A new hall in the hall

So the debate has begun as to whether or not Mark McGwire belongs in the baseball hall of fame. It'll be a quiet topic for the time being, with the matters of the BCS and whatnot taking up ink and airwaves for the next week or two. When the results are realeased though, in early January then this will be all the sports talk rage. All signs currently point to McGwire not gaining admittance to the hall this time around. There are good logical arguments to keep him out and also to vote him in. Well, as discussed here earlier, there are people in the hall of fame who committed transgressions much worse than McGwire. Here's a breif list of some who did themselves not so proud, but are still enshirned in Cooperstown.

Cap Anson - On of the games first stars, he was also one of the games first prima donnas. It's not so much his hubris that land him here, but the fact that before baseball was officially segragated he refused to play against any teams that had minorities on them. Suffice to say his attitude towards minorities extended beyond the ballfield and one can't help but wonder if one of the games first stars didn't exhibit racist attitudes that would keep minorities off of major league fields for decades to come.

Ty Cobb - Where to begin? If you ever want to read a great character study, read "Cobb" by Al Stump. It'll give you some insight into one of the greatest baseball players of all time and perhaps one of the most despicable people of all time, but back to the case at hand. Cobb would sharpen his spikes before every game he played so they would be better to spike his opponents with. Cobb was a constant insitgator of fights both on and off the field. Most notourious was the time he jumped into the stands to assault a heckler. Cobb had to be forceably removed from on top of the man whose face he was peppering with punches by his teammates. It should be noted the fan was bound to a wheelchair and this didn't deter Cobb from savagely beating the him. Cobb was also a racist, assualting men on more than one occaision because of the color of their skin. Cobb also drank heavily and abused his wives and children. That is just scrathing the surface of what this man was like, but I think you get the idea. (Please note that these stories of horror do have some context to them that I am not including that are included in the book, seriously read the book, even if you don't like baseball you'll like the book).

Rogers Hornsby - Hornsby, for all of his baseball prowess was apparently a very unlikable man, to the point where he was traded multiple times in the course of his career because he was so disagreeable. Of course though, that's not his greatest sin. Can you figure out what it was? If you said racist, you would be correct, but he took it to another level as he was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, enough said.

Tom Yawkey - And yes, I'm aware of the fact I may be beating a dead horse here, but Tom Yawkey's biggest problem was the he was a horrendous racist. Though not a player, he set a horrible standard for race and the team he owned, the Boston Red Sox. Boston was the last team to integrate, Pumpsie Green the player and 1959 the year, a full twelve years after Jackie Robinson crossed baseball's color barrier. The Red Sox actually had a chance to sign Robinson and Willie Mays, but such deals were nixed in large part to Yawkey's slanted sight. Yawkey's attitudes set a standard in Boston for years that still unfortunately lingers today.

Kenesaw Mountain Landis - Baseball's first commisioner did some great things as baseball's first commisioner, most notably clenaning gamblers and crooked ballplayers from the game. Unfortunately, the man in baseball with ultimate power also was one of the biggest forces in keeping the game segragated. It wasn't until after his death that baseball saw it's first full time black player.

Gaylord Perry - Alright and here we have our first case of where a guy isn't a racist, he was just a horrendous cheater. Perry, a pitcher, was infamous for scuffing the ball when he pitched, along with loading the ball up with any number of foreign substances ranging from Vaseline to spit to whatever he could get to run out of his nose. A pitcher putting anything on a baseball to alter its delivery is illegal. So the questions is why was is ok for Perry to cheat, but not Mark McGwire?

Joe Morgan - I have no real reason to put Joe Morgan here other than he's an ass who seemingly does little to no preparation for his job as a comentator and seems to contradict himself continously while also discussing everything under the sun but the game itself.

Charles Comiskey - A notouriously cheap and thrifty owner, whose lack of class and respect towards his players drove eight of them to conspire to throw the World Series in 1919 and give baseball a great black eye. Comiskey continually shortchanged his players in salaries and bonuses despite running one of the most profitablte franchises of his time.

That is just a sampling of some people of questionable character who are currently in the baseball hall of fame. There are certainly more and the men listed here certainly did more than I mentioned. Hopefully, you get the idea, that there are plenty of people in the hall of fame whose transgressions are at least as bad, if not worse than McGwire's.

Fear not though, I have a solution to the problem though so we don't have to weigh the moral imperatives here. I propose that there be a new wing added to the hall of fame. It should be somewhere in the hall's basement, maybe even below it. It should be down a long dark and drab corridor with water dripping from the ceiling. The room where the plaques are housed should have no windows and it should be lit with only a 60 watt light bulb. Let the men be enshrined in the hall, but let where they are enshrined be a disgrace. It's certainly what they deserve. Hell, this would solve the problems that will face voters whenever Barry Bonds is up for the vote. Put in him in the hall, but put him where it'll be hard to see him. This will even let Pete Rose in, though I think his room should in a darker room that is lit only by a candle, but that's another ramble for another time.

It's a hall of fame, meant to recognize great accomplishments in a game, so if the player was great they should be enshrined. However, if they chose to disrespect the game and aspects of society through various ways, then why should they be treated with the utmost respect once they're in? Simply said they shouldn't be. So lets put a new hall in the hall, so these men and the others that follow will have a chance to be honored in a place where they deserve it...where no one will see them.

Heading to the hall?

The Baseball Hall of Fame ballots has been officially released. Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn headline the ballot as shure-fired first ballot hall of famers. Also on the ballot and always a cause for debate on entry are players like Jim Rice and Goose Gossage. But the talk will not be about them if the narrowly make or miss entry in baseball's holy shrine. Nor will the talk most likely be about Ripken or Gwynn as it should be. Instead it will be on another first time ballotee (is that a word? I don't think it is either, but lets just move on from that.) His name is Mark McGwire and if you're not familiar with him or his body of work we'll give you the quick rundown.

McGwire appeared in games over the course of 16 seasons for the Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals. He finished his career with 583 home runs, good enough for 7th all time and in 1998 he set a then major league mark for home runs in a season with 70. The 70 homer season was the third year in a four year strech where he topped 50 home runs a season (52 and 58 in the preceding season and 65 in the following). Aside from his prodigious power there were 12 appearances in the All-Star game, a rookie of the year award and three silver sluggers. He led the league in slugging percentage four times and he even won a gold glove.

