I love the ‘top’ and ‘untouchable’ tags.  And all of a sudden these tags are being applied to the kids whose numbers have always been good, but now they are being brought to the forefont. Omar has handled the perception that the Mets farm system was depleted to begin with and then further weakened after the Santana trade, very nicely. 

And as we have seen from Murphy so far, maybe these kids ARE that good and the rest of the league has just undervalued them.  Fantastic job by Omar Minaya. Yet again.

Around $50 million of this $140 million Mets team has either been on the DL for significant lengths of time this year or underperforming (Alou, Pedro, Delgado). So any arguments we will hear from Minaya today will be full of crap. Additionally, it is the front office that has allowed the tensions within the organization go grow and let Willie hang out to dry in the media.  As I said in my previous post, Mets ownership needs to either fire Omar Minaya or sell the team to competent owners who can trust their baseball people and stand behind them.  Obviously, Willie is no angel in this situation either.  His accusations of racism against SNY were ill-timed and uncalled for.  However, he did help turn the franchise around and I feel he deserved better.

Fast Forward to May 2008.

In typical New York style, “Fire Willie” whispers in the media have slowly turned into loud demands. It sure gets late awfully early around here, doesn’t it?

Let’s look at what Willie has done which is so wrong and so despicable.

Randolph looked like a genius in 2006 when the Mets were among the top 3 in the NL in runs scored as well as Earned Run Average.  He didn’t look like too much of anything in 2007 when the team regressed to the middle of the pack in both key stat categories. In his first two years Willie was praised for being a disciplinarian who demanded that his players stay clean-shaven, who played veterans, and who always maintained an even demeanor.  All of a sudden these qualities have turned into faults.  

I am not arguing that the Mets have underachieved in 2008. I thought that after the Santana trade they were going to come out swinging, trying their best to put the collapse of 2007 behind them. That obviously hasn’t happened. After a brutal loss today after which Billy Wagner predictably lost his cool again (worth watching!), they sit pretty at 20-19, in third place behind the Marlins and the Phillies.

So I know how bad they have been. I am just wondering why everyone conveniently blames Willie while the problem sits right before everybody’s eyes.  This team is too old, too injury-prone and too fragmented along ethnic lines. The clean-up hitter is batting .246 and slugging below .450 (that’s pathetic!)  The lead-off hitter and the media darling, so-called ’spark plug’ is on base less than third of the time (66th overall).  The number 5 hitter has less RBI than household names such as Freddy Sanchez and Blake DeWitt. The big righty power bat is as old as Moses himself and can barely stay on the field because his ankles hurt so much.

(I am not even going to bother dissecting the pitching numbers. They are pretty bad too.)

But even if we look past the numbers, the team just looks divided. The Hispanic players sit together and hang out together. Delgado, Castillo and Reyes could care less about what’s going on around them. The Mets would be down 9 runs, and if Delgado hits a home run, you’d see Reyes and Castillo on the top steps ready to do some stupid pre-meditated dance. Blame Omar Minaya for letting this carefree culture perpetuate. If Frank Cashen can trade Kevin Mitchell for being a bad influence on Doc and Straw, Minaya can sure as heck trade Delgado for being the leader who never was and who has now become a clubhouse cancer.  (Wow did I just type that? Anyone who follows the Mets closely will agree, however).  So the media is right in that there is no sense of pride in the team at all.  Reyes is only 24 but what the hell are vets like Beltran, Castillo and Delgado doing? Why do I have the same sinking feeling inside my heart that I did when I heard about Rickey and Bonilla playing cards in the locker room during a playoff game?  I thought this kind of shit was supposed to end when Omar and Willie arrived and we started to win.

Heartfelt locker room speeches and pleas for pride work on men who have displayed a sense of responsbility. When no one other than Wright and Wagner is available for an interview after a loss, when no one steps up and points the finger at themselves, what can a manager do?  There is some serious divide on this team.  And that falls squarely on Minaya and Wilpon’s shoulders.

