Goosebumps? Yeah, That Sounds About Right

This is a clip summing up the last week of the 2007 Phillies season, narrated by the MVP himself, Jimmy Rollins. While the season came to an abrupt end at the hands of the Colorado Rockies, it was a hell of a run getting to the postseason.



Video courtesy of The 700 Level.

Fuck-ing Wonderful

I don't need this. Really. I don't. I had hoped my days of watching Tom Goirdon close games for the Phillies were over, but alas, they are not. Hopefully this isn't too serious and Lidge will be back by mid April as expected. Still, I'm not holding my breath.

God Dammit.

Only 35 days till Opening Day.

Big Boy Got Paid

Ryan Howard became the first Phillie ever to win an arbitration hearing, winning the rights to a $10 million salary for 2008. Good. He deserved it. It was the most ever awarded to a player who won his arbitration hearing, and he tied Alfonso Soriano for the most ever awarded to anyone, though Soriano lost in 2006. (He was seeking $12.5 million.) I'm just glad this is over with. There are more important things at hand, like baseball actually being played.

Only 39 days till Opening Day.

NBA Thoughts And Predictions

With the Jason Kidd trade now final, it officially raises the age old question, "Who the fuck is going to win the Western Conference?" The East is easy. Only 5 teams even have winning records, (Boaston, Detroit, Cleveland, Orlando and Toronto) and only the first 3 mentioned have a legitimate chance of winning the conference.

The West though? The West has 10 teams with winning records, and while only 8 of them will make the playoffs, conceivably any of those 8 could end up winning it all. There are, however, as far as I'm concerned, 6 teams with a real chance to come out of the West and win it all, provided they don't get too worn out in the Conference championship and shit the bed against Detroit, Cleveland or Boston. The teams with the best chance to win the West are, in reverse order, as follows:

New Orleans: Chris Paul is a beast. Tyson Chandler is a beast. David West is a beast. I love all of them as basketball players and would be surprised if someday Paul doesn't have at least one ring. But Peja Stojakovic is about as clutch as your granddaddy's Cadillac, and if he's your best outside shooter, you aren't winning a championship. It's one thing to miss a clinching 3 pointer. It's another thing entirely to airball one.

Utah: That Kyle Korver trade was huge. The needed someone to stretch defenses and they got him. Boozer and Williams are great players and this team could absolutely win a championship. They would easily be the best team in the East. But they don't play in the East, and I don't see them geting past any of the next four teams in a 7 game series.

L.A. Lakers: Gasol for Kwame Brown and a couple of picks? Um, YES. You now have a rejuvenated Kobe playing with a talented big man and a good cast of supporting players. Sound familiar? I thought so. Unfortunately, Gasol is no 2000-2002 Shaq, and this team has a very shallow bench. Still, never underestimate Kobe.

San Antonio: The reigning champs stood pat amidst all the trades and I can't say I blame them. They're a great team with a great nucleus and a great coach. Unfortunately for them, repeating is really, really hard and other teams improved drastically. Would I be shocked if the Spurs repeated? Certainly not. But I don't think it's going to happen.

Dallas: Love the Jason Kidd trade, although they're really going to miss Keith Van Horn. Devin Harris is a very good, young point guard, but he isn't Jason Kidd. I think Kidd will do a lot for Josh Howard and Dirk, but I'm still not sure this team can really bang down low with the big boys in the conference, which is why I have to give the nod to...

Damn it, that isn't the right one. I have no idea how that even got on here. The Clippers are fucking terrible. Hold on one second. Ok, here we go.

THIS team is going to win it all:
Thats right, Phoenix: I LOVE the Shaq trade, and not because I believe that, in this stage of his career, he is a better basketball player than Shawn Marion. But as far as this team is concerned, he IS more valuable. This exact group of players had their chance of winning a championship. they didn't. And they didn't because they didn't have a big man in the post that could handle the other big men in the conference, especially Duncan. Also, a happy, motivated Shaq is a wonderful thing. I don't care how old he is, he can still play. Phoenix can now run or grind it out, and they can do it well. That's why I think they'll finally be able to hold whatever the hell the NBA championship trophy is called over their heads come June. And I'll be rooting for them, not just because it will make me look smart. You gotta love Steve Nash. Us white basketball players (current and former) gotta stick together.

Phils Trade Kendrick For Hot Dog Champion

Or so he was made to believe. Apparently Brett Myers was a behind the prank, and Uncle Cholly and even Ruben Amaro Jr. got in on the act. Amaro printed up documents that Kendrick had to sign in triplicate and they even got some reporters to ask him about the trade. There's video of it here.

Oh baseball. Do hurry up and get here.

Pitchers And Catchers!

The Phillies officially begin spring training today as the pitchers and catchers - as well as some of the other players - report to camp in Florida. And on Valentine's Day no less. The Phillies really know the way to a man's heart. Usually they get there and then proceed to cause immeasurable pain, but today it's different. It's a fresh start. A new season. Spring is here, even if it is 35 degrees here in Philly. I think I'm gonna wear shorts today.

It's Time To Move On

Yes, the NFL season is officially over. True, it was really over last weekend, but the Pro Bowl did manage to give the illusion of football despite the lack of defense and touches for Brian Westbrook. (3 touches? Come the fuck on.) And yet, there is promise for what many consider to be the bleakest annual period of time for pro sports.

The Lakers traded for Pau Gasol without losing any important pieces. The Suns traded Shawn Marion to the Heat for Shaquille O'Neal. And Baseball, sweet, sweet baseball, is less than two months away. So fear not sports fan, we have plenty to look forward to. Hell, there's even some hockey worth watching.



