Sad Strasmus

Stephen James Strasburg seem to have come and gone like a shooting star. He was a rookie one day, a super star the next, a hall of famer by day 3 and is now going under the knife for a tommy john surgery all in a matter of months. If it were the olden days, his career would be over. Fortunately for him, tommy john surgeries are as common as getting a haircut these days and most, if not all pitchers come back. And some of then even come back to be as dominant as they were before getting knifed. The chances of a full recovery is higher if you are younger and Strasburg has age on his side. With all that said and done, this is still such a bad news for him, the Nationals and MLB. He became an overnight sensation and to see his season end like that hurts. Plus he won't be back until deep into the 2011 season if not early 2012. But he will be back and he will be good. The question is, can he pump those fastballs in at 100 MPH anymore? May be, may be not. Time will tell. For now, lets all sympathize a little with the Nationals fan only because they have been so down-trodden for so long. Strasburg was the savior for a couple of months and just like that, he is gone. Life is harsh and unreal sometimes, but it is what it is and it must go on.

The other big news in baseball was about a bunch of teams opening their books and the fans getting surprised and in some cases, pissed at bad teams like the Pirates and the Marlins making a load of cash without spending any on baseball players. In the case of the Pirates, they have not had a winning season in 18 years and have still turned a cumulative profit of $34 million in the past 3 years. And some of these teams have ripped off their cities for new arenas and a lot of these cities are in bad financial state these days because of the recession. All of this adds up to a bunch of angry fans. These bad teams are supposedly making money because of revenue sharing and the big boys like the Yankees pushing them down some cash. So obviously, there are some murmurs about revenue sharing and how it breeds bad behavior and is not helping bad teams build winners. These teams would instead sit tight and just take in the money. Why not?

What's the point of Baltimore spending 20 million more and still having no shot against the 200 million dollar payroll of the Yankees and the RedSox in that division when they could just spend nothing and make money off of revenue sharing? Yes, revenue sharing does breed bad behavior, but that doesn't mean we remove revenue sharing and force a freer market on everybody. What it means is, the MLB system is messed up and they need a true salary cap to go with the luxury tax and revenue sharing for a more balanced league. Pure revenue sharing is not working. A salary cap is what's needed to give the Baltimores and the Pittsburghs of the World a chance. NBA and NFL have figured this out in different ways and MLB has to follow one of those systems. Unless there is a level playing field in baseball, these problems will continue. People always point to teams like this years Tampa Bay Rays and say how they are able to work so well within the system. But it's hard. These teams are the exceptions, not the norm and they can't be your blueprint for a typical team in your league. They are the role-models, not the average Joe.

The other good news in baseball is the indictment of Roger Clemens. Nothing is going to happen for 2 years and even after that, he has enough money to fight all this, but it still feels good to see a scum-bag like him get indicted. To his credit, he is still fighting it by pleading not guilty, though may be he shouldn't. Only Roger Cossack knows what all this means, but if Cossack is talking about you on ESPN sportscenter, it only means that things are not going well for you. The other roider Manny is now a whitesox. He has officially become a journeyman. Wasn't he worshipped like a God in LA just a couple of years back? Only in LA would people care less about their supposed sports super-heroes. It's an ultimate fair-weather, what-have-you-done-for-me-lately town. The Dodgers are going nowhere and hence Manny has been shipped out of town. It hurts me to say that both the NL West and the AL West are garbage. AL East on the other hand is just too good. They may end up with the best 3 records in the league with one of the teams, the Redsox, not even making the playoffs. That would be something. It would still not be what I have been waiting for - both the Yankees and the Redsox missing the playoffs. While we are dreaming, we might also ask for the Mets, Dodgers and the Cubs missing the playoffs the same season along with the Yankees and the RedSox.