No, this is not the Bronx Zoo Yankees who hate each other and can still win.  The problem is that these guys don’t even hate each other!  They just don’t seem to give a shit.

Obviously Willie is the perfect sacrificial lamb.  I predict he is gone before July.  But just like every Manager who has been fired before him, he would have as little to do with his team’s success or failure as you and me combined.  

So do the right thing Freddie Wilpon. 

Tell your (in)capable son to rid of this team of the cancers it breeds.

p.s. Yes I will still continue to watch every pitch of every game but that’s just what I do.  And there’s no reason to tell me the Mets suck. Just read this column again, you’ll notice that I agree with you. 

Photo credit: Mets.com

My brother and I have never been close, but today we are the closest we have ever been. And probably as close as we will ever get.

We have nothing in common even though we are only a couple of years apart in age. I am a corporate pencil pusher, he is the blue collar type.  I am a Management Consultant. He is a scrappy diamond salesman. My lifestyle is pretentious. My brother doesn’t know what the word means. I like to dress up my thoughts with pretty words so I come off as educated. My brother, while just as educated, takes pride in being a straightshooting New Yorker.  We don’t speak to each other much.  Not lately at least.

The fondest memories of my relationship with my brother are of him and I screaming at the TV during the 90’s Knicks playoff debacles, then watching as the Unstoppable One soared through the Air to six championships. ’99 was when our decibel levels were especially high as our beloved Knicks made an improbable run to the Finals.  Those were the days.  

We would talk basketball for hours. Both he and I, die-hard Knicks homers, arguing all the way home from school with bandwagon jumping Bulls fans.  Ridiculing them. Calling them traitors for rooting for the Bulls while living in New York. Words were easier to come by back then when we didn’t have many to pick from. And not much to lose either. Marveling over Shawn Kemp’s God-given abilities. Playing a whole plethora of NBA games on our PlayStation for hours.  Arguing whether John Starks would ever be a Championship Guard.  Rooting hard for Patrick Ewing because even when everybody criticized him, we knew that he tried hard. We knew that he cared. Knowing in our hearts that we could never beat Jordan, yet hoping to see exactly that every year.  Rooting hard for the Mailman and his Jazz to beat the Bulls and avenge New York’s torment.  In the early 2000’s, watching those epic battles between the Shaq-Kobe Lakers and the Kings and the Blazers.  That, to us, was the golden era of basketball. 

And it got taken away from us.

Kobe took that fateful vacation in Colorado. Shaq just got old. Duncan was too boring. KG was stuck in Minny with no supporting cast.  The Nets fired Byron Scott who we all thought just went along for a ride with J-Kidd and which turned out to be untrue. Portland self-destructed. Vince turned out to be a pretender. T-Mac just couldn’t get on the court.  And worst of all, Jimmy Dolan bought the Knicks. Somewhere while all this was happening, my brother and I stopped speaking.

We had personal reasons to blame for that too. But we have had those reasons all along. We just never let them get between us to a point where we didn’t want to talk to each other. We always had something to talk about. And more often than not, that something was the NBA. We didn’t like each other but we both knew we loved each other and talking to each other was a manifestation of that love which had to be held on to. And among all the vehicles we used to establish that, talking about the NBA seemed to be the most obvious and easiest choice.  

That’s what made the past few years so hard.  I love my kid brother yet I found myself at a loss for things to talk to him about.

This weekend I spoke to him with an open heart for the first time in years. And he responded. Yes, we talked about our lives. But we couldn’t wait to get that stuff out of the way so we could talk about what we really wanted to talk about.

We talked about Chris Paul. We talked about Kevin Durant. We talked about how amazing Al Horford will be. We talked about the stacked West. He told me he is jealous of LeBron just like he was of Jordan. I told him to soften up. I am his big brother after all. We laughed at the pathetic play of the Knicks.  We laughed!  My brother and I shared a laugh!  And while neither of us said it out loud, what we were really telling each other was how much we missed each other and how much we love each other no matter what happens.

My brother is back in my life. Basketball is back in my life.  And it is a damn good time to be an NBA fan.

