All Star Break Check Up

Well it is that time of year again, the All Star Break. The time when Major League Baseball players go to a city and watch their counterparts hit monster home runs and just have fun playing the game of baseball. It is also the time of year for most baseball fans, bloggers, analysts and anyone else who made picks at the beginning of the season to see how they are doing. I made my picks at the beginning of the season and lets see how I am doing:

American League East:

• My pick: Boston Red Sox
• Actual leader: Boston Red Sox

American League Central:

• My pick: Cleveland Indians
• Actual leader: Detroit Tigers

American League West:

• My pick: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
• Actual leader: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

National League East:

• My pick: Philadelphia Phillies
• Actual leader: Philadelphia Phillies

National League Central:

• My pick: Chicago Cubs
• Actual leader: St. Louis Cardinals

National League West:

• My pick: Los Angeles Dodgers
• Actual leader: Los Angeles Dodgers

Well it seems that I am not doing all that bad, the Central Division is giving me a hard time but who would have thought the Cleveland Indians would be doing as poorly as they are, Cliff Lee and Carl Pavano are pitching great but the bats are not producing runs and it never helps when your best player gets hurt. Fans of the Chicago Cubs are used to losing but when they are coming off a 97 win season the expected a log more then what they are getting. However, being 3.5 games out at the break with 5 of the best players having the worst of their career is not bad considering everything else.

The second half of the season should be interesting, I am sticking with my Chicago Cubs pick but I am going to change my American League Central pick to the Chicago White Sox. I like the mix of good hitting and their dominate pitching, as long as they can stay healthy they will stay in that race. A few other stories to follow in the second half:

• Roy Halladay will be traded to the Phillies.
• Pedro Martinez will win 8 games for the Phillies and 2 games in the playoffs for them.
• The Rays will continue their charge in the American League East and make the playoffs for the second year in row but this time as the Wild Card.
• Manny Ramirez will end up with 30 plus home runs and 110 plus RBI's.
• Alex Rodriguez will continue to struggle and do nothing for the Yankees to make a run to the playoffs.
• The Pittsburgh Pirates will finish over .500 this year.

Happy Birthday America.... Mr. Davis and Mr. Steinbrenner

On this July 4th our nation celebrates its 232nd birthday while Al Davis celebrates his 80th birthday and George Steinbrenner celebrates his 79th birthday; combined they are 159 years old. All three birthday's that we celebrate today are famous for many reasons in their own way, lets take a look at the top 5 reasons we should celebrate these famous birthday's.

The United States of America:

• Leader of the free world, every country strives to be like the USA but can only hope to duplicate its power.
• One of the toughest military in the world that will never give up.
• We are stubborn because we have fought through a Depression, two World Wars, 9/11 and we'll keep on fighting.
• Families will come together to set off fireworks.
• We are free to do what we want, when we want and how we want.

Al Davis:

• The way he made the NFL a multi-billion dollar organization with the merger of the AFL and NFL.
• Hiring the first black coach in Art Shell and first female CEO in the NFL, Amy Trask.
• Making John Madden the greatest video gamer of all time.
• Knowing all the short cuts between Oakland and Los Angeles to miss all the traffic.
• Knowing that if Hollywood can not find anyone to play Freddy Kruger they can always call on him.

George Steinbrenner:

• Spent money like it was going out of style which led to baseball players making $25 million a year.
• Luxury tax!
• Corporate sponsorships no matter how big a fine the commissioner of baseball gave him.
• Creating the team that everyone loves to hate.
• Building a $1.3 billion stadium that fans can not go to since ticket prices are so high.

Happy Birthday America, Al Davis and George Steinbrenner!

Shaq and LeBron

Here is my prediction of what will happen with the Cavs after acquiring Shaq, one of these three things will happen.

1. Shaq and LeBron will win the 2010 NBA Championship. After they win Shaq will retire and LeBron will remain in Cleveland but questions will start to be asked; can LeBron win a championship without Shaq? Sound familiar?

2. Shaq gets hurt and retires after season as LeBron bolts for more money in the NBA.

3. Shaq and LeBron win the NBA Championship in 2010 and they both leave to play in Greece for a combined $2 billion!

Sports Movies

I was flipping through the channels tonight before the Indians game started and found this movie called "The Final Season." I remember seeing advertisements about it on MLB.com and remember saying that I would probably like to see that. Seeing as it was never shown on any major television station I forgot all about it, until tonight. I came into the movie about 45 minutes into it but was able to figure out what was going on very quickly. The movie is about Norway High School which was a baseball powerhouse in the state of Iowa for a near quarter century. Because it was a small school district the state decided to shut the school down and combine with a neighboring high school. The team also just lost its coach that built them into the powerhouse to the Detroit Tigers as a coach in their minor league system, so nobody was picking them to do anything. The players were down and out, but the coach brought their spirits back up and they ended up winning the state championship, so cliche! Great movie and I highly suggest spending a night watching it.

Watching this tonight got me thinking about my top 10 list of all time great sports movies:

1. Hooisers: How can you go wrong with this feel good story and it's true just like the one above.

2. Rocky: So what the hero loses and couple of times and Rocky becomes old, but just think of the message it brought to everyone.

3. Rudy: Great inspiration for any young football player or athlete.

4. Hoop Dreams: Many people probably have not seen this but it is about to Chicago basketball players who had promising careers in front of them, this movie takes you on their journey.

5. Major League: No sports movie is funnier than this one.

6. The Rookie: Story of an aging coach who tried out for the Major Leagues and made it.

7. Bull Durham: I just recently feel in love with this move, you have to watch it and then go online to read the quotes.

8. A League of Their Own: Women's baseball, great story, great actors.

9. King Pin: A 1970's drunk who takes an Amish boy to Las Vegas for a bowling tournament, classic!

10. Go Tigers, It's More Than A Game: I am biased towards this movie because it is a documentary about my high school and its football rich tradition during my senior year.

I know there are many movies that could be on this list and please let me know what I am missing or what you would put on there.

The Ultimate Sports City

Heard an interesting story this morning on Mike and Mike in the Morning. They were discussing a column that Michael Wilbon wrote in the Washington Post on Sunday about which sports franchise could be considered he best of all time. Naturally this morning it came down to the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics and New York Yankees. Mike and Mike were throwing stats left and right about all of them and made very valid points, but it got me thinking, what city is the ultimate sports city in these United States?

The ultimate sports city, the city where sports fans want to be all the time because they know that they are going to have the best experience. What exactly makes this city the ultimate sports city?

