Empire State of Mind

                

              New York sports have reached an interesting time of year, and most of our teams have managed to do something about it. Three of the four major sports are in their off-seasons, and the fourth is approaching a trade deadline. Due to this timing, potentially season changing transactions are being made in every sport almost simultaneously. This summer has seen a series of moves from New York teams that can either make or break their chances in the near future. This countdown reviews the top five moves made this summer by the Empire State’s teams.

5. Ichiro to the Yankees-The most exciting thing about this move is how the Yankees enter a no-lose situation. They gave up two minor league pitchers who were not considered to be high value prospects, and the Mariners agreed to cover most of Ichiro’s contract. While he appears to be washed up and past his prime, the Yanks get to take a chance on a guy who, only a few short years ago, was the best pure hitter and leadoff man in baseball. Even in this career-worst season, Ichiro is still an excellent fielder and base-runner who can impact a season without picking up his customary 200 hits. Under these conditions Yankees still made a solid acquisition, but if finally playing for a winner revitalizes Ichiro at the plate, the move becomes an excellent one. The Jones-Ibanez duo in left field has been decent, but this move will do defensive wonders for an outfield that, outside of Granderson, has struggled in the field this season. Filling the left field hole left by the injured Brett Gardner was a must, but doing so with the once best corner outfielder in baseball could go above and beyond what we needed from them if all goes well. And if all does not go well, we basically lost nothing to receive a lot of potential.

4. Jason Kidd to the Knicks-At surface value, this is a great move that I want to give a higher spot on this list. Point guard was the number one concern for the Knicks last year. We have all the weapons we need, but previously had no one in charge on the floor to distribute the ball and run a consistent and effective offense. This led to Carmelo holding onto the ball for too long and the offense became stagnant. Adding a veteran point guard and one of the greatest passers of all time should solve the Knicks’ biggest problem and create a more complete team. Felton and Brewer should also make valuable contributions and from this angle everything looks good for us. However, I just do not trust it. The Knicks have the innate ability to screw things up and, while things are looking good now, I feel like the same old Knicks will reappear in one way or another. There are a lot of injury prone players on this team between Kidd’s age, Shumpert’s already troubling history and Amare’s entire body. There are also a number of defensive liabilities and, unless everyone starts to follow Tyson Chandler’s lead, even a great offense would not be enough in the grand scheme of things. Everything about the Jason Kidd move makes sense, but these are still the Knicks.

3. Joe Johnson to the Nets-For a few days after the Dwight Howard talks with Brooklyn fell through, I relaxed and stopped worrying about my Knicks losing their title as the least terrible team in New York. Then I realized that being overtaken by the Nets is still a very real possibility. They have one of the two best point guards in the NBA, the position that haunted us last season. They may not have Howard, but settling for Brook Lopez still gives them arguably a top five center. Finally, Joe Johnson completes the Nets’ big three, and should give them superstar production at shooting guard. The Hawks inexplicably became sellers and gave away a potentially elite scorer to an up and coming team that will most likely make the playoffs next year because of this deal.

2. Mario Williams to the Bills-One of my favorite annoying facts is how the only NFL team to actually play in New York is the one that no one really counts as a New York team. The Buffalo Bills made a huge statement when they signed one of the league’s best pass rushers. Mario Williams, in my opinion, solidifies the Bills as the most likely runner up to the Patriots this season. When we talk about the AFC East, we basically just try to figure out who will win the coveted second place. As the division seems to get weaker and weaker outside of New England, the Bills may inherit this title by default. Due to the incompetence of the other two teams, the Bills now have the best Quarterback, Running Back and Wide Receiver of those three teams in my opinion. If Mario Williams can impact their defense as well as most people think he can, myself included, this Bills team may be ahead of both the Jets and Dolphins next season. The Bills always seem to start the season well, but with this roster they may be able to finish an above .500 effort, which should be all it takes to be the Pats’ runner up.