So there is a great case for him to be in the hall. In fact every hall eligible player with more than 500 career home runs is enshrined in Cooperstown. But this won't be quite as simple as in the past. There are questions about McGwire's achievements due in large part to speculation about him using steroids.

Steroids is the hot button topic in baseball and it will be there for a while, probably forever. If Barry Bonds plays next season there is a good chance he'll break the all time career home runs record. Bonds is 21 home runs away from tying Hank Aaron's career mark of 755, but that's deviating from what I'm getting at. The question about McGwire is whether or not he used steroids during his career.

Conventional wisdom would certainly point to yes. McGwire was built slightly smaller than a refridgerator and when he held a bat it looked like he was swinging a toothpick. His body wasn't abonormally large for an athlete of his caliber per se, but it sure seemed a lot bigger than any normal man would carry. There were signs too that something wasn't quite right. Despite his incredible physiche, which we were always led to believe was the result of grusome work in the weight room (and which it was to a degree), his body always seemed to be breaking down with the type of injuries associated with steroid use. But because McGwire was always likeable and also because the question of steroids wasn't much of a thought yet, he seemed to be get off with a pass.

Then in April of 2005 McGwire was called to testify in front of a congressional committee about steroid use, his and otherwise, in the realm of professional baseball and he offered such pearls of wisdom like, "I'm not here to talk about the past," and "My lawyers have advised me that I cannot answer these questions without jeopordizing my friends, my family and myself. I intend to follow their advice." That was about as detailed of an answer that McGwire gave to any questions asked of him that day and well, you can see for yourself that he really didn't answer anything, nor did he deny anything, nor did he really say anything at all. He avoided everything as much as he could and several times during his testimony, he was on the verge of tears. Again, there was no admission of guilt, but innocent men don't break down when the light shines on them either. This was a panel that also included Sammy Sosa who magically forgot how to speak english while testifying and Rafael Palmeiro who shook his finger at the committee denined he had ever taken steroids and then tested positive for them the following season.

Anyone that says there isn't enough evidence to support the fact that McGwire took steroids is either naive or just choosing not see something that they don't want to see. Also, anyone that says he never tested positive for steroids while playing baseball is a moron because baseball did not test for steroids, or any drugs for that matter while he played. McGwire took the country by storm when he chased Roger Maris' single season home run record. Sammy Sosa was right along with him as well and they helped to breathe life into a game that was still trying to recover from a strike in 1994. What they did for the game helped breathe life into it and also as a result what they did could also tear it back down.

McGwire took some kind of performance enhancing drugs, it just doesn't seem that it could be denied at this point. On that alone it should be simple, he shouldn't go into the hall, but this is a slippery slope sports are played on nowadays.

As mentioned above, baseball didn't test for steriods when McGwire played, in fact it wouldn't have mattered if they tested for them because they did not become illegal in baseball until 2002, on year after McGwire retired. So technically, he didn't really cheat if he used steroids when he played. Sure it was dishonest and dangerous, but accoding to baseball, not illegal. Then again, I'm pretty sure its against US law to have steroids in your posession unless your a medical doctor, but again, I digress. There is also the issue of when McGwire started using and how it would tarnish numbers from some years, but not those when he was clean. And also of great importance is how many pitchers McGwire faced that were on some type of performance enhancing drugs. Does the fact that there were most likely pitchers on the juice excuse the fact McGwire most likely used? No, but it could certainly level the playing field in a way that maybe his competative edge from using was reduced. Plus, how can you single one man out and not the rest? How can you discount his accomplishments from an era that can be described as cloudy as best.

It also not like baseball has been the most level of playing fields of all time. Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb never faced black or latin ball players. Willie Mays, Frank Robinson and Mickey Mantle played in a time when ballparks dimensions resembled those of national parks. If Vic Wertz and Mays played today, Wertz would have been trotting around the bases and May would have looking over the centerfield fence instead of over his shoulder as Wertz's blast in the 1954 World Series landed in his glove. Batters in the 60's and 70's faced pitchers coming off a higher mound, only asserting the domiance of pitchers in that era. The point I'm trying to make is that everything in sports is relative. We want to measure stars of this era against stars of the past and stack up their numbers and decide who is better than who and who deserves to be recognized for their accomplishments. What McGwire accomplished can't be diminished easily because he played in era where what he did was commonplace. It doesn't excuse what he did, but you can't dimiss what he accomplished. But you can argue against his character if you want.

During that magical summer of 1998, McGwire was more loveable than a teddy bear. It was due in part to the fact that he was likable, well spoken and he also seemed to be of great character. His son was with him that summer, as a Cardinals bat boy. He was the first person he greeted when he crossed the plate after a home run. It endeared McGwire to legions of people and we heard about the great character the man possesed. Well, turns out he didn't have the character we thought he did. Anyone willing to put their body at such risk, long term risk, for a short trem reward, then refuses own up to it for fear of reprisal, well it would seem that the character of that individual would be lacking.

Some sportswirters are using this lack of character as a reason to not induct McGwire into the hall. There actually is a clause on the ballot that indicates that character should be taken into cosideration in the voting process. Well hooray for them, trying to take the high moral ground, but there are men enshirned in the hall of fame whose sins are far greater than McGwire's. There are racists, spousal abusers, womanizers, alcohlics and gamblers; even a couple of members of the Ku Klux Klan enshirned in Cooperstown. If these people are at all serious about a man's character playing into whether or not he should be in the hall, they should show they're serious about getting some guys out because of their character before denying others entry into it because of it.

