Welcome to my blog.
This is my creative outlet that could include my thoughts on anything from current affairs, my weight loss quest and things that just make me need to voice an opinion.
Congratulations to the New York Yankees who won their 27th World Series Championship earlier tonight by beating the Philadelphia Phillies in six games.
It seems only appropriate they won as greed and excess seem to be a popular theme right now in many areas.
What other team in Major League Baseball best personifies this as much as the Bronx Bombers?
With a payroll of over $200 million dollars this season, the Yankees did what many other teams in the league couldn't do...buy a title.
To try and put this into perspective, the top three payed players on the Yankees combined made more than the entire Florida Marlins team this season. The Marlins payroll at the start of the season was just under $37-million. Heck, my Blue Jays were only around $80-million. How could they possibly compete?Sure, money doesn't guarantee a championship but it greatly improves the odds of winning.
It might sound like I'm bashing the Yankees and I admit, I'm not a fan but that isn't my point. They didn't break any league rules and that is what bothers me even more.
The fact that rules don't exist to even the playing field and make the league more competitive is a travesty. Of course a player making $33-million is another disgusting problem with the league.
Teams in smaller markets will never be able to compete because they won't have the financial resources available to lure top veteran players looking for high dollar contracts. And with free agency, the Yankees can out-bid pretty much any other team to get the players they want. It's like poker. One player has a large chip count and he can bully other players out of the pot by betting high and scaring them off.
The 2009 Yankees are sipping champagne as World Champions primarily because the team spent over $420 million to sign baseball’s top three available free agents in Mark Teixeira, CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett last winter.
Then add in the fact they spent nearly $300 million to secure Alex Rodriguez following the 2007 season as well as more big contracts for superstars including Jorge Posada, Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera.
Until Major League Baseball does something to control this kind of spending, the Yanks will always have an advantage.
There wasn't a whole lot to pick from this week. I guess it was a boring week.
I did manage to come across a quick clip showing a minor league baseball game brawl last week. This drives me crazy every time I see stuff like this.
People are always talking about fighting in hockey and how bad it is but when was the last time you saw a bench clearing brawl. They rarely happen in a hockey game at any level.
However, it doesn't matter at what level of play in baseball, a fight involves the benches clearing every time. Well, maybe this incident will finally bring about some changes...but I doubt it.
Having said that, I still enjoy seeing the odd hockey brawl from time to time.
Do you remember a time when the Toronto Blue Jays players could actually get a timely hit and score some runs? Or how about when Tom Henke would be called in from the bullpen to save a game and he'd actually get the job done?
I miss those days.
From the mid-80's to the early 90's, going to a Blue Jays game at Exhibition Stadium and Skydome were a lot of fun and odds were good the team would win. Tickets were not easy to come by unlike today when you can just show up at game time and get a seat almost anywhere.
Going to the ballpark you were guaranteed an entertaining game and perhaps some extracurricular excitement as well.
I can recall attending one particular game and I was sitting in the bleachers at Skydome right behind George Bell in left field. Out of the stands came a guy wearing nothing but a jock strap. He ran over to Bell and then quickly exited the field, put on his clothes and took his seat. When security finally showed up, they were unable to locate the guy. The best part was the crowd deliberately pointing security away from the pseudo streaker and having to give up their search.
Recently at a Boston Red Sox game, a drunk fan wasn't quite as fortunate. Leave it to a Red Sox supporter to get it all wrong. Not only did he leave all of his clothes on but he was so darn slow that the old guy that tracks down the foul balls could have nabbed him. Of course, the good news was he payed a bit of a price for his antics as you'll see in the Clip of the Week.
Love 'em or hate 'em, fights in hockey are part of the game and unless something drastic happens in the future, they'll always be a part of the game to some extent.
The thing about hockey fights is usually they only involve two players, one from each team. Every so often you get "line brawls" where all five players on each team on the ice will square off with some punches thrown and like most hockey fights, nobody gets injured other than maybe a bloody or broken nose. And on rare occasions the goalies will get into the action also.
The one thing you rarely see in the NHL anymore are bench clearing brawls when every player on both teams flood the ice and start fighting. I'd be lying if I said I'm glad we don't see them anymore as I think every now and then it would be OK if they happened but nobody wants to see them all the time. But sometimes the tensions run high and tempers boil over and they erupt into a real donnybrook.
