Is it really the Hall of Fame?

I just watched the 2014 MLB Hall of Fame inductions.  It's great hearing the induction speeches.  It brings back the little kid in you and the great memories you have of these great players and coaches.  It's right that Tom Glavine, Bobby Cox, Greg Maddux, Tony LaRussa and Frank Thomas all were inducted.  In some ways, having such a great 2014 class has made me a little bitter.  The non-induction of Barry Bonds has made me question everything MLB represents.  I won't mention the statistics or how Bonds numbers compare to other baseball players already in the Hall of Fame.  Teams walked him rather than pitch to him.  He was walked with the bases loaded, that's how great he was.  The shift on defense started as a way to get Bonds out, three infielders on one side of the diamond to take a hit away him.  He normally saw one good pitch to hit per at bat, but his numbers are only a part of his impact on the game of baseball.  You can make a case that the game of baseball was cheating him out of playing!  Yet, Bonds will never get in because of his attachment to steroids.

What Bonds did was cheating, or was it?  No doubt, he took performance enhancing drugs.  What he did was wrong, but he was doing what everyone else was doing.  Hard to say he was cheating when MLB knew what was going on.  How do you take away everything that happen in that era?  Do you just say that baseball didn't exist?  Everything that happened during this time happened, but MLB is not going to acknowledge it.  Don't get me wrong, there is no doubt Bonds numbers are tainted.  MLB has proud traditions, especially the revered Hall of Fame.  Can we prove Frank Thomas was clean?  Probably not, because he was never tested!  The Hall of Fame made exceptions for Frank Baker. Does Baker have an asterisk by his name because he played during the dead ball era? So the Hall of Fame does change the rules, when they want too.  A recent change is that now players can get in 10 years after they retire instead of 15 years.

How clean should players be?  Ty Cobb claimed to kill a drifter in 1912.  Tony La Russa was arrested with a DUI in 2007.  Bobby Cox hit his wife in 1995.  Yet, baseball writers who vote for the Hall of Fame want to talk about the integrity and character that it takes to get in.  Racists, drunks, cheats and drug users are also ok I guess.

A little history:  after the 1994-95 baseball strike, this so called Steroids era saved baseball.  The strike angered fans, and attendance in baseball dropped by 10 million!  Baseball never recovered until 1998, when the Mark McGwire and Slamming Sammy Sosa home run race took over the sports world.  Only then did attendance return to baseball.  MLB franchises went from 140 million in value in the 90's to 332 million by 2004!  When teams profited, the MLB looked the other way.  Yet, the Hall of Fame now wants to draw a line in the sand and make a stand?!  Gaylord Perry is in the Hall of Fame.  He admitted to using a spit ball while pitching, which was an illegal pitch.

Baseball wants to knit pick stats now.  In the NBA every court is 94 feet long and 50 feet wide, every basket is 10 feet high and the foul line is 18 feet and 10 inches from the baseline.  In the NFL every field is the same length, 120 yards long and 53 1/3 yards wide.  Ice Hockey rinks have the same dimensions, 200 ft long and 85 ft wide.  No two ballparks in the MLB are the same.  How can there ever be PURE records?!  If baseball wants perfection of their stats then every stadium should have the same dimensions.  In Pittsburg, the Crawford boxes are 315 feet from home plate!  Minute Maid Park in Houston has a hill in the outfield!  Fenway Park in Boston has a Green Monster in left field that is 36 feet high!  It's even more ridiculous to have trains, nightclubs, retractable roofs and swimming pools.  If you want REAL stats then every ball park should have the same dimensions.

Pete Rose bet on his own team and they won't let him in.  Everything Bonds did is erased because he took a substance that wasn't banned!  Why do the BBWAA sports writers hold all the cards to who gets in and who doesn't?  As a fan, Bonds deserves to be in.  Pete Rose deserves to be in.  Certain players should not be black balled.  These two players have had a real impact on baseball lore.  Playing the game the right way started with Pete Rose, aka Charlie Hustle.  Hitting mechanics included watching video of Bonds swing.  Babe Ruth is the King of Baseball, but what about the kind of competition he was playing against?  Bonds and Rose not being in the Hall of Fame doesn't punish them personally.  It's a black eye on MLB.  I will never go Cooperstown because it's a farce.  Asterisk or no asterisk, the Hall of Fame should be what it says it is.  A Hall of Fame.

