NIT Tournament – I know this happened a couple of weeks ago but there were two teams missing from the tournament that really annoyed me. According to the N.I.T. selection committee, these are their guidelines. That being said, nobody cares, and that was made apparent by the attendance figures of the event -- which was so popular that the championship game attendance according to espn.com was n/a. That’s right, N.I.T. selection committee; your tournament was soo popular that nobody showed up. Instead of worrying about getting it right you should try and get the most popular teams/match ups so that somebody will actually pay attention. With that in mind, St. John’s and UConn both deserved to make it to the tournament -- St. John’s on the strength of being in New York, which would have instantly increased attendance, and UConn as a big name program would have done the same.
Billy Donovan – Sports is a cut-throat business, and it’s unfortunate. I wish I could still be naive about the state of sports but I can’t. I will say the following: Billy Donovan should do what is best for him. I would love to say that Billy should stay and that he should honor his contract and just deaden speculation about whether he is staying or leaving, but nobody, aside from maybe Bruce Pearl, really does that anymore.
In an era, when the New Jersey Devils coach gets fired a week before the playoffs with his team in first place, and when Yankee legend Bernie Williams, who can still produce, can’t even get a guaranteed roster spot on the Yankees, how can anybody not look out for themselves.
The owners have to do this if they want to make a profit, the coaches do because better opportunities may not be available when they are unemployed and the players have to because they can get screwed if they don’t.
This, I add in case I wasn’t clear earlier, is different from how I feel about contracts – ideally, I think they should be honored. I also believe that loyalty should mean something too, but neither of them seems to matter anymore. That being said, I can’t blame Donovan for wanting to increase his salary (if that is his goal). I am pretty sure over 80% of you, given the opportunity, would try and do the same. With the millions involved and the chance to achieve financial security, I know I would if I could.
A-Rod Theory – I know I have already addressed some of the misconceptions regarding Yankee fans’ attitude towards A-Rod here, but I have to clear up another one. First of all, we are (and when I say we, I mean all true Yankee fans) are all rooting for him to succeed. Our expectations for him are ridiculously high, because he is that talented.
That being said, we would love him and embrace him (more then we have) if he was more like Scott Broscius, or Paul O’Neill. I know that sounds absurd to compare possibly the greatest player of all time to two solid players, but playing great defense and not looking silly at the plate would go a long way in this town.
When A-Rod is at the plate now, it seems as if he is trying to erase all of the pressure with one swing. I think most of us would be content if he was smarter at the plate and had more productive at-bats. New York is a baseball town; we realize that it’s impossible to hit .600. What we want is for our players to move runners over when the situation calls for it and to play gritty, fundamentally sound baseball. In essence, as I said before be more like O’Neill and Broscius.
With that misconception now cleared, I can now move on to my theory on A-Rod. I know what A-Rod must do to win over Yankee fans, and that is to reverse one of the key moments where a lot of us lost respect for him -- a certain brawl in Boston. In order for him to reverse his fortunes and get Yankee fans to love him, he must stand up for himself in a fight against Boston and do what he should have done last time, and that is to take down Jason Varitek in the same fashion that Varitek took him down. If that happens, Yankee fans will love him, all the negative karma surrounding him will be gone, and he can then go on to being clutch in the post-season.
Boston v. NY Rivarly - There isn’t a greater rivalry in all of sports then the one between the Red Sux (sorry meant Sox) and the Yankees which can be read about here. Yankee fans can’t stand Boston fans because of their accents, for starters, and Boston fans in turn hate Yankee fans even more because of the success Yankees have had. There is nothing that I enjoy more than watching Boston suffer and I am sure they feel the same way about us.
To show you an example of what I mean, here are some of my rules that I have regarding the Yanks – Sox rivalry:
- There should never, under any circumstances be any Yankee clothing in red. I know it’s a marketing gimmick, but it just doesn’t work and it shouldn’t be allowed. All true Yankee fans know this rule and refuse to wear anything with the Yankee logo and a red background.
- I never wear red during baseball season nor do I wear it during the post-season.
- I never gloat during a Yankee – Red Sox series. Before the series I won’t say much, during the series that doesn’t change and only either after we have won the series or remained ahead of the Sox in the standings will I say a little. But I reserve most of the gloating for the post-season and the off-season.
In spite of these rules, though, I must admit I respect them - which is okay for me to say as long as we keep beating them.
Think you know of a better rivalry in sports, or disagree with any of my takes, or would like to know what I think of a particular issue in sports? Email me at vdawgg_rgx@yahoo.com.