Well I don't think his lack of character should keep him from being enshrined. Nor do I think his use of performance enhancing drugs should keep him from being enshrined either. Let him be inducted into the hall of fame, pure and simple, well maybe not so simple. I say put him in on one condition. Never let him go to the hall of fame. Not once. Make him watch the induction ceremony from some where far away. Make him watch some one hold up his plaque and read his accomplishments in a drab monotone way (Bud Selig would be great for this, wouldn't he?). Then when they're finished have them move on. No applause, no speeches on his behalf or against it. Let his plaque hang and don't ever let him see it. Maybe then the gravity of his situation will really hit him. Maybe then he'll realize the choices he made and get some real consequnces from the outcome. I'm not saying he doesn't feel remorse and realize the error of his ways, but is it right to reward some one with baseball's highest honor when they aren't honest about their time in baseball?

I wonder if McGwire gets in sometime what he'll say in his induction speech. Most of those speeches look towards the past, towards their careers and what was. But McGwire has already said he doesn't want to talk about the past, so what will he mention if he stands in front of the hall some day?

I also wonder if five or ten years from now, or however long it is before the statue of limitations on possesing or using illegal steroids runs out if McGwire will then finally talk. If the threat of legal trouble is off the table if then he'll finally talk and tell us what he did or didn't do during his time in the major leagues. I hope he does talk whenever that time is up, in fact I would like for him to talk before then, but we've already seen that isn't going to happen. I hope that he sheds some light into what happened and that he tries to warn younger people not to do as he did. I hope if that all happens too that we don't hear about the courage and conviction of Mark McGwire. If he had true courage and conviction we would know all we need to know by now, but obviously we don't.

This topic isn't going away anytime soon. Ballots don't have to be postmarked until the 31st of December and the results will be announced on the 9th of January. This debate won't die down, it's only going to intensify. All we can do really is to wait and see what those with the votes decide, so until then.....

Been a Long Time

Haven't written much in a while and well I don't a have a ton to write about right now. I'm working on a couple of longer things I'd like to put up later on in the week. Just figured I'd better put something here for the time being to show that I wasn't dead. That's all for now, so until later....

Gott clear out me noggin....

Believe it or not I do actually have things I want to write about, I just don't feel like writing about them right now, so I'm just going to babble for a while and we'll go from there....

When was the last time anybody saw Grimace? Or the Hamburgler? Or the Fries? Or that girl Bird (Birdsie?) Do Ronald have them offed? Did the Burger King have them beheaded? If you want my opinion, I think Wendy got to them honestly.

Please tell me that the preceding paragraph made sense to you, because if it didn't, I'm worse off than I thought.

The Professor had to want to stay on the island right? How else can you make a radio out of a coconut, a conch shell and palm fronds but he can't fix a hole on a boat. (This will be a future ramble all of its own some day). Also, what do you think the odds are the MacGuyver is somehow the professor's son?

Speaking of MacGuyver, do you think the actor who played ever felt weird about calling a plumber or carpenter or someone to fix something if it broke? And if you were the person fixing MacGuyvers stuff, did you just mock him about it the whole time by asking if he had a ballpoint pen, spearmint chewing gum and some shoelaces to fix whatever it was that you were fixing?

Who exactly was it that loved Lucy?

The key to a successful Thanksgiving goes beyond a good turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, squash, cranberry sauce, peas, creamed onionss, stuffing, dinner rolls and an assortment of pies for dessert. Above all else, wear pants that have an elastic wasteband....just trust me on this one.

Can we petition the NFL not to broadcast the Lions vs. the Dolphins? I like football on Thanksgiving as much as the next guy, but what those two teams play really shouldn't be called football.

You know what I just realized? What if the next guy hates football? Then I certainly wouldn't like it as much as him, in fact I would like it a great deal more.

Home and Office Depot should merge into one store just so there will be the awkward intercations between contractors and office interns picking up supplies. Plus I think it would be fun watching people push around their office supplies in those giant industrial carts you pick up plywood in.

When you break it all down the biggest difference between Wal-Mart and Target is their customers average net income.

You don't suppose in the Hatfield-McCoy fued that one family drove Fords and the other Chevy's, do you? (If you don't at least understand rednecks or auto racing a little bit then that reference will be lost upon you)

If Canada invaded North Dakota, would anyone care?

When is Santa's birthday and more importantly how has Hallmark not yet profited from this in some way or another?

I think I'm going to sue Sacha Baron Cohen because it seems like everyday some one else is and I want in.

I want to get a set of decorative plates to eat on and then decorate my walls with the plates I used to eat from.

Do you think when Kevin Bacon gets bored he tries to connect people through himself? Or Samuel L. Jackson maybe considering he seems to be in like 20 movies a year? And how did he talked in Snakes on a Plane? This is making upset, time to move on.

Is it unfortunate that a whole generation of people will simply know James Earl Jones as the guy in the Verizon commercials?

Kit from Knight Rider could pretty much do anything a normal car could do and more, but you have to wonder was he able to pararlell park himself like that new Leuxs?

I haven't seen Cookie Crook in a while which tells me that he obviously got pinched for something a whole lot worse than trying to steal cereal.

Do you suppose Reggie Jackson ever actually met the Queen of England? (Think the Naked Gun movies here and that will make sense).

Speaking of the Naked Gun movies, OJ........yeah that''s all that needs to be said, right?

I'm watching an episode of Law and Order and it just happens to feature the woman who played the oracle in the Matrix movies and the guy who play Tony's father on the Sopranos. It's not so much that I find it interesting, just sad that I recognized them so quickly.

If you take a sign language class and you fail at learning it you should immediately be reminded that a gorilla once leanred sign language just to make your failure that much more spectacular and painful.

That's it for now, so until later.........

That's a whole lotta Yen....

After a good period of speculation, it's official, the Boston Red Sox have won the right to negotiate a contract with Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka. All it's cost the Sox so far is $51.1million and that's before they have to sit down with Scott Boras and haggle out the figures.

OK so if you know nothing about baseball and the "posting" of Japanese baseball players, here's the quick rundown. Good player in Japan, wants to come play in America, but he is still under contract to play in Japan. So his Japanese team puts him into the posting process. All the teams in Major Leauge Baseball (MLB) have a chance to bid for the right to negotiate a contract with said player. All the teams that wish to bid, send sealed secret bids (posting fee), via MLB to the players Japanese league team. If the team accepts the bid, then the MLB team has a 30 day window to negotiate a contract with the player. If they come to terms with the player, then the posting fee is officially sent from the MLB team to the Japanese team. If there is no contract reached however, the player returns to his team in Japan and the posting fee is returned to the MLB team. The Japanese player plays for his team in the subsequent season and once it's completed he could go into the posting process yet again. So that's the skinny of how this whole process works, just to get you up to speed.