1. Rick Nash to the Rangers-What partially makes this New York’s biggest transaction of the summer is the fact that other than the Giants, who did not add anyone overly significant to their roster, the Rangers are New York’s best team. Therefore, a big move for them is more indicative of a championship than the Knicks, for example. But of course this is only a fraction of why this move is a great one, after all this is not just a countdown of the best NY teams to make a move. It is one for the best moves made in New York, which in this case was made by the Rangers because it addresses their one weakness, and they are fortunate enough to only have one. The flaw that brought the Rangers downfall last season was an inconsistent supply of offense. This was because we did not have enough reliable scorers. Marian Gaborik suffered a huge slump at the wrong time and while Brad Richards elevated his play for the playoffs, he was not enough to carry the entire offense. Another aspect of this trade is how little we lost in comparison to the mid-season offer. The names floating around back then were Michael Del Zotto, an excellent defenseman, and Chris Kreider, who showed a lot of potential in last season’s playoffs. Brandon Dubinsky’s name stayed and he has now left the organization, but any Ranger fan can tell you that despite their fond memories of him, Dubinsky had nothing left to offer us. Artem Anisimov was a solid player but was worth trading in the grand scheme of things. Tim Erixon has potential as a prospect, but would have received few minutes on the MSG ice due to the Rangers’ great defensemen. As for the first round pick from next year, that was to be expected in any big trade. Overall, we gained more than we lost on this one. Guys like Captain Ryan Callahan and Brian Boyle are excellent hockey players who create the Rangers tough and hustle-filled identity, but you need a few dominant scorers as well. Richards, Gaborik and Nash are each capable of at least 30 goals next season. Not a bad first line if you ask me, but Coach Torts will probably split them up to mix in the talented youth of Hagelin and Kreider or everything that Callahan brings to the table. Regardless of how they arrange themselves, the Rangers now have all the pieces necessary for a long awaited championship run.

The most notable move left off of this list was, of course, Tim Tebow to the Jets. I am not against Tebow or the Jets’ decision to pick him up in any way. I just thought these five moves were a bigger deal when you put his fame aspect aside. The Tebow acquisition is a disaster when it comes to team chemistry because the quarterback controversy will divide the locker room based on who believes which guy is better for the team. Sanchez will face an unfair amount of pressure from his own team and fans who will likely chant his backup’s name whenever he makes a mistake. Despite all this, I am still fine with the move because quite frankly Sanchez does not deserve to lead the New York Jets at this point anyway so if the end of his starting career is unfair I cannot say I mind. Let the unconventional winner have his chance on the biggest stage and, if he survives, good for him and the Jets. It is said that having two quarterbacks actually means you have zero quarterbacks, and I believe this. The reason this move was left out of the top five was because regardless of who comes out on top, the Jets will receive below average play from the most important position on the field.

When one of the biggest names in sports cannot crack a fan’s top five New York transactions list, you know that it has been an exciting summer. I look forward to watching how each player fits in when faced with a new level of pressure. As much as I love the Rick Nash acquisition, moving from Columbus to New York may be a shock to the system if he is not the type of player who can handle it. New York always provides a new and interesting challenge for even the most gifted professional athletes. They could all perform very well in their new homes, but the odds suggest that at least one or two will get swallowed up by their own city’s expectations.

Good Riddance

The Jeremy Lin storyline has gotten somewhat tedious, but at least something has taken some heat off of Dwight Howard’s “The Indecision”, which became tedious in April. My New York Knicks were faced with the decision of whether or not to resign the man who made New York basketball relevant this past season with the wave of Linsanity that dominated headlines for two weeks or so. Lin’s success slowly diminished as the season progressed past this climax and he eventually suffered a knee injury that ended his first and last season as a Knick. The feedback from fans and analysts has been a relatively even split. Lin did preview a potential future for the Knicks backcourt, the Rockets are living proof that people still believe in Lin’s ability to successfully run an NBA offense and produce at the high level that spoiled New York for a short couple of weeks. As a loyal fan to my eternally struggling team, I anxiously counted down the days and minutes until Lin was shipped off to the western conference because this was the best decision the Knicks could have made for multiple reasons that we will cover. I start this article at midnight as a celebration for the best and only good decision the New York Knicks have made in recent memory.

