Defensive Player of the Year

We all saw Osi Umenyiora get his triple play this weekend. He was able to get a clean hit on San Francisco 49ers quarterback Trent Dilfer, cause a fumble, and then return the fumble 75 yards for a touchdown. Umenyiora has all but won the defensive player of the year award 7 weeks into the season with 24tackles, 8sacks, 3forced fumbles, and 1td. But the best defense end in football thus far is not Umenyiora, but Kansas City’s Jared Allen.

Jared Allen is dominating the competition this season. Allen has recorded 26tackles, 8sacks, 2force fumbles, and 2pass deflections. Yes his numbers are almost identical to Umenyiora’s, but let’s look how each player earned their impressive stats. Osi played in every game this season, 6 sacks and 2 force fumbles came against the Philadelphia Eagles and their terrible backup tackle Winston Justice. Umenyiora is not at fault for dominating Justice, but he only played two great games this season being held without a sack in four games. Allen on the other hand only played five games this season being shut out only once without a sack. Allen violated the NFL’s substance abuse policy being arrested for his second DUI causing a suspension for the first two games of the season. Playing under the franchise tag this season, Jared Allen will certainly continue to wreak havoc in opponent’s backfields in search of quarterbacks and a big pay day at season’s end.

Miami Dolphins

I feel sorry for my buddy, Timmy C., whose team has already given up on their season. Two weeks ago the team traded away wide receiver Chris Chambers to the San Diego Super Chargers for a second-round draft pick. At the time of the trade Chambers accrued 415 receiving yards for the 0-5 Miami Dolphins. At 0-5, the last thing a team should do is trade away a guy responsible for 29% of your receiving yards. To make matters worse, running back Ronnie Brown is now out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL. Brown was 4th in the NFL in rushing (602yds) and 1st in yards from scrimmage (991yds). With the loss of Chambers and Brown the Dolphins must replace 47% of their receiving yards and 75% of their rushing yards. With opponents Giants, Eagles, Steelers, Ravens, Patriots, and the Bengals still on the schedule there is a chance the Dolphins’ franchise could not only hold the only 16-0 season, but the only 0-16 season as well.

With the former Auburn star out for the rest of the season Miami must scramble to find a new running back. Brown was responsible for 602 of the Dolphins 806 rushing yards. Could Ricky Williams be the answer? Williams applied to be reinstated to the NFL and should be eligible to play in the next week or so. The Miami Dolphins already have his rights so coach Cam Cameron might hold off on waiving the half baked Heismann winner.

Cincinnati Bengals

If you are one of the few that think Chad Johnson is the problem in Cincinnati you are CRAZY! If Chad is not wanted in the ‘nati he is more than welcome to come the nation’s capital. I’ll call Snyder right now…

Let’s talk about the Chad Johnson. Ocho Cinco is currently second in the NFL in receiving yards (680yds). Last season he led the NFL in receiving yards (1,369yds), in 2005 he was 3rd (1,432yds), 2004 he was 6th (1,274yds), and 4th in 2003 (1,377yds). Get the picture? Johnson recorded over 1,100 receiving yards every season after his rookie year. Johnson has never accused his quarterback of being homosexual, never followed around his quarterback screaming on the sidelines, in fact after his spat with Carson Palmer during the New England Patriots game, 85 went on record saying it was his fault because he ran the wrong route. Mr. Cinco has never told the media he plays when he “wants to.� Chad Johnson has never been in any legal trouble off the field, so I ask what is he doing wrong?