• Number of pro sports franchises
• Number of successful college sports programs
• Number of successful high school sports programs
• Number of sports bars out number the number of Starbucks
• Weather
• Tradition
• Tailgate experience
• Rivalries
• Knowledge of sports and the teams

With all these things considered there are a great deal of cities that could be up for the title of Ultimate Sports City. At first thought Los Angeles comes to mind with as many sports teams, successful college teams and high schools. The number of Starbucks may be about the same as sports bars. New York and Boston probably could be ruled out, but Chicago could be put in there as well.

Because of where I grew up in Massillon, Ohio the heart of it all I am bias to that city myself. The only reason I would not even consider it would be because of the successful pro sports teams, we are only 45 minutes from Cleveland. Do some research and let me know what you think, where is your Ultimate Sports City?

The Major League Baseball Draft

We all know that Stephen Strasburg is going #1 to the Washington Nationals, but after that can you name a single player that could be drafted without using Google. I did not think so because I can not even think a player.

Why is the baseball draft not covered the way the NFL or NBA drafts are covered. Both of those drafts have analysis from the time the college season is over. Lets take a look at some reasons why the Major League Baseball Draft is not covered as much:

• If a team does not sign its #1 draft pick from the year before they get a compensation pick in the first round, this is why the Nationals have the #1 and #10 pick this year. So in reality if none of the teams sign their #1 draft pick then there could be 60 total picks in the first round and you thought the NFL first round was long.
• How many first round draft picks are playing in the Majors currently?- 1 from 2008 (Daniel Schlereth from Arizona), 2 from 2007 (David Price from Tampa Bay and Matt Weiters from Baltimore), 5 from 2006 (Evan Longria from Tampa Bay, Andrew Miller from Detroit, Clayton Kershaw from the Dodgers, Tim Lincecum from San Francisco, and Max Scherzer from Arizona). In all over three years there are a total of 8 players out of the 90 selected in the first round playing Major League Baseball.
• The draft lasts a total of 3 days, a trip to Vegas would be much better.
• Most of the players drafted went to a college you never heard of or came from a Junior College or straight from high school.

Just make sure you wait another 3-5 years to see these players in the Major Leagues and then you can start to follow what they did.

Tickets

One day I will have season tickets to a pro sports team wherever I may be living. I say this because I am a sports fan and love going to live sporting events. However, I am saying this for another reason from an experience that I just recently had.

My wife and I are going to the Cleveland Indians game on June 13th against the St. Louis Cardinals, should be a fun game to watch. I ordered these tickets March 3rd through the Indians website which is powered by Ticketmaster. The e-mail order confirmation told me that I would receive the tickets within 48 hours of the event, but this was not my first time ordering off the website and I have always received my tickets very early. I called Ticketmaster this past Friday (June 5) and they told me that the tickets were mailed out on March 4th, I ordered them March 3rd. The United States Postal Service lost my tickets or Ticketmaster sent them to the wrong address. I am not real happy with either of them right now, especially Ticketmaster since this was the second time this has happened to me.

The first time this happened was during the 2008 baseball season, I ordered tickets for the final Yankee game in Yankee Stadium. UPS lost those tickets and because it was not Ticketmaster's fault I was out the ticket and the money that I spent on them. Thankfully this time Ticketmaster guaranteed my tickets and they are now waiting on me at will call in Cleveland.

What Could Be Better

I am trying to hold on to the last little bit of dignity I have left as a Cleveland sports fan, especially after last night. I was sitting here on my couch watching Game 4 of the Cavs/Magic series biting my fingernails and almost in tears as I watched the last .5 seconds of the 4th quarter and then overtime. Once the game was over it got me thinking about how I would have reacted if I were still living in Ohio compared to Virginia.

Here in Virginia there really isn't anyone who is a die hard Cleveland sports fan, you can find an Ohio State fan and maybe someone who is wearing a Indians, Browns or Cavs shirt but nobody real die hard. I still get very excited though over any of those teams doing anything great, which is rare. Then it triggered the thought of how I reacted Friday night to LeBron's shot. My wife and I were in Washington DC sitting in the hotel bar watching the game, nobody else was really paying attention. All of a sudden LeBron hit the shot and I think I knocked my chair over and yelled as loud as I could, that woke everyone up and they realized what had just happened. I was the only person in that place watching that game, what a tragedy.

I could only imagine what it would have been like at Buffalo Wild Wings (BW3) in Massillon, Ohio after that shot. My screaming and yelling times one hundred and everybody would have ordered another drink and the party would have spilled out into the streets.

I always find it fun watching a game anywhere that there are sports fans and you can enjoy a good banter. Watching the game while enjoying a cold beer and wings is one of the finest things in life no matter if you are home or far away.

The Best Things In Life

Why is it that most of the time a horrible thing will bring something good to mind. You know like when it rains and afterwards there is a rainbow and the flowers are in bloom. The band Filter had a great line from a song "The best things in life aren't for free" and they might be right in saying that. Thinking of that and keeping in mind that I love tradition and baseball something happened Monday that brought back one of the best traditions ever. The singing of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" is sung at every ballpark across America during the 7th inning stretch but Wrigley Field in Chicago does it the best.

Harry Cary sang it every game with the fans and since his passing they have had many superstars in various careers sing the song. Ozzy Osbourne you could not understand, Jeff Gordon called it Wrigley Stadium instead of Field and Mike Golic of Mike and Mike belted the words louder than anyone. But on Monday, Memorial Day, a true American icon took the stage; Mr. T! Yes THE Mr. T who played Clubber Lang in the Rocky movies and was a part of the A Team Check out the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqXEIwR9tx0

Cleveland

The Sports Illustrated cover jinx is in full swing right now as the Cleveland Cavaliers have lost 2 games to the Orlando Magic, the first 2 games they have lost this post season. In this weeks Sports Illustrated there is a great story by Joe Posnanski about the city of Cleveland and their sports stories. As a die hard Cleveland sports fan myself it is hard for me to believe the SI cover jinx right now because they are just being a Cleveland sports team.

There is a couple that is going through a divorce in the city of Cleveland and the only thing that they are arguing about is who gets the legal right to their son. The judge asks the boy "Do you want to live with your mom?" The son says "No, she beats me to much." The judge then asks "Do you want to live with your dad?" The son states "No, he beats me too." The judge then says "Well who do you want to live with?" The boy states "The Cleveland Browns because they don't beat anyone."

That is just one of the many Cleveland jokes that you can hear around the state of Ohio along with many others, but it is true. The Cavs right now are bringing Cleveland fans back to their roots of getting their hopes built up and then crushing all their dreams. It has been 45 years of frustration since any Cleveland championship. Why has it been so damn difficult for this city to win a championship, well lets take a look at the top 5 heart stopping moments in Cleveland sports history:

5. 1986 AFC Championship Game: "The Drive"- I was 4 years old but still remember this game and just thought to myself what happened.