The first reason behind my Let Lin Leave campaign is personnel. Whether or not you believed in Lin last season, injuries created a shortage of guards that needed to be filled. Lin deserved a shot and certainly made the most of it for a short time. Even when his play initially declined, there was no need to replace him because our only decent alternative was an unpredictable Baron Davis. Now, however, both Jason Kidd and Raymond Felton have come in as capable point guards. I actually believe both are better options than Lin, even at this stage of their careers. That contract, which we will review, for a potentially third string point guard would have been absurd. There was a somewhat valid point floating around ESPN saying that with Shumpert missing the beginning of next season, JR Smith is really the only decent shooting guard. Felton or Lin could have taken his backup spot. However, in my opinion, each point guard on the roster needs the ball in his hands. Felton is the closest thing to a combo guard of the three, and even he would be much worse without being able to quarterback the pick-and-roll system that he had success with in his last round with the Knicks. With Shumpert back, we will have two very capable guards at point and shooting. The only issue will be Smith’s backup pre-Shumpert, which they can figure out without throwing too much money at the most overrated player of this off-season.

The contract in question adds up to just over 25 million dollars over three seasons, which would have been a big investment for a New York team that would like to save money where they can so we can hunt free agent superstars. The worst part of this miscalculation is the 15 million dollar third year of this contract due to the agreement’s back-loaded nature. The numbers are initially within reason but lose control in 2015-16 and only the basketball gods know how Lin will be playing that far down the line. This bloated season would destroy a team’s spending ability because of luxury tax rules that I do not fully understand myself. The gist of what will happen is that whoever takes on this Lin contract may be hit hard with penalties for going over the team’s salary cap. The Knicks luxury tax penalty would have totaled over 50 million dollars. Hopefully the Rockets have better bookkeepers, but luckily this is no longer our problem. ESPN’s Michael Wilbon cited the many financial blunders made by the Knicks (see Eddy Curry’s contract) and referred to the possibility of matching Houston’s offer “classic Knicks”, which is never a good thing. I applaud this rare display of financial responsibility.

Lastly, I finally get to assert my longstanding belief that Jeremy Lin is simply not a great point guard and wisely used his fifteen seconds of fame to scrape away at an unsuspecting team’s money. Houston lost both Kyle Lowry and Gordon Dragic in this offseason. In my honest opinion, Lin is not better than either of these players and Houston is in for a rude awakening if they are under the impression that they are improving at this pivotal position. Lin maybe beats out Dragic narrowly after a few years of development, but I doubt it. Between this move and getting rid of their best player, Luis Scola, in the hopes of getting Dwight Howard as their next quality big man will leave this franchise lost once he ends up playing in the Staples Center. Linsanity made me eat my words when I said he could not be a successful NBA point guard. Those were an exhilarating couple of weeks, but I never overreacted to his upside. Needless to say, we all enjoyed the ride, but it predictably came to a screeching halt when the NBA introduced him to the Miami Heat. Granted, no one looks great against them, but Lin could not physically dribble the ball, let alone continue to shock the sports world. Once Wade and Lebron were done with him they let Mario Chalmers get a couple of steals just for fun. My credibility on the matter was sadly restored, but it I held against him until the playoffs. Lin did not ask to be overrated, it just happened. My resentment towards him started when he milked his knee injury to avoid Miami in the playoffs. I do not usually make guarantees when we cannot be certain, but I can assure you this happened. Lin himself admitted to reaching 85% healthy before the playoffs even started. I bet Kobe would kill to feel 85% healthy for the first time since 2005. My housemates and I watched that Miami game and finally knew what we would look like against NBA players after seeing him completely and utterly lost on that court. Lin is a Harvard guy and knew free agency was coming up. Only true Knicks fans were fully aware of his decline and abrupt return to mediocrity. Knowing all this, he figured that the best idea was to not return and have his free agency stock take a major hit. Instead, he ended on a positive note with the rest of the league, which had not seen enough to come to the conclusion that any Knicks fan should have been aware of. They must have only been watching Sportscenter because anyone who knew better had been watching MSG. I am more than willing to have patience for a young, developing player and would not mind resigning one. The guy who pulled that stunt, however, is the one I want out of New York.