The Cincinnati Bengals have problems, but not with their passing game. The team is second in passing yards per game averaging 273yds a game. The Bengals average 27pts a game which is fifth in the NFL. The offense is producing despite Rudi Johnson not being healthy since week 2 and losing rookie running back Kenny Irons for the season with an ACL tear. The Bengals are averaging a depressing 98 rushing yards a game prohibiting them from wearing down teams and keeping their ravaged defense off the field. Which brings me to my next point…

Marvin Lewis is known as a defensive genius. Lewis built the Baltimore Ravens defense that is a force to this day. His short stint in Washington was also a success. Linebackers such as Ray Lewis, Peter Boulware, and LaVar Arrington flourished in Lewis’ system. Coach Lewis builds his defenses around fast and aggressive linebackers. Let’s take a glance at Cincinnati. Marvin Lewis drafted Odell Thurman who is an animal. Thurman recorded 106tackles, 5sacks, and 5ints his rookie season in 2005, but is suspended this season because of substance abuse. David Pollack is another stud linebacker Lewis drafted, but is currently facing a career ending neck injury. Ahmad Brooks… hampered with a groin injury. Even Lamar Marshall who Lewis coached in Washington is injured. How do you expect to beat the New England Patriots if all your linebackers are out? By the end of the game Dhani “Dinosaur� Jones was the only healthy linebacker the team had. The Cincinnati Bengals might be young and immature, but their biggest problem is injuries and a suspension… not Ocho Cinco.

• The World Series starts tonight and odds are against Colorado 2-to-1. It’ll be tough to pick against Boston, considering they have the complete package with hitting, pitching and experience. America loves an underdog so if Colorado can muster up any of the fire that kept them rolling through 21 of their last 22, this could be a good series. Pulling for the ‘do but will place zero dollars on it.
• Dave Zirin writes that Jason Whitlock’s latest piece justifying “whitening” the NFL is wrong as hell, and racist.
• Chad and Keyshawn Johnson go toe-to-toe in an interview on Sunday Countdown and the blogosphere reacted quite strongly. Chad dominates the interview, while Keyshawn looks more and more like he’s just another hypocrite ex-player now that he’s got a tie on.
• Donovan McNabb let’s everyone know, just in case they didn’t already, “I HATE LOSING!”

Thank you, Commissioner Goodell, ye kind yet thunderously proud enforcer of player-rules and efficiency-centric leader.

You may have dropped the ball by open-palm slapping Patriots coach Bill Belichick after SpyGate, and you may tend to jump the gun on dropping the hammer on players before they’re prosecuted, but here, today, you’ve done the right thing.

Shortening the NFL Draft was a great decision and as a draft freak, I think I speak for those like me when I say the decision to make changes to the longest, most irrelevant-but-fun event of the NFL off-season (like there really is one anymore) should be applauded. Even for me, 6 hours and 8 minutes is too long. Besides, when you have a drinking game ongoing, 6 hours of drinking every time “upside,” “Mel’s hair,” or “Andre Ware,” is mentioned could make for a very difficult Day Two.

Among the NFL Draft changes:

• The draft will start at 3 p.m. EST instead of noon EST
• The first day will be shortened from 3 rounds to 2 rounds
• During the 1st day, time in between picks will drop to 10 minutes instead of the super-duper-ridiculously long 15 minutes
• During the 2nd day, time in between picks will drop to 7 minutes instead of the relatively-ok-before-but-amazingly-teams-dragged-even-this-out-forever 10 minutes.

I do believe you missed a few, so I will offer a few more just because I know you’re busy, what with hawking down players for parking violations and figuring out how to get those Spygate videos away from Jay Glazer –

• Have Mel Kiper and Todd McShay scheduled as the under-card to arm-wrestle to determine who gets the most Draft-Day face-time on ESPN (that is… if the NFL Network doesn’t steal the draft away from the WWL!).
• Ditto for Keyshaun Johnson and Michael Irv… wait, guess this one worked itself out.
• Limit the number of family members allowed on stage for pictures depending on their draft pick ranking (ex. 1st through 5th picks allowed 20 family members; 6-15 allowed 15; 16-32 allowed 10; second round gets 7) as to bring the photo-op time down.
• In keeping with the idea of family pictures, allow for the section of the green room used to put Brady Quinn on ice last year for unlimited number of family photos. We know they won’t bother the “efficient” draft because, like Quinn to teams in the top-20, we will barely know they’re there.
• Require analysts to go around the table and admit to at least TWO faulty draft predictions. (Ditto goes for those at home!)
• Interview the fans! We need to have people on-camera and quoted when they’re booing McNabb for passing on Ricky Williams! Let the fans in on the bad predictions!
• In with bringing fan interaction, follow the AOL Fanhouse idea and check in on fan blog sites along with the coverage.