Favre and the Jets

Favre finally came back this week. Three of his stooges had to literally goto his home and get him on the flight back to Minnesota. As ridiculous as that circus was, it was good on two fronts. First and foremost, it put an end to the fake suspense of "will he or won't he". Of course we all knew he will come back, but still had to deal with the endless hype and circus. Secondly, even with all that said and done, between the lines, he is just fun to watch. He is one of the better QBs in a sport dominated by QBs. And his spontaneity and risk seeking attitude make him must-watch TV. I don't buy the whole "he will play the game for free" hype that talking-heads like Chris Berman have been foisting on us for more than a decade, but he does play well for apparently 16 to 20 million a year. As a NFL fan, I don't mind watching this drama queen when he is not in the off-season drama-mode.

But I think this year is going to be more disappointing than last for the Vikings and Favre. He is a legit 40 year-old now and expectations are higher due to his success last season. He still has a good team around him, but the Saints might have given the league a blue-print to get after him in that playoff game last year. Also, all this talk about Chilly's offense being insufficient for him might put more pressure on them to open it up. If that happens, Favre may go back to throwing 20 interceptions again and might also end up pissing Adrian Peterson. Their schedule is much tougher this year and the Packers will put up a better fight too in the division. Given all this, I would say the hype for the Vikings needs to be tempered. Don't put them in the Super Bowl yet. But then again, better them than the Cowboys who have been going to the Super Bowl the last 5 years in some people's eyes.

The other team that's over-hyped in my not-so-humble opinion are the New York Jets. Between Sexy Rexy's personality and Mark Sanchez's charms and Darrelle Revis's talents and the Big Apple's marketability, this team is getting way too much attention since last year's playoffs. The reality is, they sneaked into the playoffs last year because Peyton Manning and Carson Palmer ended up resting against them and then they got deep into the playoffs. It's no guarantee they are going to go farther this season. Patriots are not the same anymore, but they are still the team with Brady, Moss and Belichick and they will have a big say in what happens in that division. Mark Sanchez is no better or worse than Matthew Stafford and it might be a little too early to put that kid in the Hall of Fame. And if Revis does miss part or whole of the season, they will have real big question marks. Antonio Cromatie can make 6 kids with 5 women or whatever and forget their names, but he is no Revis. Hope the HBO show Hard Knocks doesn't end up being the high-point of the Jets 2010 season.

NFL 2010

I know it's a cliche, but I can smell football in the air. The only good thing about summer being on the decline is the soothing sight of football and the NFL. College football will start soon too, but we all know the NFL is the king. The former King, LeBron, kept us occupied and entertained through the summer and the NBA in general is getting a lot of attention these days and seems to be on the upswing again, but it still ain't no NFL. ESPN follows the NFL throughout the season and it's fun to finally have some games and training camps to talk about rather than just arm-chair analysis.

Of course there are 2 guys who have no interest in the NFL pre-season or the training camps. It's me and Brett Favre! Just like the last couple of years, the NFL off-season is all about Brett Favre. Recently, some news of his retirement leaked and it was funny how absolutely nobody except the ESPN TV producers bought it. Sure enough, he went from being retired one day to a 7 million dollar pay-hike (13 Mill to 20 Mill) the next. I have no idea how that happened and only Favre can pull something like that off. He is still nowhere to be found and is making an absolute fool of the Vikings and Brad Childress. Childress typically rolls with an air of arrogance and talks like he is curing cancer, but with this Brett Favre issue, he is reduced to being a bumbling fool. Love it!

The other big news of the off-season is Darrelle Revis's contract. This story is derailing the Jets and it would be interesting to see how well that team does in case this guy doesn't sign. I expect Mark Sanchez to get exposed a little bit this year because his numbers last year were no better than Lions QB Matthew Stafford. But Sanchez has a great team around him and people were getting ready to put him in the Hall of Fame already because of all the playoff success for the Jets last year. The other big news is TO joining Ochocinco in Cincinnati. I think TO is washed up, but lets see if he at least opens up some lanes for Ocho. Hope they don't don't start fighting over the girls in Chad's stupid reality show on VH-1. Chad brings in TO as a special guest.

Anyways, I guess the NFL festivities actually officially starts only when Favre shows up in Minnesota.