Death Is Not Synonymous With Character

I was going to take Rossi's suggestion and write about the current changes taking place for next years NCAA Tournament, Mark Cuban's apparent initiative towards making David Stern actually do his job by investigating the Heat for Tampering, and the Feds Investigating Fraud and Doping charges against (F*ck) Lance Armstrong, but the death of "The Boss" officially took place today - even though he's been practically dead for years now- and that death is prompting me to shift in another direction for today's post.

My focus today is going to center on my annoyance and overall displeasure on the use of death as a way to re-write someones history. New York Yankee Owner George Steinbrenner died today at the age of 80, and last week former NHL tough guy Bob Probert kicked the bucket as well at the age of 45. What I'm surprised and kind of shocked about is people's reactions to their respective deaths. I was under the impression that it was well known and accepted that both of these men were absolute jerks to many people they encountered during their time on earth. Probert was far more of a jerk that Steinbrenner obviously since his overall behavior put people's lives in danger, but I'll touch more on that in a moment.


Let's start with Steinbrenner. OK, I get that in many ways Steinbrenner has done some amazing things as an owner. He's never been shy about spending money to make money, which in terms of the history of owners in sports, is actually very maverick and cavalier. Where he also scored points as an owner is his commitment to winning no matter what. Put it this way, who would you rather have owning your team as a fan, George Steinbrenner or Donald Sterling? The answer is obviously Steinbrenner.


That's where my list of positives ends with The Boss. On the flip side of the coin, Steinbrenner was a convicted felon, as he plead guilty for making illegal campaign contributions to Richard Nixon and to an obstruction of justice charge. That earned him his first suspension in baseball. His second suspension was the result of what he did to Dave Winfield. After making Winfield the highest paid player in the game, George decided to stiff  his contractually obligated donations to Winfield's Charity for which Winfield sued Steinbrenner 3 different times to get Steinbrenner to donate! He also paid Howard Spira $40,000 to "dig up dirt" on Winfield. This, as well as the hiring and firings of Billy Martin, Yogi Berra, and other mistreatment of Yankee sacred cows lead to Commissioner Fay Vincent banning Steinbrenner from baseball for life. Obviously that ended once the owners voted Vincent out as commissioner, and Jerry Reinsdorf got Bud Selig to reinstate his old buddy Steinbrenner in 1993. The other part about Steinbrenner that gets missed is just how awful he treated his employees. I'm not referring to his baseball team, or managers, but rather front office employees and people who reported to him. His mistreatment of the "little people" was infamous among Yankee employees, and that ultimately is his legacy in my eyes - he was nothing more than a bully, plain and simple.

As for Bob Probert, it's actually a much darker animal to deal with than Steinbrenner. Probert was beloved in some hockey circles because he was "old time hockey tough"...which from what I understand means he just beat the hell out of people on the ice. I have no problem with appreciating a hockey goon. Goon's are a part of the game, better or worse, but the part that really makes it frustrating about Probert was that he actually was a talented defense man, who CHOSE to be a goon rather than develop his game. Probert also had a looooong history of drug and alcohol abuse. This lead to Probert being arrested at the U.S.-Canadian border with 14 grams of cocaine for which he served 3 months in federal prison. Probert then crashed his motorcycle while having three times the legal limit of alcohol and trace amounts of cocaine in his system. He was also arrested twice more after his playing days were done, including one time where he was tasered by the police. So I think it's safe to say the Probert's ultimate legacy is that while he had "demons", he still managed to put innocent people in harms way by driving drunk, in addition to being a convicted felon. Not exactly a "sweetheart" as he's been described by ex-teammates.

Which leads me to my moral outrage. I have seen the media handle both Probert and Steinbrenner with nothing but oven mitts since their deaths. All of a sudden, both of these convicted felons were "misunderstood", "sweethearts", and "did so much for the community". It's as if their deaths has given both of them character in people's eyes, and it's really sad if that's the case. A wise old man told me a long time ago, that true character shines when people are up against it, and too often when Steinbrenner and Probert were up against it, they failed over and over again.