If you have additions or better suggestions, let me know. Obviously, the commish is willing to work with us when we want changes. (See: instant replays, Ed Hochuly’s guns‘ camera time, tuck rule…. ok, maybe not that… but you get the drift) I’m looking forward to the changes, as I will get to spend a few more moments not holed up in a room full of other self-proclaimed home-edition NFL Draft experts.

In finishing, we all know there are a few things that are sure to remain constant in the draft, no matter how more “streamlined and efficient” the process becomes:

• The Minnesota Vikings will forget they have a time-limit to pick and have to pick between 1 and 5 spots later than they were supposed to.
  (*Addendum #1 to the aforementioned ideas section: allow the Vikings to pick in a Day 3, where they can pick using however long they want, just so long as they aren’t wasting viewers’ time.)
• Jon Jansen will be a lead analyst, no matter how unproductive or relevant he is to the Redskins during the prior season.
• Mel Kiper’s hair will be discussed for a minimum of 10% of the broadcast, and all the bald persons on set will threaten to steal it during commercial breaks.
  (*Addendum #2 to aforementioned ideas section: Mel and Todd should go head-to-head and put baldness on the line — whomever is the most off on picks after 3 years must shave their dome. Boomer keeps score and, yes, he does so using the weird voices, sounds and nicknames)
• Every mobile QB will be the next Mike Vick Vince Young.
• Every undersized but record-setting QB will be the next best wide-out.
• Nobody will be compared to John Elway unless they play more than one sport for their college. And even then, everyone will nearly puke at the thought that if there is a God, he would never create another Him.

• The Jaguars lost their faith once starting QB David Garrard went down with a sprained ankle last night, making it even easier for the Colts to cruise to an easy victory, 29-7. If Garrard is out for a few weeks like some say is possible, it will be a long, long season with Quinn Gray at the helm.
• If you’ve got Ronnie Brown as your Fantasy Football running-back, your season just took a turn for the worst, as the Dolphins workhorse is out for the season with an ACL. On the flip side, if you were set to face a team with him, you… ok, we’re not that cruel here. Forgetaboutit!
• Not so sure LaRussa still earns a “Mr. Reliable” trophy after his DUI that went under-scrutinized, but he’s decided to stick with St. Louis for another 2 years. Re-sign those P.R. folks, too!
• Big fan of the Kobe Bryant Advisory System on the L.A. Times website. Let you know when it’s at an elevated status! That is, unless you agree with those who think he’s not leaving any time soon.