But before we get into a preview of the Senior Circuit, I feel like I have to come clean with something. I am going to admit that after the Mets’ brutal collapse last year, I quietly swore off of baseball for a few months. I did this without telling anyone. My friends will remember that I didn’t make a big deal about the collapse. I refused to take consolation phone calls the night we got eliminated. And throughout the winter, I brushed off every Mets joke and quietly walked away from confrontations. 

I just stopped following the game. I don’t even know who won the World Series last year. But the Santana trade has changed everything.

A little history first: I am a proud and admitted sports homer. In all other sports if my team doesn’t do well, I lose interest really fast. I was done with the Jets at 1-5 and was done with the Knicks at 0-0 in 2002. But when it comes to the Mets, I have stuck with them through thick and thin. I followed every game just as closely in the Art Howe era as I did during the pennant winning year in 2000. 

And this is why the 2007 collapse was such an anomaly for me. I achieved unique levels of jadedness with this team last year. I was numb. I was apathetic. Actually, I despised the Mets. How does a team get so over-confident that it lets an almost guaranteed division title slip away and let it go to it’s most hated opponent? It was mind boggling. In my mind, here are some of the factors that must be present for a monumental collapse to take place:

• A sense of apathy permeating through the ranks, stemming from poor leadership
• The team getting an inordinate number of bad breaks/bad calls
• A history of bad karma finally catching up to the players
• A general hatred for the team across the league causing opponents to bring their “A” game every time they play your team
• Unexpected injuries

ALL of these factors were present during the fateful 20 day, 17 game collapse. Seasoned vets like Glavine, Delgado and even the usually emotional Reyes showed an appalling lack fire. The injury-plagued starting rotation affected the bullpen to the point where they couldn’t even hold 4 or 5 run leads! The Mets got no breaks from their opponents. The Phillies weren’t the only team that seemed to be out to get them. The Marlins appeared to get special pleasure out of beating them and knocking them out of the playoffs during the last weekend of the season - thanks to the constant dancing on the top steps of the dugouts, choreographed handshakes and the slow home run trots various Mets had displayed all year as they plowed through the NL. Enough was enough. They became the team everyone loved to hate and it showed.

But the off-season has changed everything.

First of all, Tom-ahawk Glavine is gone. Good bye Mr. Brave. Ask me if I cared about anything you did or said for us in your five years here. I pretended you didn’t exist.

Paul LoDuca is gone. I liked him but he was too big of a presence without much on-field production. Scrubs like Shawn Green and Jeff Conine have been purged. And now we have Johan Santana. He will carry the team the way David Wright does. I am displaying much optimisim today. And I hope it carries me throughout the season.

Now on to the preview.  I will be writing this in two parts.  Today we cover the National League. Here’s a division by division breakdown:

NL WEST

This is a very good division with the least competitive disparity among its teams out of all divisions in baseball. With the exception of the Giants, every team ranks from ‘good’ to ‘very good.’ 

San Diego Padres: For all the accolades Kevin Towers gets, his failure to acquire a bonafide power hitter continues to boggle my mind. That said, Towers does what he can. The recent signings of Tad Iguchi and Mark Prior, while not big news, will pay off for the Friars. I REALLY hope Prior stays healthy; he is too good to just call it a career. Cutting Marcus Giles was a mistake. He is ’scrappy’. Jake Peavy is here to stay and heads up a fantastic rotation which also includes Chris Young, Greg Maddux and the recently signed Randy Wolf. And with their bullpen, I wouldn’t want to face them in a short series.  The Madres win the division handily. Prediction: 92-70. Division Winner.

Los Angeles Dodgers: Andruw Jones’ smug face and his 128 K per season will fit very nicely with Jeff Kent’s temper and his .875 OPS.  Couple that with the sheer brilliance of Rafael Furcal’s .688 OPS and you have a offense full of underachieving pouty faces. Joe Torre will be exposed as a poor in-game manager. Look for Matt Kemp, Andy LaRoche and Andre Ethier to be riding the pine under Torre as he tries to stay loyal to veterans. The only thing that may save the Dodgers is their pitching. Their rotation is well above average with Penny, Lowe, a recovering Schmidt and the addition of Hiroki Kuroda. Their bullpen scares the shit out of me; they are pretty much a lock to win every game they hold a lead in after 7 innings. Prediction: 86-76.

