Odds and Ends

I have been gloomy with how the series have gone with the Rockets, but a point Shane made brought it back in perspective. If someone would have told me that Utah would be up 3-1 after 4 games I would have thought that was about right. My biggest concern is how ugly this series has been. It hasn't just been the physicality that has been ugly, but the shot selection, coaching, defense, bench, offense, officiating and the commentating. I find myself frustrated after every game, even the wins. I am excited for them to extinguish the rockets and move onto the Lake show. I am scared of that series, but I think it will be a prettier brand of basketball. Also, I have always liked to cheer for the underdog, and in the Lakers series they will be. Hopefully they will close out the rockets in 5 and move on.

On another front, I have to give my love to the Diamondbacks. They are playing a great brand of baseball. Their pitching is leading the majors in ERA, and their hitting and scoring is in the top echelons of the majors. I know their colors are red (instead of gay purple like before) but I love this team. If anybody gets a chance to watch a game, I'd suggest you check them out. If Randy Johnson can pitch around 15-20 games of solid baseball and Harin and Webb continue their dominance, the D-backs will be in the World Series representing the NL. The AL is not looking as tough this year, check out the AL East where Tampa Bay is leading the Yankees and the Red Socks. The Devilrays entire team makes less than A-Rod. That is embarrassing and should not happen. It should show the owners that they should not overpay for one player. Baseball is a team sport, which leads me to the next point; baseball should implement a salary cap. There are two major sins committed by the Yankees and the Devil Rays. First, the most apparent, the Yankees are ridiculous in that they make so much money that they will pay whatever to get the biggest names in baseball, and that is just not right. This abuse by the Yankees hurts smaller market teams in that the smaller market teams don't get the big names, which leads to less interest by fans, which leads to lower attendance, which leads to less corporate interest, which coupled with attendance means less revenue and all this equals the apathy that many people have towards baseball now, and the smaller teams not spending the money. Bud Selig tried to rectify this by imposing a profit sharing cap where teams that spend over a certain amount have to share with the smaller teams to keep them operating. This leads me to the bigger of the two sins, the smaller market teams like and especially the D-rays pockets the money and pays the lowest amount they can to their players. Their highest paid player is a middle reliever, what a travesty! The sin they are committing with the aid of Selig's terrible leadership, is that they understand it is a team sport and they can stay just competitive enough each year with the young players, that they will never pay enough to their young guys. Salary caps are great in that they have a maximum amount or a minimum amount a team can spend in a year. There is a hard cap (like the NFL) which makes it so no team can spend more than the determined line (no matter what) which is determined by looking at the overall balance sheets of the teams combined, or a soft cap like the NBA where teams can choose to break the cap, but that means they have to pay a hefty luxury tax. No team goes over by too much, unless you are the Knicks and that is why Isaiah will never work again in the NBA. There is also a minimum, and that is why some teams trade for expiring contracts. Anyways this is a boring post, but baseball is really screwed up and Bud Selig needs to fix it or get out of the way. The popularity for America's game has been waning since the strike and now because of roids. We have to get it back and the way to do it is increasing the competition and parity a la NFL. Every team has a shot every year and every team has a level ball field... Ok I am done with my rant. Nobody drop the Florida Marlins on me as an example, they are an aberration, and they have traded or released all their players every time they get them. Their strength is in their farm system and they exploit the talent at minimum salaries and then get rid of them when they mature. They are guilty of sin numero 2.

I love T-Mac... just kidding. Go Jazz