So here it is, the Red Sox have agreed to pay $51.1 million to the Seibu Lions (Matsuzaka's Japanese league team) to have the chance to negotiate a contract with Matsuzaka. This news on the whole excites me greatly and of course worries me greatly. Lets go through with a point-counterpoint type exercise as to why and why not I'm excited.

Excitement: Matsuzaka is only 26 years old and supposedly has good command of a variety of pitches, mid-90s fastball, two-seam and cut fastball, change-up, splitter, slider. That's a lot of pitches, good reason to be excited.

Not-excitement: He's already thrown over 1,400 innings in his career, which is a lot of miles for any pitcher to have logged at his age. It warrants noting that Greg Maddux, To, Glavine and John Smoltz all logged similar amounts of innings at similar stages of their careers, but that's a hell of a weight to put on someone like this.

Excitement: Again, he's only 26, which would give Boston three starters that age or younger (Beckett and Paplebon being the other two) in their rotation. You always want good young pitching and well that would seem to fit the bill.

Not-excitement: An elbow issue caused him to miss nearly the entire 2002 season, but he's been injury free since then, but still, any arm injury with such a big investment is cause for concern.

Excitement: He's not going to the Yankees and if he is as good as most people say he is, it could help the Sox greatly in the division and well, him not going to the Yankees helps in the division as well.

Not-excitement: They still haven't signed the guy yet and it warrants mentioning that his agent is Scott Boras. In case you're not familiar with Boras, he's not quite the devil but he and Lucifer definetly get together and throw one down once in a while. Signing this guy isn't quite a forgone conclusion, especially since Boras is sitting on the other side of the table. In fact, if this were the Red Sox past, it could be entirely conceivable that they would some how mess up the contract process, but this isn't Red Sox past, so I'm remaining optomistic here.

Excitement: The Sox could be a getting a solid young pitcher, hitting his prime years, that could help hold down the front of the rotation in the future and soften the blow of Curt Schilling retiring (supposedly) at seasons end.

Not-excitement: Did I mention the fact that the Sox are ready to part with just over $50 million to be able to negotiate with Matsuzaka and that it will most likely cost another $30-$40 million to sign the lad? That's a while lot of money on what essentially is a gamble. Of course, if the gamble pays off then it was worth it to put the money down. Of course the opposite side of it is dropping all that money down and getting the equivalent rolling snake-eyes in a game of craps. It's a high risk high reward venture here, but with high risk high reward, there is always that chance you'll get left at the table with nothing.

Overall, the whole thing is exciting. It'll be interesting to see what type of contract gets worked out and how much the Sox are willing to pay. They already demonstrated that they were willing to pony up some cash in the posting process obviously. Their bid was a full $13 million higher than that of the second highest ($38 million by the Mets). Does this mean they'll spend more than they want when it comes down to negotiating a contract? Boras will most likely want somewhere in the $13-$15 million is my guess and the Sox will be looking for somewhere in the $9-$11 million range, again my guesswork. Lengthwise, my guess is Sox around three years, Boras around 5 years, with an escape clause after 3. Either way it ends up, that's a hell of an investment to make. Add on the fact he would be playing in one of the most scrutinized baseball markets in the US, with the inevitable throng of Japanese reproters following his every move....and I mean every move, there will be a ton of pressure on the guy. But that will tell us whether in fact he is great or not, whether he can perform with all the pressure surronding him. I hope it all works out, I really do. I want the Sox to have a more solidified rotation this year and for the years following. Plus you always want a chance to watch the best and if he's the best, then hey, good viewing times all around. Plus with all the money the Sox will have to spend, it makes it even less likely that there will be any chance of Roger Clemens coming back to Boston, which if it happened quite honestly might cause me to spontaneously combust. Who knows how all of this will work out of course. It will certainly be fun to watch and sports radio hosts in Boston must be thrilled, because now they have to work even less to think of something to talk about. Let the games begin I guess. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go watch the Bruins play the Capitals (they already have a one goal lead....don't know how long that will last) and drive me to the brink of madness, while also watching the Celtics play the Pacers as the C's find yet another way to lose a game by less than 6 points....lets just say the Doc Rivers watch is on....more on that some other time, but until then....

I'm making a hut in the woods....

I can't take it aymore, so I've decided that I'm going to go march off into the woods somewhere, build myself a hut, tame a racoon as a pet and live off the land. And don't act like you don't know why either, you know damn well why. Britney Spears and Kevin Federline are no more. What hope is there for the rest of us in this world if these two can't make it?

OK, obviously I'm not really concerned about the break-up of those two and I'm not really planning on going out and living in the the woods (at least not yet anyway). Nor am I planning on taming a racoon as a pet, rather a moose because I could at least ride a moose right? I mean it's bigger and stronger than a horse and it's totally individual right? OK, now I'm getting off topic. The reason I'm ranting is I just found out this divorce business while persuing CNN.com. It was the top link under their "top stories" heading. Now, on a normal day, this wouldn't irritate me all that much, but in case you haven't noticed, today is election day.

Yup, it's that second Tuesday in November again when the people of America are called to vote for filling various forms of their government. Here in New Hampshire I got to vote for a Governor, US Representative and two state reps, all in the same day. This is possibly one of the biggest mid-term elections in recent memory. There is question as to whether or not the majority in the US House or Senate could sway back to the Democrats, which would lead to all kinds of questions. What will happen with Iraq? What about the Bush adminstration tax cuts? There are a whole myriad of issues (as their are during any election) that are up for grabs here. Also, if there is a power shift in both houses, what does it mean for the current adminstration? Does is mean they'll be in a lame duck position for the next three years since they don't have the votes to push through issues on their agenda? Like this administration or not, is it good for their to be a lame duck presidency for a prolonged period of time?