The Rockets think they are getting Linsanity, but Jeremy will be about as productive for them as Yao Ming’s left foot. He dribbles how Jason Kidd drives. Lin was frequently compared to Tim Tebow as an unconventional winner, and also to Victor Cruz as a surprising hero in New York. Both of these comparisons offend me. Love him or hate him, Tim Tebow is a proven winner. He won two college championships and won a playoff game in his first real season as a professional starter. In order to do this, of course, he had to be willing to actually make an appearance for his playoff team, which already separates him from Lin’s established standards. Victor Cruz is nothing like Lin because he is phenomenally talented and also clearly possesses the DNA of a champion. Cruz was 3^rd in NFL receiving yards behind the specimen named Calvin Johnson and the cheat code named Wes Welker. Cruz had more great games in an NFL season than Lin had in an NBA season. Thanks to this move, we may actually not lead the league in turnovers next year with the help of two veteran point guards who can distribute the ball well and, unlike Lin, do not have to be big scorers as well. Even if Lin was great, and offense with Melo, Amare and JR does not need a shot-happy point guard.

What Lin does have going for him is if the Rockets fail to acquire a real superstar, he can take every shot he desires because there will be no dominant weapon on offense who he has to find and pass to. His numbers may be decent if he is the only scoring threat around. He will also be good for Rockets marketing because until he fully dies out, people will want to come to their games and see him play. I hate the argument that the Linsanity attraction is enough of a reason to keep him in New York. Maybe other teams have a good enough roster to reserve one spot for a circus act, but we certainly do not. We need every spot on the roster to make major contributions towards a series of issues that need fixing. He solves neither defensive weakness nor excessive turnovers. We have enough scoring, which is all he really brings to the table on a good day. With years to develop, maybe he learns to stay healthy and hang on to the ball. Sadly, the Knicks have no interest in paying 25 million for a collection of maybes. Between admitted chemistry issues on offense, questionable ability, and an outright despicable sequence of events after that knee injury, this is a move to be celebrated by Knicks fans, not criticized. Of course, Lin could be great next season and shut me up all over again, but when his groin magically tightens up against the Thunder next May just remember to not be too surprised.

Dream Teams Collide

            With the London 2012 Summer Olympics quickly approaching, USA basketball prepares to either assert our dominance of the sport or suffer a terrible disaster in the event that we lose a single game. Being an overwhelming favorite to win is both a gift and a curse. Our chances are much greater than any other country, but the pressure is immeasurable and anything short of gold would be a huge disappointment. Their standards are now so high that their most talked about competition lately is a fictional game between our current USA men’s basketball team and the legendary Dream Team of 1992. Kobe Bryant first stirred the pot by picking the 2012 team to win this game when asked about the hypothetical matchup. Since then, Chris Paul has taken his side and likes their chances as well. The responses were mostly in favor of the original Dream Team, most notably Charles Barkley’s open belief that outside of Kobe, Lebron and Durant, no one from the 2012 team would even make the Dream Team roster. Whether or not this is true at all, it is certain that the Dream Team is most likely the greatest team ever assembled in basketball, and possibly any sport. However, if there was ever a team to give Michael Jordan and company a run for their money, it would be the USA’s best of this summer. So in honor of all the interesting speculation between these two teams, let us analyze the greatest best of seven series to never happen.