On the other hand, bench clearing brawls in baseball look ridiculous. Usually they happen when a pitcher throws at a batter, the batter charges the mound and then everyone runs onto the field and stands around looking stupid. Most of the time there are only a few punches tossed so the whole thing is asinine.
I think baseball should be like hockey and if anyone leaves the bench, they should be fined or suspended and that might cut down on incidences of this type.
While benches clear all the time in baseball, I can't recall the last time it happened in an NHL game. Their have been some classics like the Montreal and Quebec dust-ups of days gone by but the most recent one I could locate was from the 1986-87 season where during the game teams left the bench. That game involved the Bruins and Nordiques and the clip is below.
The most recent baseball dance happened just this past week and of course it was just another waste of time. Seattle's Richie Sexson charged the mound after nearly being beaned in the head...or so he felt. I honestly don't think it was that bad but then again, I wasn't the one being thrown at.
I would say I’ve been quite fortunate that in my nearly 40 years of playing sports, roughhousing with friends or wrestling with my brother, I’ve only suffered a few injuries.
After recently being plagued with another mishap I tried to recall some of my wounds over the years and most have come from playing competitive or friendly sports.
My earliest injury I can recall came in Kindergarten or perhaps Grade 1. I was just five years old when I was climbing on a jungle gym type apparatus in the playground at Marmora Street School. Hanging upside down I lost my grip and dropped like a large piece of ham onto the ground and landed on my tailbone. The instant agony was more than I could handle. Of course I hobbled home in tears and upon entering the apartment I couldn’t climb the stairs. As I recall, I didn’t receive much sympathy from my dad which is probably one reason I toughened up in future years. Plus I made sure I went to mom from then on.
Playing ball as a young lad I sustained numerous bumps and bruises. I recollect a game in Brighton at the public school where I was playing first base and took a short hop in the mouth chipping a tooth. I eventually became a catcher and that led to plenty of foul tips to the “Jewels”. I could never understand why people always said to “walk it off” because the last thing I ever wanted to do was go for a walk after taking a fastball to the “boys”.
In high school I played football and rugby and my weak ankles that kept me from wearing skates and becoming the next NHL superstar came into play once again. It seemed as though I was forever turning my ankles and pulling or tearing things that worked better when they weren’t abused like that. To this day my ankles still cause me pain and during my lob-ball years the day after games I would have to hobble around. And I played a lot of ball.
My most painful football wound came in my very last game in Grade 13 on the second play of the game. We were in Belleville at Centennial Secondary School and I came off the line to block my man when I pulled my groin muscle and the pain was excruciating. I wouldn’t class myself as a tough guy but knowing that this could be my last game there was no way I was coming out. Coach Tom Nigro wanted to bench me but I told him I was finishing the game. I think he used a roll and a half of tape to wrap my thigh and back in I went to finish. It hurt like hell and by the end of the game I was in tears but I had to play. I can still remember to this day how painful it was just trying to lift my leg in bed from this injury.
Next it was an injury that ended my baseball playing days. It was the Wednesday Night fun league in town and as I swung the bat I felt a pop in my left hand and the intense pain quickly followed on the follow through. I knew I had broken something. I tried to finish the game but it hurt to just catch the baseball so I had to pack it in. After I had x-rays taken I had a visit with my family doctor and he told me it wasn’t broken but I had pulled or torn something. I insisted that he was wrong despite the x-rays showing no break. He decided to send me for an MRI to be sure and the technician and I could see the broken bone right away. I love it when I’m right but this was bitter sweet. It was called the Ken Griffey Jr. injury since he had done the exact same thing. It hurt to golf as well so you can imagine how angry I was when I was two years from the time of diagnosis until I finally had the operation to remove the floating piece of bone in my wrist. At least I was left with a cool mean looking scar.
My latest injury is in my left foot. I was out golfing a couple of weeks ago when I took a step following my second shot of the round and felt another pop in my foot. Despite the pain I was able to finish my round and didn’t do too bad considering I was hitting off my back foot the rest of the round. I eventually went to the hospital and had x-rays which found a fracture in one bone but more likely the pain was coming from torn or badly pulled ligaments. Either way, it’s still very uncomfortable and I have yet to hear anything from my family doctor on this one. Perhaps I’ll have to force his hand again and make the correct diagnosis before anything is done to fix this problem.