So with the country at the polls, what does CNN.com have as their top story under latest news? The impending divorce between Britney Spears and Kevin Federline. Granted this under a special coverage section with a few links to articles relating to the elections today. But all it takes is a slight scroll of the mouse and there the top story is Brintey and Kevin. That is the type of story that should be burried deeper today than wherever the hell Jimmy Hoffa is. Why does this type of story even sinff the light of day on a day like today?

I know why it does of course and so do you. There is a large contingent of peolpe that like this stuff, in fact they live for it. How else can you explain magazines like People, USWeekly, InTouch, InStyle and every other celeb magazine that is essentially the same thing, just with a different lay-out. There are entertainment "new magazines" on televison (Entertainment Tonight, Accesss Holywood) that are just broadcast version of the junk that shares newsstands with magazines like, Newsweek, Time and Rolling Stone.

The job of any news organization it seems these days, whether they are print, broadcast or digital is to draw in as many readers/listeners/viewers as possible. Is it possible that a story on the divorce of the aforementioned two would draw more readers than stories about the election? Probably is what I thought, so against my better judgement I clicked on the "Most Popular" tab for stories and my fears were realized. The divorce was story number 1, followed by a lawsuit involving Britney and a sex tape at number two. Number three was a story about Faith Hil and something she did at the country music awards, followed by something about "Real Borat seeks apology" There, at number 5 on the most popular list was a story titled "Parties duking it out over Congress".

There it was, at number five on the most popular links. I'm not going to say that I was surprised and honestly, I don't know who to blame on this one. Part of me wants to be irritated at a site that runs stories like this during an election day. But there's the other part of me that wants to be irritated that the most popular stories to that point of the day had nothing to do with the election and that the top two had to do with Britney Spears.

There had to be more compelling stories out there, right? Maybe it's just the time I checked it at, somewhere a little after 5pm. Maybe as the night goes on, the Britney crap will get burried. I'm almost scared to watch the news at all tonight for the fear that I'll lose it if they mention that story during a time they should be covering what's going on in the elections.

Please don't read too much between the lines here. I'm not overtly political, nor do I claim to be or ever aspire to be. It's just there are certain times when believe it or not politics can be important and today is one of those days. Over everything else they should get top billing, especially whether or not two schmucks, one a famous singer/dancer/whatever and one a famous sponge due to his marriage to the singer/dancer/whatever, are getting a divorce. They'll still be filing for divorce tomorrow and the public can learn about it then.

Of course there will still be things to learn about the election tomorrow too, but by then results will be tallied and winners declared and it will be OK to share that spotlight a little, but not too much. In a perfect world, we would find out about their divorce a week from now, but alas the world is not perect, so we'll have to live with the consequneces.

I'll admit too that I'm not always putting news up on a pedestal or election news for that matter. I'm a sports junky and more often than not, I'm scanning ESPN.com rather than CNN.com or the BBC on-line. That being said, today is a day where I made sure to read some election speak, because like politics or not, it's important to have a clue about what is going on. In fact I haven't even made it to ESPN.com today. I stopped by CNN.com first, to see what they had to say and well, they didn't have much to say, which in turn caused me to have a lot to say. In fact it was my original intent to talk about some sports related stuff today, due to their tie-in with politics. 15 years ago today, Magic Johnson announced that he was HIV positive and 21 years ago Rubin "Hurricane" Carter was realeased from prison after serving 19 years on a murder charge that was later dropped.

I hoped to talk about those two men and how they became the heads of causes. How they took a bad hand they were dealt and some how played their way into winning the whole pot. How they made not only their lives, but lives of countless others better. Basically, I was going to talk about how political changes can be made even if you don't identify yourself as political. But instead I got sidetracked and wound up talking about Britney Spears and Kevin Federline....slight drop off in suject matter you might say.

Is there a moral to all of this rambling? Maybe there is and maybe there isn't and since I know what my intentions on the rambling was, I'll let you figure out what it means to you on your own. Until later....

Might as well ramble for a while

Am I the only person who is convinced the series finale of Lost will be some one's dream while sleeping on the plane from Australia to LA? Isn't this the only thing that makes sense anymore? I can't see how it can end any other way, can you?

If I'm ever arrested I just want to start yelling out non-sensical phrases like "Jesus Peanut Butter" and "I am King of the domain of the Ostrich Herders Association of America" just to see if they could find a way to use it against me in court of law.

If I ever met Jennifer Love Hewitt would she bad mad if I brought up Kids Incorporated or would she think I'm creepy? Yeah, I think creepy too.....please don't tell me I'm the only person that remembers Kids Incorporated.

It's two days into the new NBA season and four players have already been ejected under the "Rasheed Wallace Rule" which basically says if you whine too much your tossed. It warrants mentioning that Rasheed Wallace is one of the players that's been tossed....simply amazing.

If a black guys moons you shouldn't is be called an eclipse? Along the same lines, couldn't you say the same thing about a white guy with a really hairy ass?

What is so fun about "fun size" candy bars? I usually have more fun with more candy and less fun with less candy so it would seem the smaller the candy bar, the less fun, but that's just me.

When you break it down, horse racing is just Nascasr for rich people with shorter races but some how just as much drinking and obviously a lot more business suits....I feel this will be a future rant someday....not soon, but soon enough.

This is for people that understand baseball so if you don't understand baseball just skip it....Why is it OK to give out Gold Gloves to more than one center fielder in each league? Left, Center and Right field are similar, but they are also very different, so why does one not go to a Left, Center and Right fielder? They don't give out gold gloves to three shortstops in the infield, so why do center fielders get free reign? I don't get it.

Who wins in a fight Strawberry Shortcake or Rainbow Bright?

Mr. T must be a very empathizing fellow if he does indeed always feel pity for the fool.

What states do Mississippi and Alabama make fun of? I mean their options are pretty limited right? Maybe they can make fun of Arkansas, but I doubt it.

Speaking of Arkansas, how come the state of Kansas is spelled like it sounds and Arkansas is just the same with an Ar on the front of it and the -sas suffix is pronounced saw?

Do you wonder if there are any lost Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle episodes out there where they express their incredible sexual frustration? I mean they are teenageers, they have to have those urges right? But there's not much of a dating market for the Mutant Ninja Turtle crowd methinks.