So please stop telling me that Steinbrenner and Probert were good guys who just made mistakes, let alone try to tell me that they could have given Mother Theresa a run for her money because it's simply not true. They were abusive, tyrannical, and in some cases life threatening to be around. Here's the other truth people need to understand as well, Steinbrenner and Probert never cared about you, and wouldn't pee on you even if you were on fire. Knowing that, do they still deserve the adulation they are currently receiving?

Nice guys indeed...

Rumors and Innuendo

Nothing like the All-Star Break to interrupt a historic making run by your favorite baseball team. I needed something to scratch my White Sox itch besides that silly-ass Home Run Contest tonight. Hearing Chris Berman screaming his NOOTS off and acting like he's never seen a home run before doesn't really do it for me, but hey don't worry Chris, "You're With Me Leather"...

So I hit one of my favorite websites, mlbtraderumors.com, and they gave me a little White Sox fix. There's some interesting nuggets in the past couple days about the White Sox attempts to land Cliff Lee. Essentially any deal the White Sox would have struck with Seattle would have involved giving up Gordon Beckham - which I'm very glad the White Sox are unwilling to part with Beckham, as I'm loathe to acquire pitchers over 30 years old, and I don't believe Beckham is this bad a ball player. 

In terms of the other options the Sox have to try and land, Roy Oswalt is the first name on the list, but it seems both the Sox and Oswalt don't really want each other since Kenny Williams said he's reluctant to get pitchers from the National League (Funny how he didn't feel that way a year ago when he traded for Jake Peavy...), and Oswalt has said he would veto any trade to the Sox. That's fine with The Beard. The one name that I REALLY hope doesn't come up in Zambrano. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't want Zambrano because he's a lunatic - even though that would be more that enough. The main reason I don't want him is quite simply put, he's just not that good anymore.

As for the Dan Haren, Ben Sheets, or Jeremy Guthrie's of the world....YAWN. I'd rather take a chance on any minor league pitchers other teams don't have a scouting report on yet.

Man it's nice to be "buyers" again...

First Place

And no I'm not talking about the World Cup or LeBron James pathetic and legacy-shattering decision. Incidentally, here are two of the best written reactions the conclusion of the LeBron-stakes I saw posted here and here. Both pieces logically, eloquently, and succinctly call LeBron out for wilting under the pressure and passing at the chance at becoming one of the all time greats in NBA History.

That's neither here nor there now, as my focus has shifted to how the White Sox have risen from the ashes all the way to first place at the All-Star Break. On June 8 the Sox were 24-33 9.5 games out of first place. After that, the Sox have gone 25-5 including winning their last 8 straight games. It's also worth noting just how fitting it is that on June 9th they beat the Tigers by scoring 15 runs. After today's win which qualified them for first place, they also scored 15 runs including a 3 run bomb by Andruw Jones for his 400th career home run. "Turnaround" isn't a strong enough word. The Sox were dead in the water in the view of this observer as well as many others, and I fully admit to calling for a blowup several times this season. Even though I'm still not sure about Kenny Williams being with the team after this season, we're all eating our words now, as the White Sox have entered the discussion of post season possibilities.

In terms of franchise history, the comparison that keeps coming up is the 1983 White Sox. The 83 team's biggest deficit was 7 games out of first place however, versus the 9.5 games the 2010 team was. In terms of who's been the biggest difference maker? You could argue Omar Vizquel's defense, and Freddy Garcia's cunning and guile approach on the mound as two big culprits. You could also point to the steady outstanding play of Alex Rios - who is someone else I owe an engraved apology to, and Paul Konerko. You could point to the emergence of young players like Dayan "The Tank" Viciedo and Brent Lillibridge hitting the ball hard every time as well as Sergio Santos' outstanding relief work during his feel good story season. Those are all outstanding nominations, but for my money I believe the biggest difference maker has been Carlos Quentin. Carlos was hitting .205 7 home runs, 32 RBI's for an OPS of .697 as of June 8. Since that time, he's hit .326 12 home runs, 29 RBI's over the month since. I don't believe that it's a coincidence that since he's gone on a roll, the White Sox have as well.