4. 1987 AFC Championship Game: "The Fumble"- I was 5 years old but remember that Earnest Byner was and is still one of the most loved Browns player ever.

3. 1989 NBA Eastern Conference First Round Game 5: "The Shot"- This was the dagger in all of Cleveland sports fans, especially since Michael Jordan was the one that hit it.

2. 1997 World Series Game 7: The Cleveland Indians were one of the best teams of the mid 90's and they were playing the very young Florida Marlins. Edgar Renteria got a base hit off of Charles Nagy and made it 50 years, now 60 years since a World Series Championship.

1. 2007 ALCS: The Indians were a surprise team that year and had a 3-1 advantage over the Red Sox, at least we had a 3-1 lead instead of 3-0 like the year before.

It is tough being a Cleveland sports fan, but you get used to it, as Leon Bibb said the night of LeBron's shot; "There is always next year."

Strong Man With A Strong Heart

Ever watch The World's Strongest Man competition on ESPN or ESPN2 where they are throwing kegs or pulling buses? You must wonder how they train for these things, I mean who has a keg laying around their house other than college frat guys. I know I have always wondered this but have also wondered if they woke up one day and said "I am going to be the World's Strongest Man."

I was at a conference today for work, an annual conference where we always have interesting speakers. Today was no different, I had the pleasure of listening to Bill Kazmaier speak to a bunch of professionals who try to make a difference in people's lives daily. Oh, who is Bill Kazmaier, well he is a 3 time World's Strongest Man winner and has records in power lifting that may never be matched.

Bill did not talk much about these things, maybe just at the beginning during his introduction which were video clips from years past. Bill discussed with us the message of being positive and how things will get done if you are. He sends this message to kids on a daily basis on top of keeping yourself healthy. You see Bill was always told that he would not mount to more than a hill of beans (exact quote from Bill) and said that he was going to prove those people wrong. He started thinking positive and praying, sure enough he is what he is today. Such a towering figure who you would never think could have such a powerful message could have kept everyone's attention for more than just the 45 minutes that he had.

FORE!

So I played in a golf tournament today and this was the first time I golfed since this tournament last year. I was extremely worried about who I would be playing with since I was paying today, turns out I was partnered with our CEO and two other gentlemen in a best ball tournament. I knew right away that this would be a fun day when one of the other guys said to me "This is only my 2nd time golfing in my life and the first time was 2 weeks ago." The day was fantastic, we finished 5 over par, but had a great time.

Sports, especially golf, is all about relaxing but why is it that golf stresses so many people out. We had a fantastic time talking with each other, teaching each other and making fun of each other. We hit the ball, we missed the ball and I hit a house. We saw the entire course and tore a lot of the course up. We drank a beer, ate some food, drank some water and ate more food. If I could have kept the ball in the fairway I would have won the longest drive contest and then had to putt in a putt off for my CEO in the putting contest. On the 18th hole, which was really the 14th hole we putted 4 times each so that is 16 times total but ended up with a par on the hole.

A day like this really puts into perspective what you should stress over and what you should not stress over. Make time in your life to have fun and not worry so much, stress is meant for those really tough times in life, don't worry how far right you keep hitting the golf ball. If it keeps going right, adjust and make it go straight.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Did you know that the song "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" was written on a subway train in 1908 by Jack Norworth?

Did you know the song was inspired by a sign he saw that read "Baseball Today- Polo Grounds?"

Did you know that his wife Nora Bayes was the first to sing the song and made it popular during vaudeville acts?

Did you know that the gentlemen who set the song to music did not witness their first baseball game 20 years and 32 years later?

Now I am sure you all know that this famous 101 year old song is sung at every Major League Baseball game during the 7th inning stretch, one of the most famous traditions in all sport. I get to sing it this weekend at the Baltimore Orioles vs Washington Nationals game. I know it is not the most glamorous game to attend, but I am excited. There is something about sitting in the stands waiting for that foul ball or home run ball being hit directly to you or waiting to get an autograph from your favorite player or the guy that nobody has ever heard of yet. Eating a hot dog, getting some popcorn knowing that it is summer.

Baseball reminds me of my youth, of the days that I played baseball. I always wonder what it would have been like if I still played, baseball was the one sport that was always fun. 162 games a year just is not enough for me, I need it year round. Baseball is truly the American game, the game that we can all relate to at some point in your life. It is the blue collar worker's game, the sport that is well worth listening on the radio.

Sitting in the stands, watching it on TV or listening to the game on the radio being called by the play by play announcers the same way they did 30 years ago. Baseball, nothing more needs to be said.

The Big Winner and The Biggest Loser

We can all agree that the New York Jets were then winners of Day 1 of the NFL Draft with their trade made with the Cleveland Browns and they selected Quaterback Mark Sanchez with the #5 pick.

I really liked what the Philadelphia Eagles did with their draft on the first day selecting two offensive needs in Jeremy Maclin at wide receiver and LeSean McCoy at running back. These two players will make an instant impact on that team and could add 1-2 more wins this season propelling the Eagles right into the playoffs.

The team that needs to get ready for the #1 pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, the Cleveland Browns. Making the first trade is very understandable, but then making two more trades in the first round was just silly. The Browns were in desperate need of a running back and a wide receiver. Instead they took Alex Mack, center from California. The 2nd round was a little better with Brian Robiskie and Mohamed Massaquoi, both wide receivers. However the running back issue was never addressed, passing on Chris "Beanie" Wells, Donald Brown, and LeSean McCoy. Day 2 should be interesting, watch out for the trade of Braylon Edwards, in return the Browns will get a goat and a shotgun. The Cleveland Browns are now on the clock for 2010.

The Draft

When did the NFL Draft become such a huge party? I always remember watching it just to see who my team picked, then it went to who did my teams opponents pick, and then it was where did my college teams players go? I just saw a shot of the Radio City Music Hall crowd, I'm thinking the economy is just fine. There had to be at least 5,000 people there just to watch the commissioner call out player's names. I like my seat that I have, sitting on the couch watching it on the television. Let the party begin, the next draft party will be when the fantasy draft begins, enjoy!

GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL!

I scored two goals tonight in my first every soccer game and it was indoor soccer at that. I scored two goals and had four assists between two games tonight at the YMCA. People were joking all day that I wouldn't know what to do or anything like that, I kept telling them that I would be fine because I am a pretty athletic person. I proved them all wrong and scoff at everyone of them! Besides that I had fun, soccer can be a pretty fun sport, I compare it to basketball with your feet. I was also joking with people that I have never played before because I am from Ohio and we play football, not soccer. I understand that soccer is not a very marketable sport in the United States, but I think if people realized how much fun and physical the game really is then it could be a very popular sport. So the next nice day you have go to the park and kick the soccer ball around.