Does ABC know that the new show they putting on (and the one that's putting Lost on hiatus for like 8 months), "Day Break" has already been done, that's it's a movie called Groundhogs Day with Bill Murray? Are there really no ideas out there anymore? Is this why there is a fith Rocky movie coming out around Christmas? (Yes, I know typed fith and some would contend this is actually the sixth in the series...I choose not to acknowledge those people).

I want to make a trivia game where the pursuit of winning is anything but trivial.

Why can't the people from CSI and Law & Order get together and solve their cases quicker?

Remember when Britney Spears was hot, like really hot? Yeah, those were good days.

Did the Cardinals really win the World Series or was that all just a bad dream? Does this also mean we have to talk about how good a manager Tony LaRussa is even though he's overrated?

I want a black and white high definition television and I want it equipped with a Beta Max tape and laser disc player.

Who do the Polish make jokes abut? My guess is people from Alabam and Mississippi.

OK, the only reason I brought up the pronunciation of Arkansas was so I could use the word suffix. It's a fun word and I don't get to use it that often, so cut me some slack.

I think if you want to be a born again Christian that they should force you to get inside a large rubber pouch, fill it with something warm and oozy and then they have to pull there way out through a hole in the bottom. If they really want to be born again, lets put them through the whole deal.

How many times does something have to be said in order for it to be a cliché?

If you every meet a former Playboy playmate you don't have to bother picturing them nakes, just find the magazine they were in and your problem is solved.

Could you imagine if Christopher Walken was your father and he woke you up when you were sleeping? I don't know about you, but that would scare the hell out of me.

OK, don't want to empty too much out all at once, so until later.....

And that'll wrap it up

And now the end is here....it's the last division to look at. Who cares if the season is already two days old? It's not like this is groundbreaking stuff here so I don't think what little integrigty I have will be compromised by the fact the NBA is already underway. Well, our last division and possibly one of the more craptastic in all the league, the Atlantic is what we have left. I saved it for last because it is the division in which my beloved Celtics play and well, I wanted to save them and their division for last. So lets get it started and get this whole NBA thing over with.

ATLANTIC DIVISION

New Jersey Nets: This is a team that's been largely overhauled, yet remains very much the same. The bench is almost entirely new, which is a major plus for them, while the starting five remains intact, so there is the new and old all rolled into one. If they don't win this division handily then they have major issues. This is a team that won 49 games last year and with the improved bench they should no problem topping that mark considering the divsion they play in. Jason Kidd runs the show and he absolutely makes them tick. Behind Steve Nash, he might be the most important point guard to his team in the entire league. He rebounds extremely well for his position and he distributes the ball greatly. His only shortcoming now appears to be his defense. One a very good defender, age and injury are starting to catch up with him and well lets just say if you ever get torched by Anthony Johnson during a playoff series, the writing is on the wall. Still though, he's a good point guard and crucial to their operation because he gets people easy shots, which is key for keeping everyone happy. The Nets may also have one of the best wing tandems in the league in Richard Jefferson and Vince Carter. Both have very good jump shots and both can finish around the rim, though I'd say Jefferson is much better at finishing in traffic. Carter doesn't quite like the contact going towards the hoop, or contact of any nature. While I don't want to really label him as "soft" I would categorize him in the likeness of ice cream that's been at the bottom of your freezer for like three months. While the ice cream isn't really soft to begin with, if you pound at it long enough it'll soften up. Same thing with Carter, he'll go to the hoop initially, but if you bang him hard a few times he'll hang out on the perimeter more. Still there is no denying his extreme talent and when he feels like turning it on he can be downright unstopable. In fact I believe he's in a contract year, so look for him to have it on about 90% of the time so he can sign a huge contract so he can go back to having it on 60% of the time. Gotta love the NBA. Their center is Nenad Kristic and while he may not be eye popping he's pretty good. He won't give them much defensively, but he's not there to do that. He has a good jump that can stretch out opposing defenses and Kidd is great at running the pick and pop with this guy. Basically, the Nets have three very viable options on offense and you really can't ask for much more than that on offense. Side note, what do you think the Nets players call Kristic? Am I the only person who thinks (well, hopes) that they call him Nad? C'mon, admit it, it's gotta be possible right? When I watch the Nets this year I'm going to listen really close to the background noise just to see if it happens. OK, back to the point at hand. Jason Collins will be starting at power forward and well he's pretty much there to guard the other teams center and set screens on offense. Since he stands 7' tall and weighs around 260lbs. he fit the bill. Moving on to the bench, the only real holdover from last year is Clifford Robinson who is still chugging right along. Uncle Cliffy, entering his 18th season in the league isn't the player he used to be, but he can provide some offense on some nights and he's been through it all in the league so you can count on this guy when things get gritty. Two rookies from UConn will also be coming off the bench. Marcus Williams, a point guard has a great mentor to learn from on how to play the position at the NBA level in Kidd. Williams is already a very good passer and he handles the ball extremely well. It's just a matter of him maintaing focus on basketball and not other things that could be his issue. He should prove to be a more than adequate back-up however and he'll have time to really develop into that role as time passes. Josh Boone is the other former Huskie and he'll be counted on to play some tough interior defense and rebound which is exactly his MO. Any points he scores will essentially be a bonus, but with Kidd and Williams they'll get him a couple of easy shots around the rim on a nightly basis. For offensive purposes off the bench they have Eddie House, a true gunner if such a thing exists in todays game. If he enters a contest, it's a good bet he'll have a shot up within a minutes time. This team really should win nothing short of a division title; anything less than that would be a shock. Williams gives them a solid back-up (no offense Jacque Vaughn) which means they'll be able to rest Kidd more often which means he should be less injury prone and fresher for the playoffs. Scoring for them won't be an issue, but stopping the opposition from scoring definetly is. Outside of Jefferson they don't have any real good defensive players. Kidd is heady, so he'll always come away with a couple of steals, but he'll have a tough time cutting off any penetration from opposing point guard. Carter could defend, he's certainly athletic enough, but defense requires contact and we've already covered that with him. It won't hurt them in the regular season, but playoff time it could be a problem. Still they could make a run in the east as they have an offense that's going to be tough to match. Now that we've finished discussing the good team in the division lets move on to everything else.