            The best way to start this is simply listing the rosters of each elite group of players. Once you get over how ridiculously awesome this series would be, we can move on. For the 1992 Dream Team, take a look at the starting five and bench: PG-Magic Johnson SG-Michael Jordan SF-Larry Bird PF-Charles Barkley C-Patrick Ewing. Bench: Karl Malone, David Robinson, John Stockton, Scottie Pippen, Clyde Drexler, Chris Mullin, and Christian Laettner. Among these are two top-three scorers of all time, two top-four in assists, and five of the top-ten in steals. Also, these players have a stunning total of 107 all-star appearances and 23 championship rings. In fairness to the 2012 team, their careers are far from over and by the time they all retire they may have comparable resumes. For the challenging team, we have the 2012 version of a USA Dream Team. Their starting five and the who starts/sits is purely speculation of course, but here they are. PG-Chris Paul SG-Kobe Bryant SF-Kevin Durant PF-Lebron James C-Tyson Chandler. Bench: Deron Williams, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Love, Blake Griffin, Russell Westbrook, Andre Iguodala, and James Harden. Again, their careers are not over, but they currently accumulate 45 all-star appearances and 7 championship rings. Realistically, I think these numbers may double by the time the 2012 USA players all leave the NBA, but even then 90 and 14 fall well short of the competition. The original Dream Team has the edge when it comes to championship DNA; outside of Kobe the current team only has two rings between eleven players. The game is not won by career accomplishments, but we have to scrap for evidence to predict the outcome of a series that cannot happen.

            Like any other, basketball is a game of individual matchups that add up to form a collective verdict. To start from the bottom up, I think the Dream Team wins the point guard matchup. Paul and Williams are obviously excellent, but Magic provides a height mismatch at 6’9” and Stockton leads NBA history in assists by a healthy margin. All time stats, however, are clearly not fair to players that have not yet retired. Looking at assists per game, Magic and Stockton are still first and second, respectively. Paul and Williams stand at third and sixth in that statistic so they do make a strong case, but still fall slightly short in comparison to the greatest passing duo of all time. At shooting guard we have a classic debate that will end in the confirmation that Michael Jordan is the greatest player of all time. Kobe is great but picked a rough matchup for this series, and MJ would be that little bit better than his Laker reincarnation. Kobe’s backups are Harden and Westbrook, who is more of a shooting guard on this team than his traditional point guard role. MJ’s backup is Drexler, who is one of the most electrifying players and dynamic scorers of all time. In case you think Kobe is better than MJ, Drexler still takes the shooting guard matchup for the real Dream Team.

            The 1992 team completes a clean sweep of the backcourt, but the matchups between the forwards may get more interesting. I know many who appreciate basketball history may not agree, but I feel even the great Larry Legend would be overwhelmed by the athleticism of Kevin Durant. They are both among the all-time best jump-shot scorers, but Durant’s additional ability to drive and dominate in all areas of the floor would eventually defeat a Larry Bird who, during the 1992 Dream Team run, did not actually play very well. Scottie Pippen makes this interesting, who can defend either Durant or Melo off the bench, but I do not think he would be enough to take out both throughout the course of an entire series. Iguodala would keep Mullin from shooting the 2012 team to death and would severely limit his damage. Overall, the small forward position narrowly goes to our modern team, in my opinion. At power forward, who wouldn’t love watching Lebron and Barkley go at it. You know Chuck would love to squeeze into his old body and take on a player he clearly resents for doing what he never could, win a championship, by taking the easy way out and joining his supremely talented friends. Barkley would out-man Lebron, but neither he nor Malone can compete with Lebron’s athleticism or Kevin Love’s shooting ability on the perimeter. Between that and Blake Griffin dunking over Laettner, I also see the power forward battle going to the 2012 team. We are appropriately tied up going into the final position. I only wish a more competitive matchup would decide this one, because the Dream Team is going to win the center spot by a landslide.