• Boston overcame a 3-1 series deficit to defeat Cleveland in 7 games, concluding last night with an 11-2 victory at Fenway. If you were up late last night you were able to watch two fun finishes in sports.
• Trying to sort out what it takes to get bumped up in the BCS ranks — maybe everyone should schedule more bye weeks!
• The Patriots reached the “puff” game of their year, crushing the “not quite up to the skill level of ‘72″ Dolphins 49-28 yesterday, with Pats QB Tom Brady tossing 6 TDs (2 to Randy Moss). Stop cheating, Pats. Seriously.
• Despite only gaining 160 yards for the entire game, the Redskins managed to squeak by the Cardinals 21-19 to remain afloat in the NFC’s best division. New England on the tab for Week 8…
• The Eagles lost 19-16, thanks to a late-game, 97-yard drive by Brian Griese and the Bears, a drive in which the team had no time-outs and, oh yeah, Griese’s headset was broken… so he called the entire sequence. Grossman, who?
  (Sidenote: my 9-year-old nephew, Dejon, is a Bears fan because of his dad. Last night, after the game, he called me from my sister’s cell phone and asked me, “how ’bout those Bears?” I quizzed him on who their QB and center is and… he answered correctly. Two things: 1 - You know your team’s fallen low when a kid is rubbing in losses and 2 - my nephew is a smarter sports fan than half of the people I know)
• Sometimes when you join fantasy football leagues, you get offered lopsided trades in jest. This weekend, I was offered one I believed followed along the playful guidelines when I was offered: Matt Stover and Roddy White in exchange for my star receiver Torry Holt. Seriously? A kicker for a receiver? It was bizarre and my rejection notice was maybe a bit defensive but still… had he offered me Tennessee’s Bironas (kicked 8 FGs yesterday to help the team past Vince Young’s injury, and those pesky Texans) I still would not have made this trade. But should I have gotten a bit offended? Hmm… Kickers, though they break records on the occasion, get no fantasy football love!
• An interview with ESPN.com’s editor-in-chief, Rob King.
• Good luck picking this year’s Heismann. I say flip a coin but whatever you do, don’t let the fans vote! (Tebow would definitely win) We can only have so many American Idol-like voting competitions in the world before we implode.

If Cleveland loses tonight, they should blame Paul Byrd.

Ok, no, they really should blame their third base coach who held Kenny Lofton on a clear shot at tying the game up after a hard hit single just past third by Franklin Gutierrez. Immediately following, the Sox get Casey Blake to ground into a double-play and all momentum — and hope — is lost.

In the next half of the inning, Dustin Pedroia (5 HRs in 520 at-bats this year) crushes a 2-run home run up into the Green Monster bleachers, and the game’s assumed its current identity: 5-2 Boston. Papelbon just shut down the top-8th.

Bear with this scattered entry, I’m trying to keep up with this game and the Denver/Pittsburg game, which is tied up with the Broncos driving down the field for a chance to take the lead with 33 seconds remaining.

Sidenote: I heart picture-in-picture (PIP).

The Broncos are about to let Jason Elam kick a 48-yard field goal for the win. Time-out called, stay tuned.

11:25p.m.
Jason Elam just kicked a 48-yard game-winner. Denver beats Pittsburgh 31-28. Maybe Mike Timlin should’ve waited until 1/8th of a second was left before the hike and called the “Shanahan.” (also known as “time-outs”) He called a Shanahan but it was a full 2 seconds before the kick took place. Learn from the vets, rook… learn from the vets!

11:30p.m.
J.D. Drew hits a single up the middle, scoring Mike Lowell, who got on by popping a double into the left-center gap. 6-2 Boston.

11:36p.m.
Just to rub in their bad luck, a fly ball into shallow left turns into a blooper reel, with Blake running into Peralta, resulting in a ground-rule double for Jason Varitek.

11:43p.m.
Pedroia must have dipped into Paul Byrd’s clubhosue stash. The tiniest grown man on Boston (scratch that, Lugo steals it by an inch) just hit a bases-clearing double — while the bases were loaded. This brings to mind cases of blatantly tiny players having games of their lives and the league needing to immediately embarrass them by drug-testing them on the field. Just as I say that, Kevin Youklis CREAMED a pitch off the Coke bottle sign above the Green Monster (11:48p.m). Same guerrilla testing method should apply. Less obvious here, but hey… he hits close enough to the even-more-suspicious Pedroia in the order to be guilty by line-up association. 11-2 Boston.

11:57p.m.
The Red Sox have officially won the pennant. Coco Crisp (looking up his real name now) just made and amazing game-ending catch in center-field. He limped back in to celebrate but if he’s not injured for real, surely the celebration will help push that along.