Put Your Dukes Up Against the Little League

I don't know if you heard about this story but it happened a few days ago. Elijah Dukes, oufielder for the Washington Nationals, was benched because he was 5 minutes late to the ballpark. I can understand reprimanding someone for being late for work but make sure that you check the reason why they were late. Elijah Dukes was not only benched, but he was also fined $500 because he was in attendance at a Little League festival where he watched the parade of 54 teams and then made some remarks to all the kids, this according to Yahoo Sports. The Little League raised $501 via an e-mail campaign to pay the fine and then an extra $1 for administrative costs. Elijah Dukes was only doing what he felt was right and was punished for it, so what is next, we're going to start allowing prisoners back in the NFL- oh wait that is happening.

The All 2nd Day Team Part 2

So the defense looks good, lets take a look at the offense.

Offensive Line:

• Willie Colon (2006 4th Round- Pittsburgh Steelers)
• David Diehl (2003 5th Round- New York Giants)
• Dan Koppen (2003 5th Round- New England Patriots)
• Justin Hartwig (2002 6th Round- Tennessee Titans)
• Matt Birk (1998 6th Round- Minnesota Vikings)

Tight End:

• Desmond Clark (1999 6th Round- Denver Broncos)
• Ben Coates (1991 5th Round- New England Patriots)

Wide Receiver:

• Marques Colston (2006 7th Round- New Orleans Saints)
• Jerricho Cotchery (2004 4th Round- New York Jets)
• TJ Houshmanzadeh (2001 7th Round- Cincinnati Bengals)

Running Back:

• Brandon Jacobs (2005 4th Round- New York Giants)
• Correll Buckhalter (2001 4th Round- Philadelphia Eagles)

Quarterback:

• David Garrard (2002 4th Round- Jacksonville Jaguars)
• Tom Brady (2000 6th Round- New England Patriots)
• Bernie Kosar (1985 Supplemental- Cleveland Browns)
• Steve Young (1984 Supplemental- Tampa Bay Buccaners)

Special Teams:

• Mitch Berger (1994 6th Round- Philadelphia Eagles)
• Matt Stover (1990- 12th Round- New York Giants)

There you have it folks, the All 2nd Day Team.

The All 2nd Day Team

Everyone knows about the NFL Draft and its picks on the first day, mainly the first round. What about those players who were drafted on the second day of the draft, rounds 4-7. So lets take a look at the all time 2nd day team, those players drafted on the 2nd day who have made an impact.

Defensive Line:

• Chris Canty (2005 4th Round- Dallas Cowboys)
• Bo Schobel (2004 4th Round- Tennessee Titans)
• Dan Klecko (2003 4th Round- New England Patriots)
• Alex Brown (2002 4th Round- Chicago Bears)

Linebacker:

• Larry Foote (2002 4th Round- Pittsburgh Steelers)
• Dhani Jones (2000 6th Round- New York Giants)
• Zach Thomas (1996 5th Round- Miami Dolphins)

Cornerback:

• Nathan Vasher (2004 4th Round- Chicago Bears)
• Brian Mitchell (1992 7th Round- Atlanta Falcons)

Safety:

• Pat Tillman (1998 7th Round- Arizona Cardinals)
• Antoine Bethea (2004 6th Round- Indianapolis Colts)

More to come... the Offense

Patriotism and Sports

So if I told you that today was Patriot's Day in the states of Massachusetts and Maine, would you know what I was talking about? Lets have a quick history lesson; in 1775 the first battles of the Revolutionary War were the Battle of Lexington and Battle of Concord. The Reason Maine celebrates this is because during this time Maine was a part of Massachusetts, see you just learned two new things in one day. So what exactly goes on during this day, well at about 6:00 AM in Lexington, Massachusetts a reenactment if held and then again at about 9:00 AM at the Old North Bridge in Concord. Throughout the day a reenactor rides all through Boston calling out warnings just as Paul Revere did. Oh yeah and the Boston Marathon is held on this day every year along with the Boston Red Sox playing baseball at 11:05 AM. Besides this do we really know what sports does for this country. Is there anything better then sports that represent this country, I mean one of the few promises that "W" kept was putting a baseball field on the White House lawn; ok enough politics. Outside of the traditional playing of the National Anthem at every sporting event what else is done. Without sports this country would have been devastated after the events of 9/11 or during the numerous wars that we have been in. Baseball was developed during the Civil War so sports have always played a peace maker. If it were not for sports then what would we have, and if it were not for patriotism what would we have?

Where Are You From?

I am from Massillon, Ohio! I am from Massillon, Ohio! I am from Massillon, Ohio! I live in Hampton, Virginia, I live in Hampton, Virginia, I live in Hampton Virginia.

While at the Dave Matthews Concert I was wearing my Cleveland Indians hat, I always have a hat on representing one of my teams. This usually starts a conversation with someone and this was no exception. While sitting there waiting for the show to start someone looks at me and says "Is that a Cleveland Indians hat I see?"

"Sure Is."

"Are you from Cleveland?"

"Nope, I'm from Massillon, what about you?"

"Yeah we're from Cleveland."

"Cleveland or somewhere else?"

"Well I'm from Solon and he is from Bedford."

So where are you from really, seeing as Solon is closer to Akron and not Cleveland. Please claim your hometown or at least say "I am from Solon which is near Cleveland." Here is another instance of this.

On the next night I was out in the concession area and a guy comes up to me who has a Cleveland Cavaliers hat on and he was excited since they won by 18 and the Indians put 22 on the Yankees. He asks if I am from Ohio so I say "Yeah, I'm from Massillon, what about you?"

"I from the Canton area."

I don't think he was from there because Canton is Massillon's rivalry and we usually do not like each other. Just by this guy saying this tells me that he may have lived in Canton or probably some place around it.

Just claim where you are from, stand proud of your hometown, you only have one.

Concert Events vs. Sporting Events

My wife and I have a our different interests but share these interests with each other. Obviously I am a huge sports fan and love going to any game that I can get to, she is a a HUGE Dave Matthews Band fan and a fan of going to concerts. We attended the Dave Matthews Band show in Charlottesville, Virginia over the weekend and I have to say I am enjoying these shows more and more every time; check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I14xg2_OGG8

While at the concert I started making some observations about concerts and comparing them with sports, so lets take a look:

Fans: There is no arguing that the fans at both events are very passionate for why they are there. However fans at concerts are very different from fans at sporting events. These fans hardly wear the shirt or hat of the person at the concert, where sports fans love showing their support however they can. Sports fans are the everyday person and so are concert goers, but it was interesting to hear a conversation between my wife and a friend. They were commenting on how diverse and different the crowed was, her friend said "We have 3 golfers sitting next to us..." But the fans at both events make the event that much better to attend.