Awesome!!!!

To Klay or not to PAY....

I will start off by saying that there is no way Klay Thompson will get a max contract.  A big reason for this is how he was used under the previous coach Mark Jackson.  So if he is looking for a big contract, now is his chance to show he is deserving.  Klay was used strictly as a  defensive stopper.  Normally he was guarding the other team's best guard.  On most nights, Jackson had him guarding the other team's point guard so Steph Curry didn't get tired.  This move allowed Curry to conserve his energy for offense and be the hero, where as Klay battled foul trouble and lack of production on offense.  Klay made Curry's end of the game heroics possible.  After signing Andre Iguodala, a first team defensive player, you would think that he would be assigned to do the dirty work.  Actually it was a role that Jackson had Thompson doing.  With Jackson leaving, the happiest player on the team has to be Klay.  Now he can go back to doing what he does best, which is scoring.  Maybe Jackson foresaw this and a defensive role was a way to hurt Klay's value.  No way does he get the deal he wants under Jackson!

Let's look at one of the comparable players who have gotten a max deal so far, Gordon Hayward.  Klay is a better shooter and a far better defender.  What Hayward has going for him is that he was utilized by the Jazz in their offense and was one of the leaders on the team.  No one knows if Klay can carry a team on his back.  Klay doesn't have the ball handling needed to make plays consistently for his team like Hayward has shown he can.  Rarely did Jackson run plays for Thompson, and when there was a play, it was just for him to catch and shoot or to post up a smaller guard.  Most of the offense for the Warriors was pick and role with Curry.  Klay would look real nice with the Spurs team oriented offense or playing alongside a play-making point guard.

Getting traded to the T-Wolves would help Klay get a max contract because he could expand his game a little more.  Maybe with the new coach, Steve Kerr, he can show his offensive capabilities a little more.  With Jackson he had no chance.  Now if I wanted to show my offensive talent, would I want to play with Steph Curry or would I want to play with Ricky Rubio?  I know playing with Rubio that I'm going to get the ball.  If I'm looking for a max deal and I'm Klay, I'm telling management that I want to be traded to the T-Wolves!  If I care about winning, I would just quiet my stance on wanting the max and just sign something for a little less and be happy as a role player in a  winning organization.

Now if Klay stays the defensive stopper for the Warriors and has the same role with Kerr as he did with Jackson, I don't see why he should get a max deal.  A defense stopper/spot up shooter goes for about 8 million a year, like Trevor Ariza received with the Houston Rockets.  A max contract is 15-18 million a year.  I look at a max player to have a big role on the team, an 18+ a night scorer.  No way can they, or should they, give Klay a max deal to be a role player.  If I'm Klay's agent I can agree to disagree that Klay is by far a better player than Gordon Hayward. Warriors on the other hand paying Klay to be a rotational player max money is a waste of money.  So give Klay a bigger role on the team or trade him. It's simple Warriors.

My favorite to come out of the EAST: Chicago Bulls

The new landscape of the NBA is still unclear, but a new favorite is already emerging.  I could possibly change my view with a new free agent signing or a big trade, but I can't ignore the moves the Chicago Bulls are making.  Losing out on the Carmelo Anthony sweepstakes couldn't possibly make them a strong contender, but it did!  I don't think Melo would have changed the way he plays to fit in with the Chicago Bulls.  It's better that he didn't sign with the team, because they were able to spend that money on Pau Gasol.  Gasol will fit in better and have good chemistry with the team.  In the Eastern Conference, having a true center and scorer on the low block will pay dividends come playoff time.  Yes the Bulls had problems scoring last season, and you want to plug in one of the best scorers of the game to fix that.  What the Bulls needed to do most importantly was to add depth.