PARTING THOUGHTS

Not much to get down on Manny Ramirez for now, is there? The postgame is asking about the play with the 3rd base coach… Manny said he was probably going to head to the 2nd with the throw. I enjoy Manny on and off the field. Yes, he’s quite nonchalant more often than naught, and he refuses to be a leader but never went about it the same way Brett Favre refused to tutor Aaron Rodgers.

The Yankees are probably just as angry as ever and vowing to spend 100 million more on free agents. They may purchase Bud Selig if they haven’t already. Torre needs to go into witness protection because surely it’s his fault the BoSox are headed to the World Series. That’s why he received the underbid contract offer… because the Steinbrenners knew he couldn’t take the Yanks to the Series this year and couldn’t prevent their sworn enemies (no, not penny pinching teams like the Colorado Rockies… I speak of Boston, of course) from reaching their hallowed ground. Maybe the Yanks will fire Cashman and offer Theo Epstein a piece of China, two of his favorite South American countries and 5 get out of jail free cards… you heard the rumor first here!

So the World Series match-up is the Colorado Rockies versus the Boston Red Sox… game begins Wednesday. WHO YOU WIT?

First things first, I do not see Kobe Bryant being traded this season. What would the Los Angeles Lakers gain by trading Kobe Bryant? If Kobe Bean Bryant continues to adorn the purple and gold of the Lakers three things are guaranteed. 1) The Lakers will at least make the playoffs. Not contend for a title, but they will be a top eight team in the Western Conference. 2) The Los Angeles Lakers will stay relevant always showcased on ESPN Sportscenter, guaranteed. 3) Because of reasons 1 & 2, the Lakers can charge whatever they want for tickets, which is the number one reason the team will not trade Kobe Bryant. Movie stars do not want to spend thousands for courtside seats to watch Luol Deng or Josh Howard. Los Angeles needs a Super Duper Star… Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Tracy McGrady, Amare Stoudemire, that’s about it. I honestly don’t even think Gilbert or Dirk are big enough stars for L.A. I am not saying I would take any of these players for Kobe, because I wouldn’t, but I’m just saying. L.A. needs its show time, excitement, and playoffs. Jerry Buss understands this so Kobe is not going anywhere. Buss already botched the Shaquille O’Neal trade and was too scared to pull the trigger on the Kwame Brown & Andrew Bynum for Jason Kidd deal(which is the entire reason Kobe is pissed), but he cannot lose Black Mamba. Does Buss really want to go down in history as the guy who dealt away Shaq and Kobe? Which got me thinking… What are some of the worst trades in the last 15 years?

OK, a few rule disclaimers.

1. This is my list, so if you don’t like it, leave a comment and we can discuss.
2. I think Vince Carter is soft as cake, so the poo-poo platter Toronto got for him is fine by me.
3. Orlando also received the poo-poo platter for Tracy McGrady, but T-Mac still hasn’t made it out of the first round of the playoffs so it’s a wash.
4. I like Stephon Marbury a lot. It is not his fault that future Hall of Famers take over his teams after he leaves. Besides, Jason Kidd pleaded guilty to domestic violence, Phoenix had to trade him.
5. Eddie Curry averaged 20pts, 7rebs, and shot 58% from the field last season for the New York Knicks. With that said, do you really think Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah will be able to match that production? (The two players the Bulls drafted with the Knicks draft picks traded for Curry) I don’t think so, but it’s too early to tell.
6. Similarly if the Phoenix Suns get O.J. Mayo, Michael Beasley, Derrick Rose, Ty Lawson, or Donte Green with Atlanta’s unprotected 1st round pick this upcoming draft (for Joe Johnson) this will go down as the most lopsided trade ever, but again, to early to tell.

Alright with that out the way, here are the worst 5 trades over the past 15 years;

Honorable Mention

The Washington Wizards trade Kwame Brown and Laron Profit to the Los Angeles Lakers for Caron Butler and Chucky Atkins.