Colorado Rockies: There is plenty of offense in Denver even if Matt Holliday slips a bit from his MVP-caliber year. But their pitching won’t carry them again, humidified balls non-humidified balls.  I am a huge Jeff Francis and Aaron Cook fan but who else have they got? Brian Fuentes is a ticking fantasy timebomb. Matt Herges is not the answer.  Ubaldo Jimenez? Please. Prediction: 86-76.

Arizona Diamondbacks: The Douche… sorry, Diamondbacks took a step in the right direction in an attempt to fix their run differential issues. Dan Haren won’t nearly give up as many runs as their stopgap starters did last year. And if Randy Johnson comes back healthy, look out. But their offense is a liability. I know Eric Byrnes is good. I know Conor Jackson will hit. And my only non-Met man crush, Orlando Hudson (who is also one of only about 10 players in the entire sports world whose “intangibles” I honestly believe in but that’s another discussion), is good too. But show me a power hitter. Show me a NON-pitcher with a 1.000+ OPS. Micah Owings won’t cut it this time. Pitching rich, batting starved, exciting to watch; but due for a visit back to planet earth.  Prediction: 82-80.

San Francisco Giants:  Since I have to write something about every team, I’d say …  ummmm… I think Barry Zito will have a bounceback year and Aaron Rowand will fit in nicely. Prediction: 64-98.

NL CENTRAL

This is the weakest and most boring division in baseball.  Reminds me of the NL East of the mid to late 90s.

Milwaukee Brewers: The Brew Crew are the only team in this division that is worth-watching. What a stacked line up! Prince Fielder is my pre-season pick for NL MVP as long as he doesn’t gain any more weight. Ryan Braun is the real deal and despite their defensive liabilities, I am a huge fan of J.J. Hardy and Bill Hall. Their starting pitching is more than adequate. I still believe Chris Capuano is a good pitcher and will definitely bounce back from a terrible terrible 2007. To back up my prediction, I will be drafting Capuano in all my fantasy leagues this year. Mike Cameron is a solid addition who shores up their defense and no we don’t have to worry about his strikeouts in this line up. Eric Gagne and Guillermo Mota may just perform well given there is no fan or media pressure in Milwaukee. Heck, I even like their backups. Even though I am a bit disappointed they let Francisco Coredero go to the Reds, this is still my “other NL team” this year. And lastly, Ben Sheets, please stay healthy! Come on Brew Crew! Make me look smart. Prediction: 91-71. Division Winner.

Chicago Cubs: They have a good line up and good pitching yet Lou Piniella’s presence looms so large that I just can’t get excited about this team. 85 wins won’t be enough to win the division this year. Let the Kosuke Fukodome era begin. Prediction: 86-76.

Houston Astros: Am I the only one who openly thinks Miguel Tejada is not nearly as good when he is not on the juice? Come on! But let’s hope the small ballpark helps his numbers. Carlos Lee is a stud. Jose Valverde was a good acquisition. Brandon Backe is one of my fantasy sleepers. This team will surprise people.  Prediction: 81-81.

St. Louis Cardinals: Is this the year Albert Pujols finally gets caught for using steroids? I am kidding. But I am not kidding when I say that this team sucks. Combine their weak line up with the clusterfuck of a starting rotation and you will have Tony LaRussa setting new ejections records. Let’s hope Troy Glaus stays healthy for fantasy purposes.  But stay away from everyone not named Troy, Pujols or Izzy on this team. Prediction: 78-84.

Cincinnati Reds: Dusty Baker has taken over a team with no expectations but this team possesses some talent. Francisco Cordero is as sure a thing as it gets in the relief pitching universe. Brandon Phillips is still underrated and can have another quiet superstar type year. Let’s hope Aaron Harang’s arm doesn’t fall off. Overall, Dusty and Francisco together equal at least 5 more wins. Prediction: 77-85.

