known veteran making, gasp, mutinous statements. So, how does one measure the Sox win, versus the Yankee loss is difficult when Jeter couldn’t find a base. This certainly isn’t 2004.

         From a completely biased Red Sox perspective, this Cub’s series should be “should win games”. But as my Dad always says, “that’s why they play the games.”

         Anyway you see it, this upcoming series is great for baseball.

It’s interleague play. It’s the curses, the old time America, and oh yeah, the most pathetic fans in sports- all in one place. Can I get a hell yeah?

          In Fenway for the first time since 1918, damn I wish I could be there. For those of you that scoff at baseball, who tire of it’s long and “snail-like” games, just don’t rain on this parade. We know our sport is not the flashiest, and sometimes it can get a little tiring… it can get disposable. But that’s why games like these are so important. Yes it’s for the win or loss, yes we are always in a pennant race (the fans at least feel that way, don’t know about players) but every once in a while we take a slow game and slow it down even more for two storied teams to remind us of days where baseball only came in black and white.

         Thank gosh nowadays we have color TV’s, color commentating and a whole hell of a lot of in-depth packages and advertising. Baseball can be boring as hell, but just boring enough to take it a little too seriously.

         And in the spirit of that seriousness take a look at ESPN’s Jayson Stark’s injury of the week,

“Padres bullpen catcher Justin Hatcher needed two shots of penicillin last weekend -- after getting bit by a squirrel in the bullpen at Coors Field.”

How does that happen?

Happy Baseball People.  

Judgment Day for Sports: a modern day discussion for a modern day dilemma

It gets worse, before it gets... worse

We are living in a historical time. CNN is covering doomsday theories while Jesus lovers in many states proclaim that May 21^st  2011 will be Judgment day.

Do you think the NFL thought if they waited long enough, the religious prophecies of others would come true and rescue them from ever making a decision? 

            Probably not, but what’s happening with the NFL Lockout, (which I still don’t know exactly) is just the tip of the iceberg to a new generation of sports. Across the major league board we’re witnessing struggles between player and organization, between “talent” and “corporation”, and college football is no different.

            People say Tuscaloosa is the Vatican for the religion of college football, and few can deny it’s uncanny atmosphere come game-day. So, in a world where Ohio State players are allegedly getting free cars, people are looking into pay for play scams, and some where in North Carolina Cam Newton is still trying to seduce a camera with his cheesy smile we should know, no one is exempt from illegal happenings. 

Hey now. (Sorry Cam) 

            People will do anything to win. I didn’t need to tell you that because it’s a fact of life and it certainly isn’t a standard just held to the football field. Today, we are in a world of accelerated anxiety to be the best. Ask Iowa who offered a scholarship to a 15-year-old high school freshman this year (talk about Russian Roulette).

            Ask Alabama head Football coach Nick Saban, who has often talked about the accelerated pace of recruiting. Kinda like the accelerated pace of player entitlement to money and gifts. I’m not saying it’s wrong, at least not here because there’s not enough time in the day to cover every situation, and sometimes people just need money. But how far does it go?

             Ask Jim Tressel who we all thought was a better leader than to allegedly ignore emails warning him that his players were involved in something quite fishy. Tressel’s role as a leader brings us to question; who is exempt, what’s happening as we speak and whose the next to go down? Welcome to the world where ignorance is bliss.

            And right now, you would be ignorant to think that every organization in College Football, the NBA, MLB or NFL aren’t doing a little bending of the rules. Now, I’m not saying that all organizations are doing drastic and flagrant disregard for the rules, but champions aren’t champions anymore without a little loophole.

Is that fair to say?

Can we trust any home run leader in baseball anymore?

Can we not scrutinize interesting transfers from star players to thirsty schools who otherwise have no obvious draw?

Well, we can’t do that either. But sports are about going the extra step. On the field, that extra yard. Behind the scenes whose to say it’s about that extra handshake, the extra plush leather on a curiously bought Cadillac, or simply if its about the turn of the shoulder- the delete of an email, ignoring the ugly truth.

            Cheating is not new but perhaps our awareness of it is. We have decisions as fans. The NCAA and other governing bodies of sports everywhere have to decide when there is a boiling point and how we define breaking the rules of a game.

            It’s a sad day when we silence our inner kid that taught us to love a team for what they accomplish on the field and the powerful and determined athletes that performed miracles on the stages of sports everywhere.

            This time however, the fairy dust of that tale is fading as players are asking for more and organizations are not willing to budge. Be that the Yankees and the Spanish soap opera with Jorge Posada refusing to bat after a batting order change. Or Lebron James and people’s anger at him for leaving Cleveland to, lets face it, more talented tides in Miami.

            Just take a look at the pr for the organizations of the NFL, they like other organizations, play the victim. I don’t care whose right in this but playing the victim is wrong on all accounts. Everywhere we are missing accountability, don’t know if people see this or not, but a few good coaches (Bill Belichick and Nick Saban come to mind) say that doing your job and being accountable for what you are responsible for is important and that, my friends, means on and off the field. So you can imagine my surprise when Cam Newton wins a Heisman trophy, because I wasn’t paying full attention to the media mess accusing him of taking money to play college football. I was busy looking at the fact that he cheated twice academically at Florida in what I think was flagrant disregard for his classmates and his intentioned ignoring of being accountable to his responsibilities.

            On an organizational level, major league teams should work harder to create an environment wanted by the individual but not just by standards of money. College football teams have more of a roadblock but tradition and history, or intense ferocity to be the best doesn’t need to be defined in dollars, but I’m not fully naive either.

            But what we need to realize is as OchoCinco is riding bulls and trying out for major league soccer, and as NFL running backs are deciding which sunglasses are  best for a summer with extra time. Sometimes we are forgetting that this organization player struggle can also finds its roots in a poor neighborhood where a kid leaves his family to play football at a school, have hopes to play in the pros and in the meantime, what’s to stop him from taking the best offer? Accountability is dying, and that would have been my only answer.