Kwame Brown was supposed to be the future of the Washington Wizards. During his pre-draft workouts with Michael Jordan he told his royal airness, “if you draft me, you’ll never regret it.� It did not take long before Jordan regretted it. MJ verbally and physically abused Kwame, crushing all confidence he once possessed. It is rumored that during practice Jordan smacked Kwame in the face and told him to “stop being a bitch!� After Jordan was fired by the Wizards Kwame still could not get the job done. During the 2005 playoffs a Gilbert Arenas video appeared on the scoreboard at the Verizon Center pleading with fans to no longer boo Brown. Kwame responded with skipped playoff practices and a game. He even threatened to punch Arenas in the face through the media. So he was shipped to Los Angeles were he averages a pathetic 7pts and 6rebs.

In return the Washington Wizards received the 2001 Big East Player of the Year. Drafted by the Miami Heat with the 10th pick of the 2002 draft Caron Butler was traded to the Lakers in the deal that sent Shaquille O’Neal to Miami, only to eventually land in Washington. Joining the Wizards “big three� Caron Butler made his first All-Star team and averaged 18pts and 7rebs a game this past season. I bet Kobe wished he was a part of a big three (Kobe, Lamar, and Caron) instead of having Kwame Brown.

5. The Miami Heat trade Caron Butler, Lamar Odom, Brian Grant, and a 1st round pick to the Los Angeles Lakers for Shaquille O’Neal.

The Miami version of Shaq is extremely lazy. Shaq took half of the season off last year and in case you didn’t know, Miami is in a lot of trouble this year. There is no doubt in my mind that Dwayne Wade will opt out of his contract in the fourth year player option. But they did win a championship so… I still don’t understand why Shaq can play second fiddle to Wade, but not Kobe.

Jerry Buss completely botched this trade. He traded away Caron Butler for Kwame Brown and Brian Grant was awful. Would you trade Shaquille O’Neal for Kwame Brown and Lamar Odom? I didn’t think so.

4. The Milwaukee Bucks trade the draft rights to the 9th pick in the 1998 NBA Draft, Dirk Nowitzki, to the Dallas Mavericks for the draft rights to the 6th pick of the 1998 NBA, Draft Robert “Tractor� Traylor, and Pat Garrity.

At the time Milwaukee felt this was a good move for their franchise. Tractor Traylor was coming off an Honorable Mention All-American season. The Big Ten 1st Teamer even broke a backboard! After seven NBA seasons averaging 5pts and 4rebs a game following his estranged father Paul Silas wherever he coached, Traylor left the NBA for better things. For example: pleading guilty to a federal income tax charge stemming from interactions with his drug dealing cousin. Traylor is also standing charges of laundering four million dollars in drug money…

Meanwhile Dirk Nowitzki has career averages of 22pts and 9rebs. The six time All-Star was named the 2007 NBA MVP and won the 2006 three-point shoot-out trophy. The Bucks should have kept the David Hasselhoff junkie!

3. The Washington Wizards trade Chris Webber to the Sacramento Kings for Mitch Richmond.

Sorry, I just threw up…

The Bullets were a young team on the rise. After ending an eight year playoff drought the future looked bright. The problem… Webber loved the DC nightlife too much. So the Wizards traded the budding superstar for a fading Mitch Richmond before the start of the 1999-2000 season. (You have no idea how much pain this section is causing me) Mitch Richmond was fresh off a 23pt per game season averaging a 39% stroke from three, but the Kings never won over 40 games with him as their star. Never fully healthy in Washington, Richmond never won more than 30 games in his three years with the club.

Chris Webber went on to dominate the NBA for the next six years. He turned the Sacramento Kings into an instant contender battling the Lakers every year for Western Dominance. One of the best power forwards of his era, Webber averaged 23pts, 11rebs, and 5asts a game while in Sacramento.