Tyson Chandler is no match for the combined force of Ewing and Robinson who, individually, are each exponentially better than him. This comes off as disrespectful to Chandler, my Knicks MVP last season, who is an elite defender and overcomes a lack of offensive production. He did quietly lead the league in field goal percentage last season but, being realistic, Tyson Chandler is simply not a good scorer. Ewing and Robinson rival his defensive presence in the paint and bring an offensive game that he would not even recognize from anything he has ever done. These two centers would not only give the Dream Team three of the five positions, which is a small majority, but would also dictate the tone of the entire series. For those of you who had the pleasure of watching the Dream team, you know they played through the big men. MJ and the other guards knew to defer to the biggest mismatches, which would definitely be the case here. Center is a dying position…When Andrew Bynum has one good year and immediately becomes the second best in the NBA, you know things are not the way they used to be. Most of the debates on the previous positions could go either way, but not this one.

When I first thought about this series I felt that the modern day athleticism would surprise people who were inclined to believe that the legends of the 90s would be unbeatable. I referenced it in the Durant over Bird claim, but I realize that on a team level there is actually no clear advantage in terms of athleticism. Jordan and Drexler showed as great a display of speed and midair prowess back when there was really a dunk contest, and Ewing had a forward’s athleticism in a center’s body. Overall, our team now may win the relay races, but not by nearly as big a margin as people may expect from today’s game. One decisive factor is the rebounding. If you look at the starting lineups and just substitute Pippen in for Bird, I cannot see how the 2012 team gets a single rebound. The Dream Team would dominate the glass in this matchup and, I believe, are better at three of the five positions. One final blow is the immeasurable factor of having the best player on the floor. Michael Jordan has Lebron’s dominance, Kobe’s competitiveness, Durant’s clutch gene, and is as good a quarterback as Chris Paul. He could also defend any of those players. MJ and Kobe are eerily similar, but Jordan would always have that one step on him. Lebron’s one weakness is his mentality when shaken by trash-talking or applied pressure, and Jordan would leave him in a psych ward. CP3 struggles against bigger guards who are fast enough to stay with him, and the 6’6” frame of MJ could handle this task as well. Durant has no clear weakness with the ball but will not demand the ball if he is not open, and I am sure MJ is capable of denying him the right to that ball. I don’t mean to overstate the importance of one guy, but this is the one case in which that is not possible. If this series did come down to clutch shots, Jordan would have the last laugh. He really has every base covered. The 2012 USA team would be the only one to push the Dream team to game seven but, if it even came down to that, the heroes I just missed out on watching would triumph over the ones I have watched throughout the past decade. It has been fun comparing the two, but the 1992 USA Dream Team really is the greatest team ever assembled.

2012 MLB All-Star Break

            Despite an imperfect past and present, the MLB’s Mid-Summer Classic stands, in my opinion, as the best all-star competition in any professional sport. There is no real concept of not trying on defense, which plagues the NHL, NBA, and NFL counterparts. Also, I believe the Home Run derby drags the dunk contest through the dirt in terms of the individual competitions. The Dunk contest has been reduced to mediocre players using more props than raw talent in what has become a complete waste of time. The derby, on the other hand, still draws elite talent, is not left to subjective judging, and cannot be corrupted by gimmicks until they start putting targets in the outfield. I have plenty of problems with the game itself, but for the most part it is a job well done by the MLB.

