Didn't The White Sox Win The World Series 19 Months Ago?

I'm a little ashamed to say I caught what was only my first Phillies game of the season this afternoon against the White Sox, but at least I picked a good game to attend. The Phils won 8-4 on the strength of Aaron Rowand's 5 RBIs in 4 innings and a decent start from someone not named Freddy Garcia. But that isn't the main story here.

Weren't the White Sox supposed to be good? They did win a World Series less than 2 years ago and the only 2 players they've lost since then are one the Phillies. And boy are they having different seasons. One is Garcia, fuckhead that he is, and one is Rowand, who truly deserves to start for the National League in center field this July. But we gave up Thome for Rowand, so that's at the very least equal production. And getting rid of Garcia was addition by subtraction, much like it already has been for us.

So, what's wrong with the White Sox? Take a look at the box score from today's (Wednesday's) game. How many Chicago players' names do you recognize? Three? Maybe four? Maybe even six if you're a White Sox fan. But man, this team is hurtin'. And I mean that literally. Injuries are killing them. It's kinda sad because I liked the way they played baseball. Oh well. I'll get over it.

A couple other notes - Justin Verlander and his no-no were very impressive Tuesday night. He hit 102 on the radar gun in the 9th inning. Think about that for a minute. Think about how many players hit 102 EVER. Not many. He did after throwing 100+ pitches. That is impressive. Think the Phillies are going to sweep the Tigers? Um, no.

Speaking of sweeps, the Cavs are done.

Someone needs to tell Bill Simmons that no one gives a fuck what the Celtics do with the 5th pick. Seriously Bill, shut up. I think what you write about the NBA is your best stuff by far - because you don't really know shit about any other sports, not counting some slightly above average NFL knowledge - as long as it isn't about the Celtics. Very few people in Boston care. NO ONE outside of Boston does. You aren't getting Durant or Oden. Nothing could be more fair. Deal with it.

A Couple Notes on Monday

Last night Superma- excuse me, Ryan Howard, was officially presented with his National League MVP award. He deserved it. While you statheads out there could make a legit argument for Pujols, the bottom line is, the Phillies won more games than the eventual World Series champs, ridiculous as it seems. Is Pujols a better baseball player than Ryan Howard? Yup. By a decent margin. Did Ryan Howard have a better year? Yup. He was pitched to approximately 3.5 times after September 1st and he still finished with 58 dingers and 149 RBIs. Those are MVP numbers...

In a column today, Bill Simmons called the Super Bowl "the world's biggest sporting event". Um, that's horseshit Simmons, and you know it. The biggest sporting event in America? Sure. By far. But the world? Um, roughly 5.7 billion people might disagree with you on that one. The World Cup is unquestionably the biggest sporting event in the world, putting all other happenings across the globe on hold for a month while the world's greatest game holds center stage.
Even if you don't like soccer, it is 100% impossible to make the argument that the World Cup is not the biggest sporting event in the world. Now, the Super Bowl certainly comes close to being the biggest day in sports, at least in terms of viewership and ad revenue, but I'm still pretty sure the World Cup final outdoes it. Rougly 80-90 million Americans tune in for the entirety of the Super Bowl - a large number indeed - and to be safe, let's say the total number of earthlings watching the game is 200 million (and this is a generous estimate), this comes nowhere near the amount of people tuned into the World Cup final. More people in Europe alone watched the final game of the World Cup this past year, which featured two European nations, than will watch the Super Bowl next week.

Quite frankly I'm a little surprised Simmons - someone who claims to have watched a great deal of the 2006 World Cup - made such a statement. I'm sure it was innocent enough, but I'm not letting it slide. I love the Super Bowl. I really do. But in my opinion, soccer is the greatest sport in the world. And while many may disagree with that opinion, this much is fact: soccer IS the biggest sport in the world. And that is something (American) football will never be able to claim.