Right away a healthy Derrick Rose completely changes the look of the team.  They had trouble scoring last year, but they were without the MVP.  Two years ago they had no problems scoring, and Rose was the engine of the team.  He was the playmaker and in no way did the Bulls have a replacement of making the players around him better.  They drafted well by getting Doug McDermott (aka Mr. Mc Buckets) an efficient, low volume scorer.  He will space the floor and is great playing without the ball, an absolute big plus.  Joakim Noah was Defensive Player of the Year last season, a great passing big man with a can't lose attitude.  Tony Snell, Jimmy Butler and Kirk Hinrich can be great role players and it helps that now they don't have to do too much.  Taj Gibson is hurt the most with The Pau Gasol addition, because I think he is a starter in this league.  However he will still get his minutes and continue to play at a high level.  They also signed European big man, Nikola Mirotic, a 6'10 player that can play small forward!  Another reason why it's a bonus to have Pau Gosol is that he can help Mirotic with his transition to the NBA and American culture.

Chicago Bulls basketball is defense.  Coach Tom Thibodeau places emphasis on defense first, as much as you would want to think Carlos Boozer was amnestied because of his contract.  The main factor was Boozer didn't fit in with the coach's defensive plan.  Most of the time Boozer never played in the fourth quarter at all.  It's another reason why I think Pau fits in with the Bulls better than Melo.  I just don't see Carmelo changing this late in his career to try to be a defensive stopper.  The low maintenance Pau Gasol might not be a great defender, but he will understand the defensive scheme better.  Also a change of scenery and criticism of Pau from Laker fans might give him a chance to show what he can really do.  Noah and Gasol could and hopefully will make a nice defensive force down low.

The East is wide open.  Lebron leaving just opened the door.  I don't see the Cleveland Cavs having enough to get to the finals.  I will leave it as... to be determined.  You never know what free agents will sign and what trades will be made in the future.  I can't say the Miami Heat got better or if they are still a playoff team.  The Indiana Pacers are still a good team, but the loss of Lance Stephenson hurts.  He really was the X factor of that team, and now they can only go as far as Roy Hibbert can take them.  A dominant Hibbert makes any team a contender.  Paul George also needs to dominate every night, not just when he is feeling good.  The Wizards are the biggest threat in the Eastern Conference.  They kept the core of their team together and added clutch shooter Paul Pierce.  I'm also a quiet Kris Humphries fan (on the basketball court).  I think he is a great rebounder and plays hard.  I think the Toronto Raptors were one year wonders and can see them not even making the playoffs next season.  The Atlanta Hawks are another team that I'm confused about.  They just didn't make any improvements in my opinion.  Staying put will get you Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley from TNT to say gone fishing!  They're a first round exit for sure.  The Charlotte Hornets made improvements, but I don't trust them as contenders just yet.

The Bulls have star power, with a player who can put the team on his back and win a game by himself in MVP Derrick Rose.  They have one of the best coaches in the NBA in Tom Thibodeau. Top defensive teams go far in the playoffs.  They now have the depth needed at every position, which will help in case someone gets injured.  With Lebron going to Cleveland, they now have a mental edge on all teams in the East.  They now believe that they have the most compete roster in the East as well as the best team.  Of course a lot of things still need to fall in place for them.  Most importantly, they are banking on the fact they will have Rose playing at his high MVP level.  Management sat him out all year to make sure he is 100% healthy.  They sat him out to go BIG in 2014/15.  I believe the windy city will sit atop of the Eastern Conference landscape when it's all said and done.  Chi-town STAND UP!  BOOM!

