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Steinbrenner the owner every fan wants

 There are people out there who'll say that New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who died this morning of a massive heart attack, was bad for baseball.  I say that he is the kind of owner every sports fan and athlete wishes to have.

 When Steinbrenner bought the Yankees in 1973, the team was in the middle of a period of futility, but with shrewd decisions and deep pockets, the Yankees returned to glory, winning the World Series in 1977 and 1978.

 Steinbrenner's teams would win five more World Series championships and 11 American League titles in his 38 years as owner.  

 His willingness to spend whatever it took to win is a business model that helped make the Yankees the second most valuable sports franchise in the world.

 Sure, you can argue that some of the Yankees' recent championships were "bought", what with the additions of Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia, Mark Texeira and countless others, but would you rather have an owner more concerned with making a profit?  I think not.

LeBron takes the easy way out

After being among the millions watching ESPN last night and their "The Decision" special (how embarrassing, I know), I have come to the conclusion that LeBron, for as talented as he is, will never be considered an all-time great.

 Sure, he may win numerous titles in Miami, but by deciding to play with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh and the Heat, he basically admitted that he needs help.  And he needs help in the form of one other superstar (No. 3 in the NBA behind Kobe and LBJ himself) and another all-star.  That, to me, is sad.

Kobe's great, but c'mon, he's no Michael

  It's just about the time where the comparisons of Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan reach an absolute fever pitch.  After all, Kobe just won his fifth NBA title last night, putting him just one behind His Airness.

  Championships 1-3 for Kobe were won thanks more to Shaquille O'Neal, one of the most dominant players in NBA history.  Michael never had a dominant center, let alone another great, top-5 player alongside him.

Celtics facing "must-win" in Game 6

   You are probably asking yourself why I consider Game 6 a must-win for the Celtics, especially since they are leading the series 3-games-to-2 and have two cracks at winning the title.

  Well, the answer simply is that if you are the Celtics, you do not want to play a Game 7 on the road.

  If the Celtics lose tonight, all the pressure for Game 7 falls on them.  They don't want to be known as a team that blew a 3-2 series lead to the hated Lakers.

14K Gold

  The hype machine that has followed 21-year-old Stephen Strasburg finally reached the pitcher’s mound at a major league stadium last night.  Labeled by many experts as the “Greatest Pitching Prospect Ever”, it was impossible for him to live up to the hype, right?  Wrong.  Not only did he do the impossible, but outside of throwing a perfect game, he exceeded the absurd expectations people had for his debut.

NBA Finals Preview

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Inevitable decision, but the wrong one

The National Football League awarded the 2014 Super Bowl to the new Meadowlands stadium in New Jersey, giving the New York City metropolitan area it’s first big game.  It is also the first game that will be played in an outdoor stadium in cold weather, and the NFL had to waive it’s 50-degree rule to allow it.  This was an obvious decision by the NFL, but in my opinion, it’s a wrong one.

The positives for holding the league’s biggest game in the world’s biggest city are numerous.  The city is accessible from three major airports (Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark), and there are more hotel rooms in the area than could ever be needed, with a number of them being five-star luxury hotels for the corporate types willing to spend the money.

Anything but smooth from Santana

  On Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN, New York Mets ace left-hander Johan Santana gave up 10 runs to the rival Philadelphia Phillies.  10 runs?  It was the worst outing of Santana’s career, but before Mets fans begin to throw dirt on the top of his career, let’s remember a couple of things.
  First, Santana had given up only seven runs all season before last night’s game in Philly.  He’s made five starts this season and has had one bad inning.  One.  Had he been like Javy Vasquez across town in the Bronx, who has been bombed each and every time this season, there might be cause for more concern.
  Second, the Phillies hit four home runs last night.  Santana has given up four homers in a game only three times in his entire career, with two of them having been against Philadelphia (the other against the Yankees in 2009).  This is not something that happens often when Johan pitches, so to begin worrying about the rest of the season and the rest of Santana’s career is not only way premature, it’s also a tad ridiculous.
  Third, he just didn’t have his command last night.  He walked 47-year-old pitcher Jamie Moyer with two outs and the bases loaded.  In the same situation 10 times, Santana would probably retire Moyer nine times.  Last night happened to be the one time out of 10 where he didn’t get the job done.
  The Mets managed to take one game out of three against the Phillies in Philadelphia on the first weekend of May.  The team has still won 8 of their last 10 and are sitting near the top of what is looking like a very week National League.  A division championship isn’t out of the question, and the wild card is well within reach.
  Let’s see what happens in the next 25-30 games before we begin to write off the Amazins’.

NFL Predictions 2009

Well folks, here is what you've all been waiting for.  My predictions for the 2009 season!

NFC East

1.  Giants  2.  Redskins*  3.  Eagles  4.  Cowboys

NFC North

1.  Packers  2.  Vikings  3.  Bears  4.  Lions

NFC South

1.  Panthers  2.  Saints  3.  Falcons  4.  Bucs

NFC West

1.  Seahawks  2.  Cardinals*  3.  49ers  4.  Rams

AFC East

1.  Patriots  2.  Jets  3.  Dolphins  4.  Bills

AFC North

1.  Steelers 2.  Ravens*  3.  Bengals  4.  Browns

AFC South

1.  Colts  2.  Titans*  3.  Texans  4.  Jaguars

AFC West

1.  Chargers  2.  Broncos  3.  Chiefs  4.  Raiders

NFC Title Game

Packers over Giants

AFC Title Game

Steelers over Patriots

Super Bowl

Packers over Steelers

Coming Thursday!

NFL 2009 Predictions!