New York Knicks: I don't even know where to begin here. Maybe if I just close my eyes and mash the keyboard I'll come up with something....OK, here goes. 589y5j5oq8jqhi'jjmgj'iokvjk5v[ Yeah that didn't seem to work out too well, kind of like how Isiah Thomas put together the Knicks. I don't understand how this man is allowed to run a sports franchise. It doesn't just boggle my mind, it actually casues me physical pain to think about it. In Stephon Marbury they have a point guard who shoots first and second and passes third. Also, every team he has left via trade (New Jersey, Phoenix....you could even argue Minnesota) has done remarkably better after he is gone. Granted, that could conincidence, but lightning doesn't strike the same place that often. Steve Francis will be played at the shooting guard....even though he thinks he's a point guard, but really is just a shooting guard. I would never want to play on a team with these two guys as my starting back court. Good for me I'm not that great at basketball. For some inexplicable reason the Knicks signed away Jared Jeffries from the Washington Wizards for nearly $30million. Yup, makes sense to sign a guy who has average just over 6ppg and 4rpg to a big ass contract.....yay for Isiah. Eddy Curry starts for the Bulls at center an based soley on his size he's good for 14 points and 7 boards a night. Now if he actually cared about basketball and wasn't in the shape of a beach ball, those numbers would be a whole hell of a lot higher. He's essentially one of those guys that won the genetic lottery and he's cashed in, so don't expect much from him. Jamal Crawford is yet again another shoot first point guard who they can bring off the bench. Nate Robinson is a sparkplug, but his shot selection is suspect and he's a very big defensive liability. Quentin Richardson is essentially a spot up shooter these days due to injuries and the extra weight he seems to be carrying around with. The Knicks do have two players I enjoy though in Channing Frye and David Lee. Frye is a power forward with a good face up jump shot. His ability to score is what sets him apart. Lee meanwhile is a scrapper down low. A little undersized, what he lacks in height he makes up for in toughness and effort, two things this team needs badly. He rebounds well and will get some junk point around the rim. But he'll probably get burried on this team for no good reason. I wish I had time to get into the Jerome James' of this roster, but I don't. Oh yeah, interesting side note. Since the Knicks have like 4,256 wing players, they released Jalen Rose a few days ago, along with his nearly $17million remaining on the last year of his contract. Not only does this mean a mjaor cap hit to the Knicks and they have to pay the salary out in full, it means that they got nothing for him. There had to be some team out there that would have take Rose and his salary just so it would come off their books next year, right? That would seem logical, but alas, the Knicks do not deal in logic. All this being said, I think the Knicks will be a little better than last year. The players will not have the heavy hand of Larry Brown weighing down on them, so that should help ease tension for a little while at least. I can actually envision the Knicks getting off to a decent start, then everybody jumping on the Kincks playoff bandwagon and then the wheels come flying off because the bandwagon can't support that many people and the Kincks finish far from the playoffs. Again, you don't have to like basketball to be entertained by the NBA, gotta love it.

Toronto Raptors: I don't know quite what to make of this Raptors team. They have some interesting pieces, that's for sure. I have a feeling they'll struggle early on during the season and then get better as things progress. They do have a certifiable stud in Chris Bosh. He can finish at the rim, rebounds well and has a great jumper for a guy his size (6'10"). He's their building block for the future, no doubt. In Morris Peterson they have a steady veteran presence that can play either the shooting guard or small forward position (better suited for shooting guard) and he also seems to turn into the NBA's best shooter every time he plays the Celtics....why I don't know, all I know is that it annoys me greatly. Rasho Nesteroivc mans the middle and well, his assets about end with his height. He's slow, doesn't rebound very well and is pretty soft on the inside. Hooray for the Raptors. TJ Ford has been brought in to run the point and help Toronto become a better transition team. Ford is an interesting player. He's lightning quick and can get by anybody, But he doesn't really posess great passing skills for a point guard and his jumper isn't all that conisistent. He has all the tools to be really good, it's just a matter of him developing them. The Raptors do have number one pick Andrea Bargnani coming off the bench. Bargnani by all accounts posesses a good jump shot and overall offensive skills but he lacks bulk and good defensive instincts.....just like every other player to come out of Europe in the last 15 years. Why did they pick this guy number one again? Yeah, I don't know either. Nothing against the guy, just seems like an unusual pick. Fred Jones will also come off the bench for this team. He'll have some highlight reel dunks and he'll have a couple of games where he hits a bunch of threes and scores a bunch of points, but that'll be about it. He'll put up some numbers but do nothing special. Hard to believe somebody made this guy a mid first round pick....only Isiah Thomas would do something that stupid....wait a minute.....OK moving on. I do like Joey Graham coming off the bench for them. He can get to the rim a little bit and he plays some decent defense. Jose Calderon, the back-up point guard also warrants mentioning....no real reason though, just felt like I should mention him. In fact there really is no reason to mention the Raptors all that much, but they're in the division and the NBA so I had to say something about them, right?

Philadelphia 76ers: Can you say rudderless boys and girls? I honestly have no idea where the hell this team is going, other than down. Neither does Billy King for that matter it appears, but since he's the general manager of this team and I'm a sarcastic 24-year old un-employed wise ass living at home, I'd say it's more of a problem for him. Allen Iverson is still one of the most exciting players in the league and he's one of my favorite to watch. If his determination and heart were in the body of say someone like Vince Carter he would be completely unstopable, but alas it is not. Still though, he is pretty unstopable when he catches fire. The problem is that seems to be less often than it was in the past. I don't see how he finishes the season in Philly, but again with Billy King as the GM, that's a distinct possibilty as he somehow doesn't see the writing on the wall. Chris Webber provides the Sixers with some post offense and he's still a pretty good passing big man. He's essnetially playing on one leg too, so I don't want to knock the guy too much but he moves on the court like he's playing in an over 40 mens league. He also couldn't defend somebody in and over 40 mens league and at last check most NBA players were much more agile then the guys who get together at the Y on Wednesday nights. On the plus side, they have Andre Iguodala who is a very athletic and is also a very good defender. Most of his points though come from transition or slashing to the rim, but if he can develop a consistent jump shot he could be force. Some one who does not need to worry about his jumper is Kyle Korver who can flat out shoot. Too bad he can't do much of anything else. Samuel Dalembert is in the middle of this mess and he can block shots with the best of them and he can be a nuissance on the glass, but offensively he's very limited. His back-up Steven Hunter is even more offensively limited than Dalembert which is a scary thought for anyone who enjoys watching basketball. Rodney Carney, a rookie from Memphis should get a chance at regular minutes on this team not only because he is very athletic, but because who else is going to get minutes? This team went 38-44 last year and their only real addition was Alan Henderson....good luck Philly fans, good luck.