Mike Trout is the new ICON

It's the last season for Derek Jeter, Mr. Yankee.  Wow!  How hard is it to have two good years in the Major Leagues?  Jeter has had 20 of them!  20!  Not only is he respected by the people of NY, but also worldwide.  He should become the logo of the MLB, just as Jerry West is for the NBA.  It's been 20 years of playing the game the right way.  The Captain.  I have straight respect for Jeter doing the grind 20 years with unbelievable expectations.  It's unheard of in this day and age.  With the media putting him under a microscope, Jeter has remained clean in the locker room, off the diamond and with the ladies.  This guy deserves extra respect for surviving the pressure.  The stars of today get in the limelight and make sure they are seen.  Jeter has had the power of the limelight, and he has made sure he isn't seen.  He wants to be judged by his play on the diamond, and I can tip my hat to that. Respect.

At the All-Star game there was this un-ceremonial passing of the torch. Watching you could silently see a star for the next generation, not from one shortstop to another, but from one great player to another great player.  Center fielder Mike Trout is next in line.  The kid has a certain style to him, a bravado that says I'm the best and everyone knows it.  He portrays a brashness yet humbleness.  He's not cocky because he makes plays.  Like Jeter, he plays the game the right way.  So many other young star players have had a lot of hype the past 20 years.  Steven Strasburg, Bryce Harper, Barry Bonds, Albert Pujols and Ken Griffey Jr. are some of the biggest names.  Mike Trout is the only player who should be called 5 tooled.  Actually, he hits like the late Tony Gwynn and has the power of Bonds (albeit without the steroids)!  Trout exhibits the speed and base running of Rickey Henderson and plays defense like Ken Griffey Jr.  He is the face of his team like Chipper Jones was with the Braves.  Lastly, he has been an ironman and has stayed healthy like Cal Ripken Jr.  He has the 5 tools of baseball like Willie Mays, Andre Dawson and Duke Snider.  As much as the media talks about him, Trout is the one player that deserves even more attention.  Like Jeter, he lets his play on the diamond answer the hype.  I want to see Trout end up with the same kind of respect as Jeter.

You can hear the ball jump off of his bat, lightning striking when he swings and the crack of the bat. He is a blur turning a single into a double or a double into a triple.  On defense he makes a spectacular play look routine.  When he is on first he gives the pitcher a slight grin, because everybody knows he is going to steal and he won't be caught.  MLB now has its hero after the disheartening steroid era.  Baseball can't survive with good players having inconsistent careers.  One year a certain player has a breakout year, and the next year it seems the league has figured him out.  So far pitchers can't figure out Mike Trout.  The one thing Jeter has done to get the highest level of respect is that he won Championships.  As a Giant's fan, I can say that I hope the Angels win it all.  We all need to embrace what Mike Trout represents.  He is the future of baseball, of America's pastime.  I respect the Oakland A's with their money ball, analysis and platoon splits.  I respect the A's organization and Billy Beane being ahead of the curve.  Mike Trout is simply the best position player in baseball!

What about Miguel Cabrera?  He is a first baseman/DH and is a slightly better hitter.  He could be the most feared hitter in baseball, but Trout is the total package.  Trout plays a more premium position and can win a game with his legs.  What about Troy Tulowitzki?  He's a great player, when he actually plays.  Tulo also plays a premium position and is a dominant defender at short stop.  One knock against him is that he plays his home game at Coors Field, a hitter friendly park where offensive numbers can seem inflated.  However the number one knock on Tulo is that he can never stay healthy.  What about Yasiel Puig?  He's the closest player at the same level as Trout, in my opinion.  Puig can run, throw, has the power and hits for average.  But Puig's base running is holding him back.  I love the effort, but he just needs to play smarter.  Having 4/5 of the tools ain't bad.  What about Bryce Harper?  Harper has the talent to be just as good as Trout, but he just hasn't put it all together yet. The potential is there.  Trout has just done the amazing. The guy just refuses to struggle, and he's the one player without a weakness.

There has been a lot of good players the last 20 years and a lot of good seasons by certain players.  A lot of records have been broken.  Jeter has never won a MVP award, but he is still is a first ballot Hall of Famer.  Jeter wasn't just a good player, he was a GREAT player!  The best thing to ever happen to baseball was seeing Jeter on TV every night for the last 20 years.  Watching Jeter's every move, young baseball players across America saw what a great baseball player looks like and how they act.  They all wanted to be the next Jeter.  I'd say Trout is pulling a GREAT Jeter impersonation!  Much Respect Mike Trout.