2. The Charlotte Hornets trade the draft rights to the 13th pick in the 1996 NBA Draft Kobe Bryant to the Los Angeles Lakers for Vlade Divac.

As the story goes…

The night before the 1996 draft the New Jersey Nets GM John Nash and new VP & head coach John Calipari ate dinner with Kobe Bryant’s parents. With the eighth pick of the draft the Nets were going to select the high school star. Bryant lived in the suburbs of Philadelphia allowing him to stay close to home and commute to Continental Airlines Arena in Jersey. Adidas’ Sonny Vaccaro had different plans for Kobe. Adidas just signed Kobe to a ten million dollar contract desiring him in a bigger market than New Jersey. The Hornets and the Lakers made a deal. Vaccaro and Bryant’s agent Arn Tellem told Nash that if the Nets selected Kobe he would refuse to play for them. Entering his first year as an NBA head coach Calipari did not want to take the risk. The rest is history, Kobe fell all the way to 13th were Jerry West already had his deal in place and dealt Vlade Divac for Kobe.

With that being said, Charlotte made a terrible mistake giving Kobe Bryant away to the Lakers. Sure Vlade Divac is one of only four (Kareem, Olajuwon, and Garnett) players in NBA history to achieve 13,000pts, 9,000rebs, and 3,000 assists. I don’t care if the 1996-1997 season was the best season in franchise history (54-28) for the Hornets. Vlade only averaged 11pts and 9rebs during his two seasons with the Hornets. I am sure the hive would have loved a Mugsy Bogues, Kobe Bryant backcourt to team with Glen Rice and Anthony Mason.

1. The Philadelphia 76ers trade Charles Barkley to the Pheonix Suns for Jeff Hornacek, Tim Perry, and Andrew Lang.

Who are Tim Perry and Andrew Lang? Can you honestly tell me you remember them? This is the worst trade ever… So what did Barkley do his first season as a Sun?
Averaged 26pts, 12rebs, 5asts during the regular season, won league MVP, and took his team to the NBA Finals. Enough said.

• The Yankees are hilarious. They have a great coach for 12 years and now they show their gratitude by forcing him out of New York by way of disrespect. First came the job threats, now they offered him a $2.5 million pay cut… but offered it back plus some in “incentives.” 12 straight playoff appearances and 4 World Series titles didn’t already qualify him? As you could assume, Joe Torre told the Steinbrenner boys, Hal and Hank, and anyone else associated with the disrespectful offer, something along the lines of, “Hell no.” Those Yankees brass sure do have some brass… shoes.
• Surprised to see yet another top-2 team lose? Me neither. South Florida fells to Rutgers 30-27 last night in an exciting Thursday night showdown.
• Still fussing about Manny? He delivered, and so did Beckett, as Boston beat Cleveland 7-1 at Fenway Park to force a Game 6 in the ALCS.
• A listing of QBs gone awry this season — either by way of injury or awfulness.
• Tickets that once cost $4 will cost on the upwards of $15,000 for the upcoming World Series games played in Denver. Where there’s demand, there will be overpricing, so sayeth the law of the land.

Whether sports fans want to accept it or not — Manny Ramirez has a point.

“We’re just going to go have fun and play the game. That’s it. If we go play hard and the thing doesn’t come like it’s supposed to come, we’ll move on. We’ll come next year. Why should we panic? We’ve got a great team. If it doesn’t happen, good. We’ll come next year and try to do it again.

“We’re confident every day. It doesn’t matter how things go for you. We’re not going to give up. We’re just going to go and play the game, like I’ve said, and move on. If it doesn’t happen, so who cares? There’s always next year. It’s not like the end of the world or something.”

He’s right. It isn’t the end of the world. There are many more important issues outside the sports arena.

We are at war in Iraq, Afghanistan with no clear end; we have looming troubles with both Iran and North Korea; our health care system is in serious need of extended children’s health care coverage but political positioning constantly gets in the way; and, although ethics in baseball is a serious sports issue, we should be more mindful and skeptical of the ethics of our elected Congressional members who make the real big decisions affecting our country.