What's even more remarkable about this roll they've been on, is the Sox don't even seem to be rattled by the news of Jake Peavy and his detached Lat Muscle being out for the year. They trotted out Daniel Hudson today - who I don't believe is a starting pitcher at the big league level- watched him get roughed up by the Royals, and still won in a blowout. The Sox still need another starter in the rotation, and their options of acquiring a pitcher via trade are very limited - even though I don't think they realistically had a shot at getting Cliff Lee. The beauty about being a roll like this, allows them to not really have to worry about it for now.

So cheers to the White Sox during this roller coaster of a first half of the season. Are they for real or not? I think they are. I want to dismiss this as "baseball magic" but I can't. Nobody is THIS lucky in baseball. You have to have some skills that are better than most teams in baseball to go on these types of multiple winning streaks they've had in this short amount of time. The Sox will be tested right out of the shoot with four straight at the Twins after the All-Star Break in Target Field. They've answered every challenge thus far. It will be fun to see if this unreal play continues. One thing that's for sure, it's going to make for great television when "The Club" makes it's debut on MLB Network.

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

Where to begin? How about getting the obvious out of the way and confirm that I'm going to share my feelings with plenty of bias. LeBron has decided that he wants to play for the Miami Heat and his buddies Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh next season. The news broke earlier this morning, and James himself confirmed it on that silly ESPN "The Decision" special this evening.

I'm going to go on record right now and say that the Miami Heat will not win a championship with this group of three players next year, or ever. I am confident when I say that for the following reasons. First, the lack of depth on the Heat roster - to which my brother astutely pointed out that all 3 will have to average 44 minutes per game. Second, the last time I checked there is only one basketball on the court. LeBron has been case as a "facilitator" in his style of play. That will ultimately be put to the test this season as he will more than likely be expected to defer to Wade in tough situation which leads me to my third reason. Third, this is STILL Dwayne Wade's team! By LeBron joining the Heat, he is either blind to this, or he really believes he will wrestle control away from Wade right away in terms of being The Face of the Miami Heat.

LeBron has made a huge mistake by not signing with the Bulls. He and his camp have also conducted themselves in a very unprofessional manner, and his stock has been permanently affected in terms of his legend status - even if he DOES manage to pull the rabbit out of the hat and win a ring. It won't be "LeBron's Championship", it will be Wade and his supporting casts championship.

Brains & Balls

Well the Chicago Bulls decided to turn it up a notch today, and not a moment too soon. The day started ominously for the Bulls with the news that Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh will be together in Miami Heat uniforms for the upcoming season. Wade and Bosh also had plans of trying to lure LeBron down to Miami as well.

Not a good start to say the least. It certainly didn't get any better with multiple reports of LeBron heading to the Knicks, which also included little nuggets like MSG stock trading through the roof today with the understanding that LeBron to the Knicks is a done deal. There was also news of the Nets being very close to signing Carlos Boozer in an effort to lure LeBron to signing with the Nets. The Bulls pursuit of LeBron seemed to be on life-support, as well as their plans to at least walk away with one splashy free agent signing. Just when it seemed like it was all over...the Bulls sprang back to life.

They managed to do so by not only indicating that they haven't been told "no" by LeBron and his camp yet, but also by stealing away Carlos Boozer and signing him to a 5 year, $75-$76 million dollar range! Carlos Boozer, in my opinion, is a much better fit for what the Bulls are going to do this year. Tom Thibodeau is a staunch believer in defense, and Boozer is much more committed to defense, aggressive low-post play, and while not the scorer Chris Bosh may be, isn't exactly Joakim Noah with the ball either.

What does this mean for the Bulls signing LeBron? Probably nothing, especially with late word out of Miami that LeBron is meeting with Pat Riley, but at least they've done something smart and gutsy. At worst case scenario, the Bulls got a Two Time All-Star who is a really good player and a really good fit for what they want to do. Boozer has also said he will try to lure his one time teammate to signing with the Bulls as well. So maybe this signing will either directly or indirectly get LeBron to sign? It's still anybodys guess but at least the Bulls showed they are NOT out of the running.  

On a side note, ESPN has really embarrassed themselves by deciding to air this special tomorrow. Think about it, if you are supposed to be one of ESPN's Inside Reporters (say for the sake of argument Rick Bucher) and you get a lock-down-money-in-the-bank confirmation that LeBron is definitely signing with Team X...you cannot report it because ESPN is in the conflict of interest position of trying to drum up television ratings for tomorrow night! Yet another nail in the coffin for the Worldwide Leader's Journalistic Integrity. Shameful...