What kind of runner are you?

How to spot a real runner.

• Will run and scan the road ahead of them
• Will sprint going down a hill
• Will wear a watch that beeps to set their pace
• Will wear bright red and neons to be seen and out of danger from cars
• Will see the finish line and sprint through the end
• Every run is a test to beat their best run
• Will run a marathon
• Will look at food as fuel and eat right, snack right
• When running don't have time to say hi or chit chat
• Don't care about weather conditions
• Will choose a challenging course to run

How to spot the part time runner

• Will be looking at the ground when they run
• Will rest going down an incline
• Will want to run with someone in worse shape
• Will wear just some old clothes found in the closet
• Will see the finish line and that is when they allow themselves to stop running
• Will reward themselves a trip to Mc Donald's after they finish running
• Will try to talk to everyone they see while running
• Will wear an iPod, but spend more time changing songs than running
• Will take more time stretching before workout than actual time running
• Will practice the half run and half walk method 

State of the Union: Lakers

What is going on with the L.A. Lakers?  Jeremy Lin is now officially the second best player on the team!  Let's hope the change of scenery helps Lin and that the Lakers get the NY Knicks Lin and not the Houston Rockets Lin.  At least I can say Lin plays hard.  What I don't understand is the Laker's buying 4 more years of Swaggy P.  Nick Young, aka Swaggy P, is the polar opposite of everything Kobe believes in.  Denis Rodman had his antics, but you could accept him because he was a great rebounder and played his role.  Don't get me wrong Swaggy P has talent, but he is loved more for his mistakes than actual talent.

You need role players who complement your star player.  Nick Young makes Kobe Bryant's job even harder when it comes to winning games.  Then you have Steve Nash who admitted that he would retire, but he hasn't because he doesn't want to lose out on his 10 million dollar free check next season.  I'm not making this stuff up. He admits he is just it in for the millions, not winning or anything like that.  I want to put my finger on the moment when everything went wrong.

The big sign was when Dwight Howard wanted no part in returning to the Lakers.  He took less money, not to walk but run away from the Lakers.  I thought he was crazy, but maybe there is something serious going on with the Lakers that no one knows about.  No good player seems to want to play with Kobe.  The Lakers have to make a trade to get players to come.  Management doesn't listen to what Kobe thinks.  How many coaches have they signed that don't get along with the Mamba that is Kobe?

Just what in the world happened to the Lakers?  Jerry Buss dying is what happened (RIP)!  He was the owner with a businessman mentality.  He knew how to negotiate and knew what it took to put ego's aside and make deals.  He wanted Phil Jackson he got Phil Jackson. He wanted Shaq he got Shaq.

The Lakers of today are just using the 16 NBA Titles and 9 retired jersey's as tactics to get players to sign.  It just seems like they have no idea what they are doing.  I don't care what anybody says, Jerry Buss would never sign Swaggy P!  Jerry Buss would have showed Dwight the attention he needed and gotten him to stay.  Everybody left:  from Jerry Buss to Jerry West to Phil Jackson.  Nobody knows who is running the team.  I can't remember a Lakers team with this many bad players.  They didn't make the playoffs, and they have no sense of urgency to even climb back to the top.  I want to call them and say:

 "Hey Laker's Management, do you know your center is Robert Sacre?"

 "How can you let Pau Gasol leave?!"

I'm not saying Pau is great, but compared to Sacre, Pau is Wilt Chamberlain.  Who is your Plan A to replace Pau?  Who has that answer Lakers people?  Jerry Buss wouldn't let this madness happen.

Kobe is how old?  And he missed the whole season with what kind of injury?  And you followed that by paying him again how much?  Don't worry I will answer your thoughts right now.  Kobe is 35, and he had his season cut short the last TWO years with injuries.  The first injury was two years ago, a torn achilles tendon.  This was followed by torn knee ligaments last season.  The Lakers gave him a two year deal for 48.5 million dollars!  Giving that kind of money to Kobe, I can see why Sacre is Plan A and is all they can afford at center.  Nope, this is very wrong.  Then they executed Plan B, which was giving Jordan Hill a two year contract for 9 million a year.  Again, I'm not making this stuff up.