The truth about sports we fans often get too caught up to remember is that they are mere games. Even the professionals who play them realize this. They get paid to play, yes, and we spend our hard-earned money supporting our enjoyment of the show but in the end, they are still games. And the object of the professional worker and corporation is to make money. Both Manny and the city of Boston will make copious amounts of money whether they win or lose.

The truth about fans is that we want to ignore this fact. We watch the games because we enjoy watching people play our favorite games at the highest level possible. We root for teams based on our own attachments to the cities, players or organizations. We want the players of those favorite teams to always be “Rah! Rah!� for the team, even though we know it could be incredibly easy for them to get lost in the money, fame and status we, as fans, have bestowed upon them.

Manny’s statements indicate he knows, as the little red-head’s song goes, “the sun’ll come out tomorrow.� And as it goes, as fans, we never want to hear about tomorrow. Everything is based on what you can do for us today.

When Manny says the words “who cares?� people take it to heart. Diehard fans are offended because it appears Manny is forgetting about the emotional attachment involved in being as involved as they.

Manny has always came off as an incredibly simple man. Simple is, as Manny does. The one catch is, of course, that he is arguably one of the greatest hitters of his generation. “Manny Being Manny� may include incidents where he ducked out to pee behind the Green Monster at Fenway during a pitching change. It may also include asking for a trade one day, hitting a game-winning pinch-hit, and promising completely loyalty to the team the Red Sox the next.

But what also comes with “Manny Being Manny� is his career .313 batting average, 490 home runs, 1602 RBI, .409 OBP and 20 grand slams. It also comes with a .375 and .462 batting average against the Angels and Indians, respectively, in this year’s playoffs. And, most importantly to Boston fans, it includes a 2004 World Series MVP Award. Manny is talented at what he does; his numbers will reinforce this to be so.

On the only account he is bad at is filtering what fans don’t want to hear. Fans don’t like to hear that he wants to get traded, especially to a rival team, even though at times he said he felt unwelcome. Fans don’t want to hear him flip-flop on loving the team one day and then wanting the next day’s train out. And fans especially don’t want to hear any indication that there is a possibility that – even though he believes the team is extremely talented and plays hard, and his own numbers show he isn’t the main reason they’re down 3-1 against Cleveland – there is a possibility (statistically, a high one) that they may be headed home after tonight.

Fans need hope, and a reason to have faith in their team and their players. Statistics are wonderful, and in baseball that is plenty enough to get you into the Hall of Fame, but fans gain bragging rights by claiming championships. They escape their worldly issues by trying to believe that the players are out on the field every night playing for their very own enjoyment.

But the real truth about fans and sports is that realistic words put a bruise in faith. Truly loyal and faithful fans simply aren’t ready to accept brutal realism.

In fact, the entire concept of being a fan rides on unrealistic goals of constant success. And most fans I know, although they know The Truth about fans and sports, are quite content with the way things are.

It may’ve been better if Manny had simply left The Truth unspoken. Fans seem to like it better that way.

• Boston doesn’t seem too confident going into this make-or-break game tonight at Fenway. If you just read the brutally honest part of Manny Ramirez’s statement, he wouldn’t help reinforce that confidence. Are fans ready to accept that players realize the sun’ll come out tomorrow win, lose or draw? (we will discuss this later)
• Wilbon throws in another thought of the talented but cheating Patriots going undefeated. How “tainted” will their season be if they were caught cheating but win out?
• Kobe resumed practice yesterday amid trade talks galore, and is expected to play Thursday in an exhiagainst Seattle in an exhibition game. How many days until he’s GONE?
• Here’s a good update on how the 2007 1st-round picks have fared. Is Adrian Peterson the runaway (no pun intended) rook of the year?