Pittsburgh Pirates: I am deeply sad to see David Littlefield go. Until the Santana trade, he was the GM most often targeted by Omar Minaya when he wanted to swindle a team into making a lopsided trade. The Pirates are still irrelevant. Ian Snell had an awesome year last year and should be their opening day starter. Stay away from all other Pirates. Prediction: 66-96.

NL EAST

The East will be just as competitive as it was last year. As a Mets fan, the Braves still scare me the most.  J-Roll and the Phils get no respect once again and have a right to be mad. Let’s hope this year the NL produces a 100 game winner and this is the division with the best chance to do so.

New York Mets: As excited I am about this season, the Mets are by no means a lock to win anything. Age will catch up with Delgado and Alou this year and I am hoping the improvements made by Wright and Reyes offset this loss of production. I am also hoping Reyes focuses more on the game than his choreographed handshakes. The bullpen is shaky. Stay away from Wagner in fantasy. That said, I still think this team will show enough balls to win the division and beyond. Santana and Wright are going to will the entire team into taking this year seriously. Prediction: 100-62. Division Winner.

Atlanta Braves: Watch Tom Glavine go to Atlanta and turn into a Cy Young caliber pitcher. I have no doubt in my mind about this.  Chipper will be the NL MVP. Teixeira will have 160RBI and 70 HR. OK, that’s it. I can’t say anything objective about this team.  Eff You Braves. Prediction: somewhere between 2nd and 3rd Place. NL Wild Card. 

Philadelphia Phillies: Their improbable division win last year was just as much a product of the Mets losing it as it was the Phillies going for it and grabbing it.  Other than Jimmy Rollins they don’t have a single voice on this team who can back up their words with their play. Only if Ryan Howard developed some effusiveness. But let’s hope he doesn’t. Cole Hamels is an ace pitcher. Brad Lidge will lose more games than he wins for the Phils.  Prediction: 90-72.

Washington Nationals: Jim Bowden is collecting veterans as usual for an All Star team 5 years too late. Dmitri Young, Paul LoDuca, Aaron Boone, Ronnie Belliard, Cristian Guzman. These guys don’t look nearly as scary as they did in their primes (where applicable). Ryan Zimmerman, however, is a legit star. So is Chad Cordero. Manny Acta is going to keep this team playing hard. Prediction: 70-92.

Florida Marlins: This team belongs in AAA. Not even Hanley Ramirez’s MVP type season can stop them from losing 100+ games. Prediction: 55-107.

MVP

Prince Fielder

Cy Young

Johan Santana

I refuse to make any playoff predictions. As an overall comment, I feel that the flow of talent from the loaded American League towards the NL will help the latter combat its reputation as the weaker league. Santana, Tejada, Dan Haren. These are big names. But the NL still has a lot of work to do. I am hoping for an exciting season.

Rocker is a degenerate prick whose statements have no consequence in the steroid investigation. Bud Selig, as much as I dislike him and as much as he fucked up the whole steroids thing, has publicly come to terms with this fact and there is no need for anyone to continue to pile on the already embattled commish. And Rocker should be the last one running his mouth.

It is no surprise that a couple of Atlanta radio stations called him in for a quote and broke this story. No one pays attention to Atlanta sports. No one pays attention to Rocker. Just go away, dude.

Though I have to admit, the boy is impressive even for people ten times his age, as seen in this comparison with Tiger Woods. Check out the web site the boy’s parents made for him. Pretty cool.  Now let’s just hope and wish against all odds that the child leads a normal life.