Boston Celtics: And we've finally reached my team, the beloved Boston Celtics. They could win 40 or more games this year or win less than 30.....OK maybe they won't win less than thirty, but you get the idea. They could do really well or they could be in the tank before we know it. Paul Pierce is coming off his best season of his career, hopefully he's hitting his peak as a player and we'll get another 2-3 years of what came last year. That's one hope. The other hope is that some of the young guys finally start to hit their strides this year. Al Jefferson came into last year with gigantic expectations and turned in a dissappointing performance. Kendrick Perkins showed some potential last season and he's gotten better every year with the Celtics, so here's to hoping that trend continues. Perk can bang down low and can be a monster on the boards if he can stay out of foul trouble, which still hasn't happened. Wally Szczerbiak was brought in to help lessen the scoring load for Pierce. While he is an established NBA player, he was bothered by a knee injury for much of last season that seemed to affect his shooting and he was bothered by the knee again in the pre-season, not exactly a good sign. Point guard has been an issue in Boston for a while now and the Celtics tried to address that need in the offseason by picking up two of them in Sebastian Telfair and Rajon Rondo. Telfair came over in a trade with Portland and he is certainly intriguing. He came straight to the NBA from high school with a great amount of hype and well things didn't quite work out in Portland so here he is. There is no doubting the ability this guy has or his speed, it's just a matter of it panning out and him looking to find others before shooting first and developing a more consistent jump shot. Rondo meanwhile is the better defender of the two and may actually be the better passer of the two. In a perfect world Rondo would start on this team, with Telfair coming off the bench so he could look for his shot a little bit more and give the 2nd unit some offensive punch. Delonte West, last years point guard is also in something of a situation as to where he will play. He's really more of a shooting guard than a pont guard, but he can handle point guard duties well enough. He also would be good coming off the bench because it gives them an offensive option in the 2nd unit, something they really didn't have last year. Ryan Gomes looks to improve on a rookie campaign that saw him make the all second rookie team despite only getting regular playing time in the 2nd half of the season last year. Gomes plays well on the blocks even though he is undersized, rebounds well for his size and he has developed a nice jumper from the 13-18 foot range. His play could really key in the C's success this year. Gerald Green and Tony Allen will be fighting for minutes this season....at least that's my guess. Allen is a solid defender who is OK on offense when he is under control, but at times (as in most of the time) he isn't, especially in transition. Green is definetly green around the gills (no pun intended), especially defensively, but he's very explosive offensively and he can really finish in transition. That all leads to the next point, transition. The Celtics want to get out and run this year and that I'm all in favor of. It's a question of whether or not they know how to do it. Perkins and Pierce are about the only guys who look up the floor when they rebound the ball, though Delonte West does too. Rondo and West also seem to get the idea that the quickest way to get the ball up the court is by passing it and they seem to have a knack for finding the right guy. Telfair seems to believe that the quickest to get the ball up the floor is by dribbling and while he's fast, he's not that fast, no one is really to try and dribble past the defense every time. They have some guys that can finish in transition (Pierce, Allen, Green, Gomes a little bit and Rondo and Telfair can both get to the hoop) and some guys that could benfit from the secondary break (Szczerbiak on the wings and Perkins and Jefferson coming through the middle), it's just a matter of whether or not they figure out how to run the break. The problem in the past in the half court offense, espcially down the strech, is that they look to get the ball to Piecre and then everyone else stands around. I have no problem with Pierce getting the ball down the strech, in fact I want him to have it, but the other guys on the floor have to do a better job of moving around so he doens't have to dribble out of double and triple teams. I'm sure there are million more things I could say about the Celtics right now, but I'll spare you for the time being as I will be talking about them in great detail many times over the course of the season. In fact I could go on about their coach Doc Rivers for another 200+ words, but like I said, they'll be plenty of that for another time. So yeah, they could be good, maybe and this is a big maybe sneak into the playoffs some how....that is if they get a set rotation, some offensive cohesion and a new coach.....whoops I slipped some Rivers rant in there....my apologies. All I can say is go green and do it for Red.

And that boys and girls is the Atlantic division. Kind of the like the Pacific, just not as horrendous...well maybe it is just as horrendous and I don't want to admit it....yeah it's probably the latter on that on. Anyways without wasting anymore time lets go on to the division finish predictions.

1. New Jersey - Nothing short of an act of God will keep them from winning this division and even with an act of God I still think they would squeak it out
2. Boston - This is totally me putting the team I like high up in the division because I'm trying to be optomistic so dont' read a whole lot into it....though I think they could end up here
3. Toronto - I have them here because I think they won't have the infighting the teams below them will have....that an a big year from Bosh
4. New York - Dysfunction junction.....remember they will start out well and then go down once everyone says how well they're doing.....mark me words
5. Philadelphia - As if Philly fans haven't suffered enough in the last 20+ years....Iverson will be gone before seasons end and this team will get worse before it gets better and cosidering how bad it's been for the past couple of seasons this could get uglier than Nicole Richie.


Done and done. Whew, that's a lot of rambling about something that only approximately three dozen people enjoy watching. So there it is, the NBA laid out in all it's glory. I'll do predictions at various points during the season about who I think will win awards and the championship, make the playoffs, you know all that good jazz and whatnot. Anyways, enough is enough for now so until later......