Venues: So some concerts are inside and some are outside, same with sports. I feel that both places should be open aired venues so that you can stretch out, party, socialize and just have a great time. Most seats provide a good view of the event but still need to be better spaced for people with long legs.

Concessions: No matter where you are they are going to get you to pay for the food and drinks, however concerts may be a little cheaper. $6.00 for a beer compared to $8.00 at a ball game and most concerts will limit the number of alcoholic drinks unlike sporting events where it is a certain time in the game.

Teams: This I found very interesting. On the field or the court, depending on the sport, the teams are always pushing each other to get better and working together. The goal is to win the game for these players, but watching a band perform is unbelievable. The communication between the performers has to be in sync and flawless. No one person is bigger than the other and they challenge themselves. I witnessed something that I never have in sports, someone on the same team challenging someone else; Jeff Coffin and Carter Beauford went note for note Friday night where I thought either the drum set of the saxophone were going to blow up!

Athletes/Band members: Hands down both have to be in shape to do what they do. This may be a shock to some but I think those that are in a band, at least like DMB, are in better shape then any athlete. I would put Carter Beauford (drums) on the spin bike with any NBA player and see who lasts longer, my money is on Carter.

Enjoy each event and to each his own.

The House That ______ Built?

Well the Yankees opened up their lovely new stadium today with a lose to the Cleveland Indians. It was a great day in baseball history as one of the legendary teams in any sport opened a new stadium for the first time in their history since April 18, 1923. Any guesses on how much the original Yankee Stadium cost... $2.5 million, that is about how much CC Sabathia makes per strikeout! The original Yankee Stadium was called "The House That Ruth Built" based on the fact that without Babe Ruth the New York Yankees may not have been who they are now. Ruth hit 714 home runs as a Yankee and we still use his name when it comes to major home runs that are hit today.

If they called that "The House That Ruth Built," then who built the new Yankee Stadium. It was HOK Sport out of Kansas City, think they did anything to help the Royals in that stadium. Ok, well that was the architect of the stadium, really Turner Corp. from Dallas and Skanska USA Civil from Queens built the frame and steel. So I guess we should call the new Yankee Stadium "The House that Turner Corp. and Skanska USA Civil Built." Really it should be called "The House That the Taxpayers Built." This stadium cost $1.5 billion, sure the Yankees publicly funded it with $1.1 billion but the taxpayers put in the rest including $220 million for parking! If you look at the stadium there are advertisements all over the stadium, why could they not have paid for this stadium.

At least they did not change the name of stadium, so who really did build this stadium, according to the New York Yankee's radio broadcasters it is called "The House the George (Steinbrenner) Built."

Play Ball!

April 15th is a Very Important Day

I hope that everyone has filed their taxes or at least filed for their extension. April 15th, it is tax day but it is also the 62nd Anniversary of the day Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball; April 15th, 1947.

Bud Selig, Commissioner of Major League Baseball, has made some pretty outlandish decisions during his tenure. This is the person who let the All Star Game finish in a tie and the decided to make the All Star Game the deciding factor in home field advantage for the World Series and then had a 15 inning All Star Game in 2008. Bud Selig also allowed the World Series to play into November and into the wee hours of the night ending a game well past 1:00 AM. However, I believe that he has made a very wise decision and in my opinion one of the best moves in sports. On April 15, 1997 Bud Selig declared Jackie Robinson's #42 retired by all teams so that no player would ever wear it again unless already wearing it at that point; Mariano Rivera is the only player today with #42.

Jackie Robinson played the game on the field for many years with the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro Leagues followed by the Brooklyn Dodgers. I think we all need to thank Branch Rickey, owner of the Dodgers at the time, to step up and take the first black baseball player in the Major Leagues. This move was an iconic gesture and opened the door for everything else in sports to happen. The greatest story that came from this has to do with Jackie Robinson's loyalty when in 1955 the Dodgers sold his rights to the New York Giants and Jackie Robinson said "Mr. Rickey, I am a Dodger, I will never play for the Giants." Also remember the name of Larry Doby being the first black ball player in the American League.

I Was There!

The debate on Colin Cowherd's show today was weather or not CBS showed to much of Tiger Woods. The debate was comparing Tiger to Jack Nicklaus of the 80's, the Yankees and the Bulls of 90's. These are all teams and athletes that we wanted to watch, who cares to watch the Pirates or Clippers; sorry fans but nobody wants to even admit they are fans of these teams.

A caller into the show stated that he was there in 1986 to watch Jack Nicklaus' famous shot on the 16th hole. Now this person may have been there but how many other people claim they were there. People claim they were there every time some major event happens that changed history or had to do with a major sporting event, my grandfather claimed he was at Pearl Harbor and Normandy during World War II; love you grandpa but you were in Northern Africa. Did you know that more than 100,000 people witnessed Wilt Chamberlain score 100 points but really there were only 200 people in attendance at the game played in Hershey. I wonder how many people saw Babe Ruth call his shot in 1932, I bet a lot of them saw Roger Maris hit 61 in 1961.

If you are going to claim that you witnessed an event then at least have proof, as the old saying goes if it is not written on paper then it never really happened.

Truely a Tradition Unlike Any Other

Well the Masters Golf Tournament just ended and congratulations to Angel Cabrera for winning this prestigious event, and give it up to Chad Campbell and Ken Perry as this tournament was taken into sudden death. Angel Cabrera will take home the Green Jacket as the champion of this tournament, however he has to return it next year. The jacket is kept in the champions locker room and each champion has access to theirs only while they are at Augusta National. Gary Player is the only golfer who still holds a jacket in his home, however says that he has never worn it. We all know about the Green Jacket but what other traditions make the Masters a tournament that we all want to watch.

The Course:

The Masters has been played at the same course since 1934 after Bobby Jones constructed the course and opened it in 1933. Every other Major is held at different tournaments.

The Champions Dinner:

The Tuesday prior to the event there is a dinner that is held, this dinner is selected and paid for by the previous year winner. Tiger Woods one year selected cheeseburgers and milkshakes, I guess he thought he could not afford to pay for all those meals?

Pimento Cheese Sandwiches:

No hot dogs and nachos at this tournament, eight different types of sandwiches and the pimento cheese is the one to get.

The Caddies:

These guys look like they just got out of prison and are on the chain gang in their traditional white jumpsuit and green hat. At least for four days these guys do not need to worry about what they are going to wear.