Instead it became an incubating period for the Patriots’ ever-increasing false sense of inevitability. As I had predicted and hoped, the Patsies looked sluggish and over-confident throughout the game. Yes it was the same old Pats at first but as the game went on, it became clear that they had taken the whole ”showing up is half the battle” anecdote a bit too literally. I guess they forgot that that the other team shows up too and the Giants showed up pissed off and ready. Brady’s “We are only going to score 17 points?” line now belongs in the All Time Worst Egg in Your Face Comments Hall of Fame. Two weeks ago, everyone was anointing the Patriots the Super Bowl champions and now they are the worst 18-1 team in football history and staring SpyGate 2.0 square in the face. What a turn of events!

The Giants on the other hand showed up to play, especially on defense. Brady looked rushed, under pressure and angry on almost every pass play and that’s exactly the way the Giants wanted him. For all the talk of this Pats’ offensive line that I got sick of hearing, they delivered an embarassing performance. Justin Tuck made Matt-hall-of-famer Light his personal biatch all night.  Forget Manning, the Giants D-line was the real collective MVP of the game.

Enough is going to be said and written about this Super Bowl. Personally, I love the collapse angle more than I do the over-achieving underdog angle given the circumstances. The Giants are a solid team and deserved every bit of their victory but this game was the Pats’ to lose. Sure the perfect regular season can’t be taken away from them but what does that even mean if you don’t win it all? There have been other 18-1 teams but they all won the Super Bowl. This 18-1 team did not win the Super Bowl. So they are the worst team in that group. Looks like karma finally caught up to the Patsies. No one cares about Pats 52, Redskins 7 today.  The only score that matters is Giants 17, Pats 14. This was one of the biggest choke jobs of all time. Here’s to 18-1!

Yes!  Finally, the #1 Most Annoying Sports Story has met its end and what a sweet end it is!  The baseball world remains in a state of shock but Mets fans, wherever they are, woke up this morning with broad smiles on their faces. Omar Minaya has struck again. And this after every so-called expert, writer, blogger and beat reporter wrote off the Mets as a possible contender for the 29 year old two-time Cy Young-winning Super Duper Mega Flame-throwing Bundle of Pitching Awesomeness. 

As always for the big media dudes, it was going to be between the Yankees and the Red Sox. The Mets weren’t even supposed to be in the same conversation. Fuck, you could hear the sadness in Peter Gammons’ voice as he broke down the trade on SportsCenter last night. But Mets fans believed.  Because we had Omar.  Omar always comes through.  He came through with Pedro. And the Carloses, with Ollie Perez and once again, when you thought he couldn’t possibly do it again, all he does is go out and acquire the best pitcher alive.

Now. All giddiness aside, I understand it is too soon to tell who “won out” on this deal.  But one thing is certain: even if the Mets get three good years out of Santana, this trade would be a slam dunk in my eyes. To be able to acquire the best pitcher in the game for a quartet of second rate prospects is nothing short of a miracle. Every Met fan knows the organization always over-hypes their prospects.  These guys that Minaya traded to the Twins?  Trust me, they are decidedly second rate. 

Minaya didn’t trade Mike Pelfrey, the Mets’ best pitching prospect or Fernando Martinez, their best hitting prospect (Pelfrey, 24, pitched with the Mets last year and is projected to be a No. 2/3 starter.  The 18 year old Martinez is expected to start the year in Triple A but can hit the major leagues this year and is projected to be a 30 HR guy within just two years). 

Now let’s take a look at the guys the Twins did get.  25 year old Philip Humber only projects as a No. 5 starter after having had Tommy John surgery in 2005.  Kevin Mulvey is a second round pick and a back-end-of-the-rotation guy, and Deolis Guerra is still in A-Ball.  Carlos Gomez, 22 is the centerpiece of this deal.  He made a quick ascent through the Mets minor league system over the past couple of years and will be a good-but-not-great player. This package is nowhere near the deals offered by the Red Sox and the Yankees.   Jacoby Ellsbury, John Lester, Melky Cabrera and Phil Hughes were just some of the names being thrown around late last year. 

So not only did the Mets hang on to their best two prospects, they were also able to retain both Jose Reyes and Aaron Heilman, who the Twins had repeatedly asked for. 

Omar is THE MAN!