Note: I don't think this is worth watching because the linesman got hurt. (He suffered a broken jaw and needed 60 stitches, but should be ok.) I just love how the players took it as an opportunity to incite a brawl.

Sports!

Holy SHIT, a lot happened while I was gone. The Gasol trade. The Shaq trade. The fucking Super Bowl. I have thoughts on all of them. I also just got back from Mardi Gras and am fucking exhausted, so I'm going to make it quick.

Gasol: the Lakers stole him, but I can see why Memphis felt the need to move him. They have a lot of young talent, and Kwame's expiring contract will give them more room to make moves. Still, I think they could have gotten more for him, and when Bynum comes back the Lakers are going to be good.

Shaq: great trade for both teams IF Shaq can stay healthy for the playoffs. I think Marion and Wade will mesh well in Miami, and Shaq is the inside presence the Suns have sorely lacked all this time. Sure, Amare is a beast on offense, but Tim Duncan (among others) continually treats him as though Amare just dropped the soap. Also, Shaq has never played with guys like Nash or Amare, and while he isn't SHAQ anymore, he's still, you know, Shaq. NBA, I'm officially interested in the season. Well played.

The Super Bowl: I'm as shocked as you are. Kudos to the Giants. I look forward to the Eagles beating the super Bowl Champs twice next season. As far as the game goes, it was boring until the last quarter, but hey, what a quarter.

Those are my condensed thoughts on the week that was. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to sleep for 15 hours.

Johan!

I had no intention of commenting on the Johan Santana trade until the World’s Greatest Pitcher put pen to paper and officially signed with the Mets. I'll believe it when I see it, I thought. This is the Mets fan’s mentality: Nothing is certain. It’s all just a house of cards waiting to collapse. Don’t jinx it.

It’s often hard for outsiders to see, but this is the true face of the New York sports fan. Behind all the bluster and alleged pomposity, the NY sports fan is full of fear and longing. He is truly devoted and committed to his team but he always sees the cloud that comes with the silver lining. Success is craved; failure is expected. Yankees fans obscure the true face of the New York sports fan, who is typically thought of as a cocksure blowhard who believes that winning is his divine birth right. While that may be an accurate description of some Yankee fans, it is certainly not true of the rest of us.

The most compelling proof of this was evident two weeks ago during the NFC Championship Game. As regulation time expired, the Giants’ Lawrence Tynes attempted a gimme field goal to send the club into the Super Bowl. The oft-maligned Tynes had spent the season disappointing the franchise with inaccurate field goal attempts and short kickoffs, so much so that retreads like Josh Huston and Billy Cundiff found themselves with mid-season tryouts for Tynes’ job. Few fans had confidence in Tynes as he lined up for the potential game-winner and he did not fail to disappoint.

When Corey Webster made the play of his career to give the Giants the ball deep in Packers’ territory a few minutes later, I dreaded the possibility of another field goal attempt. On fourth-and-five, I was despondent to see Larry trot back onto the field so with my head in my hands I watched him redeem himself with a 47-yard winner. My immediate reaction was not joy or elation or even relief – it was shock. For a full five seconds, I sat with my mouth agape in a room full of silent observers. Did that just happen? Did we really win? We did! We won! We fucking won!!! We’re going to the Super Bowl!!! With that realization, I began to jump up and down with my fists raised to the sky like that Hampton coach after they beat Iowa State in the 2001 NCAA Tournament. But shock was still the overwhelming emotion I felt. Every conversation I had with friends for the next several hours revolved around the same general premise: “I can’t believe we're going to the Super Bowl!”

Other examples are evident in nearly all New York franchises. Giants, Jets, Mets, Knicks, Rangers - it’s the same story across the board. Two on-again, off-again football teams with bouts of winning peppered amongst long periods of ineptitude. A baseball team notable for trading away Hall of Fame pitchers and fiscal strategies that would make George Bush stand up and cheer. A cornerstone of the NBA that is wrapping up its fourth decade without a title by setting records for wastefulness, not to mention executive misconduct. A proud “Original Six” franchise that didn’t win a Stanley Cup for 54 years and followed that by not making the playoffs for another ten. Even the Yankees have begun to join the pack over the last seven years by channeling the Mets (reckless spending), Knicks (ownership/management circus) and Rangers (annual late- and post-season collapses). Behind every club is a fan base praying for a championship … but dreading something far worse.

Which brings us back to the Mets. No New York franchise has done more to earn constant skepticism quite like the Mets. The Mets have lofty expectations seemingly every season and almost always disappoint. Every March, after an off-season consisting of a series of high-profile acquisitions, Mets fans are told, “This is the year!” Expectations grow, leaving the fan base especially irritated when the team is out of contention by June.

This team is far better than that and anything less than a division title and a deep post-season run will be a disappointment in 2008, just as it was in 2007. Yes, Johan Santana gives the Mets a potentially-devastating rotation to go with a solid bullpen and three of the league’s best position players. But he does nothing to change the fact that scrubs named Brian Schneider, Luis Castillo and Ryan Church are all important pieces of our lineup on a daily basis. Carlos Delgado and Moises Alou remain old. When – not if – any of these players are injured, the bench provides little reassurance, unless you are turned on by defensive replacement outfielders, of which we now have two – Endy Chavez AND Angel Pagan. And god forbid Beltran, Reyes or Wright misses significant time. Perish the thought.

In short, color me skeptical. I’ve heard this story before. I’ll believe it when I see it.