A Special Kind of Athlete

We always hear the superstars of professional sports say that they play the game for the game not the money. It is the passion and their teammates that keep them motivated to play the game. If this is the case then we do we also hear that "he is in a contract year" or "he is playing for a contract." This is fine because it makes for a compelling season to watch that player and see where they end up the following season.

So if we always hear about these athletes then why do we never hear about those that do not play for the money, but really do play for the joy of the game. I witnessed this first hand today while organizing the Virginia State Games Special Olympics Swim meet, these athletes are by far my favorite! No matter how far behind an athlete was in a race the crowd was cheering them on and that athlete never gave up. These athletes were truly having fun during the entire day, I met a swimmer named Darrell who was having a great time. He swam very well, but he could not tell you what his time was, but he could tell you how many times he scared me or tried to steal my pen. I met another young athlete named Aliyah who is 9 and to see her congratulate all the other athletes in her race by hugging them was so awesome. These athletes were having fun, that is what sport is all about. The moment someone stated we should pay you to play sports the fun was sucked out of it.

The argument has always been made if college athletes should be paid. I say hell no, why would they need to be paid, most of them are having their college paid for. If we paid these athletes then we would never see Tim Tebow make his legendary speech after the loss to Ole Miss. College athletes do not need to be paid, they have everything they could ever want at their fingertips and always will. Play the game to have fun and love every minute of it, just imagine if Derek Jeter hugged David Ortiz after the Yankee/Red Sox game.

Fake Facebook pages and the NFL Draft

Who among us does not have a Facebook page or a MySpace page and who out there does not tweet on Twitter. We are in a world that revolves around social networking and a vast amount of technology. Well apparently the NFL is stranger to Facebook and MySpace, we have heard about players tweeting during games and even Shaq tweeting that he would not mind Mark Cuban signing him next season for the Mavricks. Now the NFL is friend requesting players that teams are looking at to draft this season. Certain teams are making pages that feature a very good looking female who is a huge fan of every player looking to be drafted. How do you become friends with this girl, just click yes and she is your friend. What is really happening is that woman is an NFL team checking up on a player they want to draft to see what kind of person they are. What a genius idea, I have been doing this when I hire people for well over two years, not ethical you say; why not? These pages become public to your "friends" and they can see everything that you put on there; pictures, quotes, feelings. If the Arizona Cardinals could have seen Matt Leinart partying do you think they would have drafted him to be their franchise quarterback? Or what about Lakers center Andrew Bynum at the Playboy Mansion, does not look like he was to hurt.

Look I am all for these players having a good time, most of it is legal and we have all done it. I also have no problem with these teams and companies checking up on these players because they are paying someone $30 million and they do not even know if they can play. So if you get a "friend request" from Bella Belicheck you might want to make sure that you know her first.

What's in a name?

I learned on Mike and Mike in the Morning that today is "Name Yourself Day." I thought I was given a name at birth, but apparently if I do not like my first, middle or last name I can change it for one day every year. Why would anyone want to do this, maybe because they really do not like their name or they want to get back at their parents. Now is the same thing as a nickname, we all have nicknames, I have to many to list or maybe those are just names people have called me. Well this got me thinking of athletes that changed their names at some point in their career, enjoy this list of characters.

10. Larry Jones (Chipper Jones): Maybe Larry was to difficult to remember so Chipper become so much easier because daddy Jones told him that he was "a chip off the old block."

9. Vincent Edward Jackson (Bo Jackson): Who would want to be called Vincent Edward, VE would not work either so out came Bo. At least Bo knows his real name even though we may not.

8. Joey Belle (Albert Belle): He was one of my favorite athletes growing up as a kid, I loved hearing all the fans in left field yell his name "JOOOOOEEEEEYYYYYY" "JOOOOOOEEEEEYYYY" But I do not think he enjoyed it very much, maybe that is why he chased kids off of his porch in Louisiana.

7. Tampa Bay Devil Rays (Tampa Bay Rays): You may be saying to yourself "Who are you talking about and when were they ever called the Devil Rays." It was not that long ago, but you just did not realize it because they never won.

6. Eldrick Woods (Tiger Woods): Is there really any explanation needed, nobody could take him serious with Eldrick as his name.

5. Bobby Moore (Ahmad Rashad): Because what is easier to remember who the host of NBA Jam, did anyone every watch that show?

4. Laverne Hose (Butch Hose): Most of you who read this will have no idea who this man is, he was my high school cross country coach. First of all changing your name from Laverne to Butch might tell you one thing but you are wrong, the name served his personality perfectly and if you ever called him Laverne well you better run like you are in a cross country race.

3. George Herman Ruth (Babe Ruth): Yes Babe Ruth had a real name, that is the name he used when he was always getting in trouble. If he had a Mastercard the whole name may not have fit on the card so Babe would be best.

2. Edson Arantes do Nascimento (Pele): This one threw me for a loop, I always thought star Brazilian soccer players were born with one name, not 3!

1. Lloyd Bernard Free (World B. Free): I believe this man started the whole let me change my name thing. Legally changed it 1980, I do not think anyone ever knew who Lloyd Bernard was though.

Honorable mentions: Edward Charles Ford (Whitey Ford), James Bell (Cool Papa Bell), Lawrence Peter Berra (Yogi Berra), Terry Bollea (Hulk Hogan)

Great, just great!

According to Dictionary.com the word great means the following "a person who has achieved importance or distinction in a field." The word great is thrown around all the time when it comes to athletes and teams. As of late it has been thrown around with Tyler Hansbrough of the University of North Carolina. Tyler's stats prove that he is great- 142 games, 2,872 points, 1,219 rebounds, 53.1% Field Goal percentage, and 79.1% Free Throw percentage. Those have to make him one of the greatest college basketball players ever to play the game. He has the most points, rebounds and free throws in the ACC but many UNC fans are saying they wouldn't even put him on their all time North Carolina team. If not then what makes him so great, what makes anyone so great. It is all in the eye of the beholder, maybe I am great at something but you might think I am not. Who is to say that 20 years from now Tyler Hansbrough will not be so great because somebody else will be. Michael Jordan was just inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts with David Robinson and John Stockton. So is this the greatest Hall of Fame class ever in basketball or would it be the 1980 class of Oscar Robertson, John Lucas, and Jerry West. Who decides that they are any more greater than this class? Could Jordan play with Robertson, could West play with Stockton? Could Hansbrough play 30 years ago in the 1970's? This argument can be set in any situation or scenario, so how great would that be!