He knew he couldn’t compete with talent.  But if there is one thing the Mets have an abundance of, it is money.  And that’s the only thing they stand to lose in this deal, even if the worst kind of injuries befall Santana (God forbid, knock on woood, yada yada yada). But for now and the next ten years or so, they will pay him.  And they will pay him well.   They will pay him more than Josh Beckett, Erik Bedard or even Barry Zito.  Who by the way looks like a great pass by the Mets now. Had they signed Zito, even with their deep pockets, there is no way Freddie Coupon would have approved the Santana deal. But Omar knew what he was doing all along.

The bottom-line is that the Mets cannot lose on this deal. Of course as I type this, I can totally be jinxing us right now and the future is being altered Heroes-style with Deolis Guerra winning multiple Cy Youngs for the Twins…  OK I am going to stop right thurr.

Today is a great day to be a Mets fan.  As Stevie Somers would say: “It’s good to be king.”

10. Baseball Hall of Fame Debates
I will admit I am guilty of participating in these debates from time to time but neither do I pretend to be a know-it-all expert nor hate on my contemporaries on national television (I am talking to you Kruskster).  The Hall’s inconsistent and undefined induction practices leave a lot of room for second-guessing and I am not sure if it’s not on purpose.

9. Brett Favre
Everyone loves a gunslinger, but enough with the pretty old man from Mississippi who hasn’t won shit in years.  Sorry Packers fans, I would be able to tolerate the feel-good story your team was in 2007 if Favre had stopped dominating the headlines.  Part of it is not his fault.  He is great, but there is no reason he should be the lead story on SportsCenter every Sunday night.

8. Bill Parcells
“I used to like you Bill, but boy do I hate you now.”  Fans of 4 of the more prominent sports franchises that he coached feel this way about Mr. Quick-Fix.  Poor Falcons fans didn’t even get to see him coach their team, and I bet they hate him.  Add the fact that ESPN covers his every move like he is the President of the Free World, and it just makes you feel like covering up your ears with your hands, standing up off the couch and stomping your feet on the floor screaming, “La-la-la-la-la-la!” … Don’t you? OK, that’s just me… but please - go away, Tuna!

7.  The New York / Boston Rivalry
No explanation needed. Just ask the rest of the 260-some million Americans how they feel about this. 

6. The National Media’s Rush to Cover Fantasy Sports
James Brown of CBS’s NFL Pre-Game Show: Do you really expect us to believe you give a shit about reporting this?  We know you are seething inside every time someone just mentions the words ‘fantasy football.’   And you know what dude?  I am with you.  You don’t need to be reporting this.  They shouldn’t be disrespecting you like this just because we dumb fans like to add up stats and ‘compete’ with our friends as we sit in front of our PCs. Really, man. Sorry.

5. The Criticism of the BCS
Every college football season we have to put up with this crap. Everyone just loves to beat the BCS to pieces without offering any other viable alternatives to this ‘broken system.’   And most of the time it comes from specific teams or fans of teams who somehow got the short end of the stick in the rankings that particular year. I don’t care if Georgia got cheated.  Where was their A.D. and where were their fans in 2004 when Auburn couldn’t make it to the title game?

4. Quarterbacks and their Celebrity Girlfriends
2 words:  WHO CARES?  Eff you TMZ!

3. Peyton Manning Bashers
Come on people. The dude is alright.  Anyone who can laugh at himself on national television is good in my book.  Stop bashing him, you sound jealous.

2. Steroids in Baseball
Steroids are a reality.  They won’t go away any time soon but I just wish there was a way that ALL steroid stories could be lumped into a weekly Steroids Only show, and just go away for the rest of the week.  I would totally tune in religiously for the “Steroids Hour with Bob Ley.”  Pinky swear!

1. The Johan Santana Sweepstakes
He is going to the Yankees.  He is going to the Red Sox.  Now he is going to the Mets.  I have had it with this guy.  It is not his fault that the Twins aren’t going to trade him for pennies on the dollar, but it’s the incessant reporting about every minor Santana development that gets on my nerves.  Just wake me up when a deal gets done, ok? Any deal.