The Lakers never built a team just to make the playoffs.  They have always been purple and gold contenders, and they are a storied franchise.  Under Jerry Buss it was Championship or bust every year.  When they lost without a Championship they used it as motivation and spent the offseason reloading.  The Lakers of today are doing more subtracting then adding of good players.

What happened to the Lakers:  Jeremy Lin the second best player on the team, Swaggy P and his no desire to win basketball games, Robert Sacre the starting center?!  Did I mention that they haven't even hired a coach yet?  Somewhere in L.A. Jerry Buss is turning over in his grave.

Tittles...Who cares? Happiness...All in!

How many of us, no matter how old we are, still want to be held by their parents?  There is just a comfort zone of love given by your parents that no one else can give you.  Best believe that Lebron has this relationship with the city of Cleveland.  Playing with his best friend, D Wade, had nothing on the love of being back in Cleveland.

Lebron is coming back home, but now what?  Will he accept the team still losing?  There are a lot of moves that still have to be made.  I think it's now even more exciting what comes next for the Cavs:  what players they will keep or trade and what free agent moves will be made.  One thing for sure, Lebron knows how to dominate the basketball world!  Jordan didn't care who was on his team.  Whatever the short comings were, he knew he just had to raise his game.  Does Lebron have that mindset now?  He won't be caught up in success or failure.  He is back to being a kid who loves the game of basketball.

Lebron will still get his maximum contract, but he will also have peace of mind for the first time in four years.  He won his championship and won his awards, but he also hurt the people who meant the most to him.  The people who watched him grow from a boy to a man.  As successful as he has been, he still felt unhappy inside with the move to Miami backlash.  Lebron truly is just tired of being the vilian.  King James is a super hero.  You can't strive for greatness and have your true fans hate you!  The fans of Miami didn't care about Lebron as a person.  He was an object that the rich power players of Miami just wanted a photo with, and it left him empty and his talents taken for granted.

As many rings that Kobe has, it's safe to say that he has never come close to the following that Lebron has.  As a player you play for the fans, and it's that home court advantage.  You make that game winning shot because you don't want to let your fans down.  It's for that kid wearing your jersey and for that fan in the nose bleed seats holding a sign that says Lebron is the best.  It's for that celebrity sitting in the front row paying thousands to watch you play.  You play to make your family proud.  You play for the love of the game.  I think that in Miami Lebron just wasn't having fun on the court anymore.  Winning was a curse, and in Miami he felt like it was a job.  Success can sometimes equal failure.

Where does D Wade end up after this news?  Will it be his turn to follow Lebron to Cleveland now? Did Lebron tell him I will come to Miami for 4 years and then you can come to Cleveland for 4?  Was that the master plan?  It's tough to play for Miami now.  How does Shabazz Napier feel?  Would Danny Granger and Josh Mc Robberts have signed if Lebron wasn't there?  I think Erik Spoelstra just had a heart attack.  How much will the team lose in sponsorships?  Does it even matter!  Lebron went home.  How many other athletes were tuned into the Lebron watch.  Not just free agents, not just basketball players, but the whole world seemed to stop until Lebron made his choice.

This is what free agency is all about!  As much as I want to talk about Chandler Parsons making 15 million for the next 3 years with the Mavericks, it's much better to talk about the positive vibes coming out of Cleveland now.  The Browns take Johnny Football, and Lebron comes back home. What's next?!  Albert Belle coming back to the Indians?!  I'm happy that I predicted Lebron choosing Cleveland, and now my word of advice for him is too stay healthy!  A bigger blow is not Lebron choosing the Lakers or going back to Miami, but for him to choose Cleveland and battle injuries for the rest of his contract with the team.  Good Luck and Godspeed.