So as you can see I haven’t had as many injuries as some but I have had my share and I can honestly say…they all suck.
Aaron, Ruth, DiMaggio, Williams, Ryan, Gehrig and Ripken Jr. are all names you might think of when you conjure up some of the greatest baseball players of all-time. These men are legends for how they played the game, the way they carried themselves and the manner in which they competed.
They'll also be remembered for some of the records they set. Lou Gehrig still holds the record for most career grand slam home runs with 23. He also earned the nickname "The Iron Horse" for his durability. Between 1925 and 1939 he played in 2130 consecutive games. That record stood for 56 years until it was finally broken by Cal Ripken Jr. in 1995.
Nolan Ryan pitched for 27 seasons and his fastball was regularly clocked at over 100 mph. The Ryan Express holds the record for career strike-outs with 5,714 and he is also the all-time leader in no-hitters with seven, three more than any other pitcher.
Joltin' Joe DiMaggio played his entire career with New York. The Yankee Clipper achieved a 56-game hitting streak in 1941 that has been called the top American sport feat of all time. After going hitless for one game, DiMaggio hit in the next 16 consecutive games, for a total of 72 out of 73.
Ted Williams, also known as The Splendid Splinter was a pure hitter. He had a career batting average of .344, with 521 home runs, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1966. He is the last player in Major League Baseball to bat over .400 in a single season (.406 in 1941).
And then there's The Sultan of Swat, Babe Ruth and Hammerin' Hank Aaron who were both best known for their ability to knock the cover off the ball. Ruth left the game with a career .342 batting average and 714 home runs. His record of 60 home runs in the 1927 season stood for 34 years until it was broken by Roger Maris with 61 home runs in 1961.
Maris' record would probably still stand today if not for players using performance enhancing drugs. Arron is the current holder of the Major League Home Run record of 755 dingers. He also holds the records for RBI's at 2,297 and career total bases with 6,856. He achieved all of this without having to inject steroids.
As a fan of the game I have great respect for those players mentioned above and many others who competed day in and day out through injuries, during times of war and many other forms of adversity. They were able to compete at the highest possible level in the great game of baseball without having to seek out the help of artificial stimulants and muscle builders.
This is why I will not be cheering when Barry Bonds breaks the record for most career home runs. He'll be tainting one of the greatest records to ever stand. Bonds is a great player but when he surpasses Hank Aaron, I can guarantee the record will not be covered with as much enthusiasm as it might have had the steroid allegations not surfaced.
When "Hammerin' Hank" Aaron broke Babe Ruth's record, it was a thrilling moment. The mere thought that Barry Bonds will one day soon break Aaron's record is disturbing. Using steroids to attain a record is like jumping on a bike to improve your running time. But I don't blame Barry alone. I also fault the Commissioner of Baseball Bud Selig for allowing the use of steroids to continue in the league as long as it did. Every record broken during the "Steroid Era" should have an asterisk beside them in the record book.
Mark McGwire beating the record of Roger Maris* Sammy Sosa hitting 600 home runs* Barry Bonds breaking McGwire's record and hitting 73 home runs*
If Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson are banned from baseball and from entering the Hall of Fame then these players should also pay a similar price...but they won't and can't because the league blew it on this one. Baseball looked the other way during the roaring '90s and now they want to stand up and lead the investigation and ban all performance enhancing paraphernalia. Because no one blew the whistle when they needed to, all of these records will stand.
The writing was on the wall when the number of 50 plus home run seasons began to jump and nobody clued in that these guys were doing more than just lifting weights. Or perhaps they just turned a blind eye as these records started to fall during a dark time for baseball when the fans were staying away from the ballparks.
It was OK to do the drugs when it helped the game but now that it's looking bad it's time for the league to clamp down and bring the problem under control. As for Barry Bonds and his record breaking home run, I'll probably be joining Hank Aaron on the golf course or some place else when it finally leaves the park. I'd rather spend time with the real record holder any way. To watch how a real champion breaks a record, check out the video below.
Congratulations to the New York Yankees who won their 27th World Series Championship earlier tonight by beating the Philadelphia Phillies in six games.
Teams in smaller markets will never be able to compete because they won't have the financial resources available to lure top veteran players looking for high dollar contracts. And with free agency, the Yankees can out-bid pretty much any other team to get the players they want. It's like poker. One player has a large chip count and he can bully other players out of the pot by betting high and scaring them off. 