Political Sports

Congratulations to the University of North Carolina for winning the National Championship! Congratulations to Joeseph Taylor, who exactly is Josepeh Taylor, well he was the winner of the ESPN Tournament Bracket Challenge by correctly picking all but 5 games correct, check his bracket here http://games.espn.go.com/tcmen/entry?entryID=1042011 . This includes all Elite Eight teams, Final Four teams and the championship game; guess what I picked UNC also- woo hoo- and finished in the top 11% of the nation. Besides hearing about UNC winning the tournament all day we also heard about President Obama's bracket and how he fared- top 20% in the nation, that's right I beat him! I have not problem with him filling out a bracket on his own time and even on ESPN, but I do have a problem with him filling out his bracket on an hour special that ESPN did. The President flew in Andy Katz to help him fill his bracket out and every sports show and news station followed this story as closely as they would if our national debt turned to zero. I think our President has some other more important things on his agenda to worry about, but at least our President isn't the only one tracking this, the President of Turkey today congratulated Mr. Obama on his great bracket!

Speaking of Presidents and sports I was listening to the Indians/Rangers game on the radio for about 5 minutes yesterday. During that time they were interviewing former President Bush (W) and they asked him if the commissioner's job were to open in Major League Baseball would he consider it. Immediately I thought "NO!" but then I remembered who the commissioner currently is and I am not sure if we could get any worse, maybe that is what baseball needs is a fan and not a smart businessman.

Opening Day

Today is Opening Day or was it yesterday, there was a game played last night in Philadelphia. Well anyway today is Opening Day presented by SuperGurantee from superpages.com, since when has a day been sponsored? Opening Day is synonymous with Play Ball, Spring, wearing your favorite teams hat and jersey, hot dogs, cold beer and keeping up with your fantasy team. If this is the case then why was the Royals/White Sox game canceled for Monday on Sunday because of snow, or the fact that it is 41 degrees in Cincinnati right now for the Mets/Reds game. I am all for the baseball season to start up in April, hell I wish baseball was a year round sport but take a look at the Opening Day temperatures for the rest of games today; http://www.wunderground.com/sports/MLB/ 7 of the 14 games starting temperature is under 50 degrees, not so bad if you are playing in Houston, Toronto, Minneapolis or Seattle (they all have domes or retractable roofs). Well anyway baseball season has begun and here are my picks below.

American League:

• East: Always a competitive division in baseball and really you couldn't go wrong with the Red Sox or Yankees, but I am picking the Rays. The Rays are a young team with the average of 27.9 and the Yankees at 28.1 and the Red Sox at 28.7; now I know these numbers mean nothing when you take a look at the play on the field. The Rays have a team that knows they can win, the Yankees and Red Sox have teams that are expected to win.
• Central: I'll be honest with you here I don't really know who to pick because this division is deep, I mean the Royals even have a chance. I am picking the Indians to win this division as long as Fausto Carmona and Travis Hafner can return to their 2007 form. The White Sox seem to do nothing but win, but they need to stay healthy and with Bartolo Colon and Jose Contreras at the back end of their rotation that will be tough. The Twins are already banged up and the Tigers need to bounce back from 2008 so Leyland can earn that extension instead of asking for it.
• West: The Angels are the proverbial favorite and I am going with them hands down. I know K-Rod is no longer there, but Brian Fuentes will have plenty of save opportunities with the deep lineup and good starting rotation. Be on the look out for the Rangers though with their good young lineup and depth in their rotation.
• Wild Card: Who is going to be; the Red Sox, Yankees, Twins, Royals, Rangers? I would have to pick the Red Sox as the odds on favorite as they have a team that has been together for quite sometime.

National League:

• East: The Philadelphia Phillies are defencing World Series Champions and everyone loves the Mets with the moves they made in their bullpen, also the Braves and Marlins with their young talent. I believe the Phillies will take the East because who is going to put runs on the board for the Mets to use their new and improved bullpen?
• Central: The Cardinals have a good core of talent and the Cubs have 101 years on their side of excuses. The Reds have a good group, but I think they are a year away. I like the Cubs, as long as they can stay healthy and Carlos Zambrano enjoys pitching in Wrigley over Yankee Stadium as he told the Associated Press (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2009/news/story?id=4042580).
• West: Like the Reds the Giants are a year away, so I am going with the Dodgers and Manny Ramirez because he's back! I like the good young talent the Dodgers have as they all have a year under their belts and I like Clayton Kershaw a lot!
• Wild Card: I am going with a team that was only a year removed from the playoffs, the Atlanta Braves! I like what they have, they have returned to the early to mid 90's and revamped their starting rotation. Bobby Cox will remain in the ball game at least 150 games this year.

Playoffs:

• Indians over the Red Sox
• Rays over the Angels
• Rays over the Indians
• Cubs over the Braves
• Phillies over the Dodgers
• Rays over the Phillies

The Tampa Bay Rays would be your World Series Champion!

Fantasy Sports

As kids most males and females wanted to play professional sports, I know I wanted to play professional baseball. I remember studying the pitching style of Orel Hersheiser and the numerous batting stances until I could hit the ball. I could tell you players and their stats and still probably could, however these dreams never became reality.

I am still able to play professional sports though because of somebody created the fantasy leagues. There are fantasy leagues for every sport available and they keep evolving into something better and new every year. There was a point in my life where I played fantasy baseball, football and basketball. Now I only do baseball and football; basketball was tough to keep up with at times. Most have only one team, I have 8 baseball teams and most of the time at least 4 different football teams.

Websites are created strictly for fantasy leagues, take a look at www.rotoworld.com and many other websites, but I mainly use Yahoo and ESPN for these leagues. There is a very interesting website with a very unusual twist out there; www.protrade.com. This website combines fantasy sports with Wall Street. You are able to buy, sell, short and cover players and teams based on their performance. So for those of you who are not so savvy with keeping up with a team, try that site where you can actually earn money and prizes for FREE!

Some will argue that fantasy leagues have diminished the fan and the sport by keeping up with the stats and not the player. I couldn't disagree with this any less! Watch the game, watch the player and you'll know who you should start the next day or week for your team. Just because someone had a bad week does not mean you need to drop them, I am in a league right now that someone dropped a very prominent player because he was hitting in Spring Training. It's Spring Training, these players are coming back from vacation to play baseball, let them play during the season.

Go out there sport geeks and enjoy the season!

Top 10 Stadiums

I am sitting here watching the Boston Red Sox play the New York Mets in their brand new stadium, Citi Field. The New York Yankees have also moved into their new stadium, Yankee Stadium (left). Is there a traditional stadium that any major pro sports teams play in any more? This trend of the new modern stadium started with Camden Yards in Baltimore with the Orioles. I am a traditionalist when it comes to stadiums, I want to eat a hot dog and drink a beer at the game; not eat sushi and have a cocktail. The other thing is these stadiums are all starting to look the same and when games are on television you can never tell where the game is being played at because all the backstops like the same. So this got me thinking about making my list of the top 10 stadiums in America.