            The derby was exciting as always and Prince Fielder continues to make himself at home in the American League. The big guy’s performance cemented his spot as one of the best derby hitters of all time, joining the likes of Ken Griffey Jr in the multi-winner category. This derby, however, had an interesting subplot that frustrated me more than your average insignificant storyline would. The derby’s newest feature selects captains for both the American and National Leagues and those captains each choose three “teammates” to represent his respective half of the MLB. Robinson Cano, as the defending champion, was chosen to lead the AL team of sluggers. His selections were Prince Fielder, Jose Bautista, and Mark Trumbo. The most notable, and not necessarily most worthy, snub was Royals first basemen Billy Butler. While other snubbed players may have even been better choices than him, Butler was the most significant omission because with the All-Star festivities in Kansas City, their “hometown hero” was not selected to represent the host city. As a result, the KC fans booed Cano throughout his homerless derby performance and continued to do so in the actual game. I guess you can root against your own team when the reward will not concern you anytime in the foreseeable future. Maybe I am taking it more seriously than most other fans because in the grand scheme of things players have been jeered for worse reasons and similar cases will happen. However, for whatever reason, I was frustrated by this whole experience. I did not enjoy watching my favorite player get laughed off the plate at a non-rival’s American League ballpark just because their slightly above average first basemen didn’t get his charity vote over players who simply deserved it. The best part is how the players Cano did choose came in first, second, and third place. He himself may have been terrible but it was his chosen three who were called into question and clearly justified the captain’s thought process. Of course the Royals should support their guy, but to express such resentment just because there were better choices is immature and, really, a summary of where that organization stands at the moment. This is as big an honor as they could receive in decades. For Cano, maybe he should do a better job as captain than selecting the winner, runner up, and second runner up. Hopefully he chooses more wisely next time so the home fans can be appeased. Outside of this minor distraction, the derby was a nice combination of established stars and upcoming talent. Seeing Fielder and Bautista challenged by a newcomer like Mark Trumbo showed a healthy distribution of talent and served as a pleasant reminder that we still have great power in the post-steroid era.

            I said earlier that the MLB All-Star game was the best exhibition game in professional sports because it most closely represents a real game. What bothers me is that despite this, Bud Selig and company think even more highly of it than I do and left the fate of a possible World Series game 7 up to a game that does not deserve it. It seems petty, but as a Yankees fan I do take World Series home field advantage pretty seriously every year because the season may come down to that. In a game that matters, managers should manage as if they are in a must-win situation. In this game, however, the league’s best starting pitchers are limited to one or two innings and the league’s best position players usually play about half of the game. There is also a rule that requires at least one player from each and every team to be selected by the managers, as opposed to the 33 best or most deserving. Again, this is nitpicking but I am happy with the way things are done now if this was truly an exhibition game. I say if you’re going to keep the way the game is played, that’s fine enough for exhibition, but reduce the prize to a pat on the back. I do not want the fate of my league to come down to everyone’s backups. If they do keep the home field advantage rule, that is also fine, but then manage the game like it really counts. Let Cy Young award winners go seven or more innings and then have a couple of elite closers finish the game in style. This All-Star game was obviously a disappointment, and not just because my team lost. The one time I get to have Justin Verlander on my team is of course his one bad start, and after the first inning the game just was not competitive. Verlander will likely have a chance to redeem himself when he starts this game again next season, but between that rough start and a dead offense this game never really got off the ground. People usually stereotype American League lineups as more potent, but what if National League hitters just face better pitching? I don’t have enough stats to start making those theories so I’ll leave that alone for now, but what I can be sure of is eleven great NL pitchers absolutely shut down the allegedly better lineup. It was nice seeing the former Yankee Melky Cabrera bring home the MVP. I always did like the Melk Man as a valuable role player, quality fielder and surprisingly effective clutch hitter. What’s even better is not having to resent him mysteriously becoming an All-Star after he left New York because we have gotten good pitching from Boone Logan in return. Who knew Javi Vasquez’s footnote would end up being the bigger acquisition.

The most exciting part of the All-Star break is that it is now over and we can soon watch the months of baseball that everyone cares about. Whenever I get passionate about anything MLB between opening day and now, some killjoy will remind me that it is “just May baseball” or “just one game in April”. Now, we can at least see the playoffs on the sports horizon and with every other major sport in the offseason, baseball has the spotlight. The Olympics may destroy that advantageous position but it is certainly better than battling NHL, NBA, and UEFA championships in the past month. Baseball always comes first for me in these months and, without competition from the other three major sports, I feel most people should agree with that. Give me the Yankees best months of the season (traditionally) over Dwight Howard’s mood swings any day.