Quit Crying

I thought I'd pull away from the LeBron Sweepstakes for a moment since I'm still not confident the Bulls are going to get him at this point. I also don't like the late news of LeBron getting ESPN to do a 1 hour special with LeBron while he announces live on TV what his final decision is either, but that's neither here nor there for today's post.

Today's post will center around baseball, specifically the All-Star game omissions. Everyone around the country is complaining about any number of players getting passed over, from Strasburg, to Miguel Olivo, to Konerko, to Rios, to Silva, to Joey Votto and I really wish they would STOP. Complaining about All-Star snubs is quickly becoming one of the reasons I don't enjoy the All-Star game as much as I used to. Inter-league play, and the biggest Overreaction to an Overreaction of Bud Selig making these games count for home field advantage in the World Series are two big additional reasons why my All-Star Game Love has subsided.

Out of all the would be snubs and their various cheerleaders calling for them to be added to this year's roster, I just have two words for them, "Hank Greenberg". Nobody has been snubbed more in All-Star Game history than Hank Greenberg. For those that don't know, Greenberg was hitting .317, .391 OBP, 1.062 OPS, 25 dingers, and 103...repeat 103 RBI'S AT THE ALL-STAR BREAK! That RBI number is still a Major League record, and it's also one of those records I don't think we'll see fall anytime soon. Greenberg also went on to win the AL MVP that season despite being left off the All-Star team. So please keep this in mind and spare me the cries for Miguel Olivo, or Michael Young, or Kevin Youkilis.

Also, for you White Sox fans that want and/or are voting for Konerko to be added to the roster, remember this : Keeping Paulie OFF the roster makes it easier for the White Sox to sign him to a new contract this offseason. So a little Big Picture Thinking wouldn't hurt...

LeBron Update Part IX : It's All On The Table...

So here we are. The cards have been laid out, and for the respective players - including the King himself - it's their move. This entire process has certainly been the circus that everyone expected. There have been some surprises and wrinkles scenario wise, some unexpected second meetings, and overall the only certainty is that it's anybody's guess on how this thing ends.


It's virtually impossible to keep track with all the developments in terms of what team made a good presentation, what team made a bad one ( btw that would be the Knicks being unprepared), and what team made a goofy one (Cavs using Family Guy, Pat Riley waving his rings in front of LeBron), and what team "put 'em on the table" (Bulls doing THIS). It's also tough to really keep track of possible scenarios with anything from Sign & Trades for Chris Bosh, or from Wade joining LeBron in Chicago or with any other team, or from LeBron going to the Knicks to join the recently acquired Amare Stoudemire.

With what I've been able to retain so far, I'd say it's coming down to a photo finish between the Bulls and the Cavs. We all know why Cleveland would be attractive to LeBron. I also must give the Cavs credit. They knew the magnitude of their chance to make their best pitch, and they handled it surprising well to the point where if LeBron had a good idea that he was leaving before all this began...he might be re-thinking it now.


Bottom line : it will come down to what LeBron wants/values more. Behind Door Number 1 is staying loyal, being well compensated while staying loyal, and remaining beloved in his hometown while they "gee, golly, gosh darn will TRY to win". Behind Door Number 2 is leaving home to go for his best chance of winning championships, expanding his brand to unprecedented heights in China (where all the merchandising money is), and run the risk of being hated more than Jim Thome in Cleveland in the process.


The way I feel right now? I think he's staying in Cleveland. I don't know if James is really that calculating or ruthless deep down in terms of positioning himself marketing wise by winning championships regardless of personal feelings. I'm not going to pretend I know the guy, but LeBron has always come across as someone who just wants to have fun more than anything. I think that leaving home to go for rings might be a major obstacle to him having as much fun as he's had in the past. Then again, who really knows? I mean isn't Delonte West still on the Cavs despite bringing the wood to LeBron's Mom?!


I've been wrong before, but I'm lowering the LeBron Clock to 50% after this weekend. The Bulls still have a chance because a lot can still happen, but my confidence is certainly not as high as it once was.