10. Yale Bowl: Ok, so maybe you can't see the best football game in America here but you can at least enjoy the stadium and its architechture. This stadium is the original bowl shaped stadium that you see most college football games played in, those Yale boys sure know how to create simplicity. Plus you can say that you have been to a National Historical Landmark when going to this stadium.

9. The Palestra: The who, what are you talking about??? You know the Cathedral of College Basketball, no this is not where Kentucky or North Carolina play, quite the opposite. The Big 5 of Philadelphia play here; University of Pennsylvania, St. Joeseph's, Temple, LaSalle, and Villanova. What a marvelous venue to attend, with history on its side.

8. Indianapolis Motor Speedway: Simply known as the Brickyard because the entire track was made of bricks. Now it is an asphalt track with the finish line made of the original bricks held by one of the best traditions in sports. The winner of the Indy 500 kisses those bricks, I wonder how many have been sick after that.

7. Notre Dame Stadium: For $750,000 that is what you get, one of the best college football programs ever. To see the golden domers run onto the field with all the tradition going through the tunnel is spectacular; I have never sent it myself but I have heard stories. This goes beyond explanation, all I have to say is "Play like a champion today."

6. Paul Brown Tiger Stadium (Massillon, Ohio): Ok so I am a little biased when it comes to this stadium. I have watched many high school football games, yes I said high school football, my high school. First of all this stadium is named after legendary coach Paul Brown, father of football. Secondaly this stadium holds over 20,000 people and close to 35,000 when they play rival McKinley (Canton, Ohio). The state playoff championship games are held at this stadium and there is now an on campus workout and practice facility that most college programs would be jealous of.

5. Yankee Stadium (Old): The house that Ruth built, the stadium that played host to Mickey Mantle, Lou Gerhig, Joe DiMaggio and 27 World Series titles. This was one of the places that you could still go and get a hot dog and a beer. It was the monster stadium that if the wind was blowing in the right direction the ball would never leave the park.

4. The Cotton Bowl: One of the most underrated college football stadiums in the country, unfortunately its last game was played with AT&T Cotton Bowl on January 1, 2009 as Southern Methodist University (SMU) will be playing in a new stadium. But think of this; Doak Walker played here, the 1966 NFL Championshp game was played here between the Packers and Cowboys. Oh yeah and The Red River Rivalry game played here every year since 1932; Texas and Oklahoma.

3. Astrodome: Sounds like a space ship, but this was the first dome stadium in any professional sports history. Created because the owner felt that baseball games where being rained out to much, how ironic that the Astros now play at Minute Maid Park; outdoor but does have a retractable roof. This dome lead to the Lousiana Superdome, the Hooiser Dome in Indianapolis, the Metrodome in Minneapolis and many many others. The only thing this dome did wrong was plant grass for a seaon, it turned brown because of no sunlight.

2. Fenway Park: The Green Monster, Pesky's Pole, Monster seats! Yawkey Avenue, this is where balls land and keep on going. Buckners legs, the curse of the Bambino, history and cold weather baseball. Sit back, eat a Fenway Frank and enjoy the game. Where else can you go and have the experiance of a lifetime while sitting down the entire time.

1. Wrigley Field: Ok, so I am a baseball purest, shoot me! There is just something about ivy on the brickwall, 100 year curse, the loveable losers, and the bleacher bums. Oh yeah, watching a baseball game with no lights is the best, Wrigley plays all the home games in the daytime, the first night game was 20 years ago- talk about tradition and longevity!

Are we really competitors?

This morning on my drive into work I was listening to Jason Smith on ESPN's All Night. Now we all know that the World Baseball Classic (WBC) has been a hot topic for the past two weeks and has come under a lot of scrutiny. I don't know what the solution is, personally I love the WBC and I have watched as many games as I have been able to. But Jason Smith said something that totally threw me over the edge and almost made crash my truck- "The USA should pull out." Wait, what? Pull out, what do you mean pull out, is the United States not the most competitive country in the world. Sure maybe we are not getting our best players to play on this team, but do we get the best players to play on our Olympic team? Davey Johnson is the manager and his job is to get the best out of each player no matter if they are CC Sabathia or Jeremie Guthrie.

Competition is what drives this Classic, look at how Japan and all of the Latin American countries have fared in this event. Their fans have traveled, literally, all over the world to see their teams. We couldn't even drive to Canada to see the USA play, because we think they should pull out! Team USA do not pull out, just start playing for the pride of your country and knowing that we really do have the best players on the field.

Fan loyalty

My best friend is a Notre Dame fan, diehard! The last few years has been very rough on him with Notre Dame going 3-9 in 2007 and then 7-6 in 2008, even though they won a bowl game. He realized that the team needed a change, a coaching change that is. When he found out that Weis was going to return to the sidelines of the Golden Domers my friend decided that he would switch his allegiance to Florida for 2009 season.

What has happened to fan loyalty and who is to blame for the fan to no longer follow their team. Lets take a look at Michigan and when they hired Rich Rodriguez, the fans understood that Michigan would not look like the team they knew. So could it be the coach that we should blame for this lack of loyalty. But if it is not the coach to blame because we have coaches that have been with teams for many number of years who do we turn to? Maybe it is the owner of the team, case in point would be Art Modell. Mr. Modell who owned the Cleveland Browns from 1961-1995 moved the team to Baltimore for his own financial gain. It is owners like this that could play a role in the fans not wanting to follow their team because the owner does not have their best interest at heart. So we have the coach, the owner, what about the players themselves. We currently have Alex Rodriguez to look at as he is going through his troubles. Alex Rodriguez was supposed to break the home run record and be the role model for all young baseball players but he let his own troubles creep into the public eye. Another example is a player who might have been with a team for what seemed like forever, Ken Griffey Jr., and then left to go home to Cincinnati and was hurt 3 of the 4 years. Now he has really returned home to Seattle. The only other to blame would be the team themselves; the Los Angeles Clippers, Kansas City Royals, Cincinnati Bengals have been teams that have very litte fans. The reason is because they do not win, they are not in a market to win, well the Clippers are but the Lakers are better.

I think the only person that we can blame is the fan themself. However you pledge your allegiance to your team; painting your body, attending games regularly or watching them on television, knowing the players and their stats; you must keep it that way. Growing up in Ohio I have always followed the Indians, Browns and Cavs even when the Indians lost 103 games or the Browns were beat by the Broncos twice to keep them from the Super Bowl or the Cavs losing on purpose to get LeBron James.

Fans make sure you keep your team close to your heart because there will be a time in your life that they may be the only thing you have left. Once your team has betrayed you or you have betrayed your team then you have nothing else.