Perfection gained through imperfect means

The 2010 Major League Baseball playoffs are only a day old and already the magic has been ignited.

Yesterday, Roy Halliday of the Philadelphia Phillies fired a no-hitter, only the second of its kind to ever happen during the postseason. The first being Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series.

This was also Halliday's second no-no of the year, he had previously thrown a perfect game against the Marlins in May.

But in a strange way, Doc Halliday's no-hitter felt even more special than his perfect game and not simply because it was a postseason game as opposed to an early-season contest against a weaker opponent.

Certainly a perfect game is the ultimate pitching masterpiece. To be so focused and so on your game that you face 27 batters and retire all of them without surrendering a hit, a walk or an error is the greatest accomplishment a pitcher can ever achieve or strive for.

But Halliday's no-no was different, better even, because of the situation and the meaning that can be derived from it.

Yes obviously it's special because it's only the second time in postseason history that its happened but it's also special because it shows us that while we often fall short in our own quests for perfection in everything we do that doesn't make the ultimate result any less remarkable. Perfection is something to strive for yes but almost impossible to reach and it's important to take a step back and admire the fact that while we aren't always perfect, the things we do achieve are special.

Edwards arrested but will play...blame the CBA

By now most football fans know that Jets wideout Braylon Edwards was arrested and arraigned on drunken-driving charges stemming from an incident on Tuesday where he was stopped on Manhattan's West Side around 5 a.m. Edwards, who was in the car with two other players and a fourth passenger, was given a breathalizer and blew more than twice the legal limit.

At a glance it seems like this would be yet another situation where NFL Commissioner, aka Judge, Roger Goodell would come down on Edwards with a hefty fine and suspension. At the very least the expectation would be that the Jets themselves take some form of disciplinary action. Unfortunately neither is going to happen, at least until the legal process runs it's course.

The reason is the current Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NFL and the NFL Players Association. According to the CBA, Edwards actions and subsequent arrest fall under the league's substance abuse policy. As such the only penalty that Edwards is currently eligible for is a forfeiture of half a game's pay. The Jets cannot suspend Edwards, nor can they deactivate him for Sunday's game against the Dolphins. In fact, they cannot even keep him active but refuse to play him. In short, Edwards will not only be in uniform on Sunday, but he will be on the field catching passes from Mark Sanchez.

Whatever happened to accountability? Forget the fact that Edwards is an idiot. Forget that the NFL has a contract with a company, that Edwards refused to use, that will provide transport to any player, anywhere, anytime, to any place. Why is this allowed to happen? The NFL and the NFLPA already have severe disciplinary actions in place for other offences. Why was drunk driving allowed to slip on through?

This isn't even the first time in recent memory that a player got into trouble for drinking and driving. A few years ago Donte Stallworth had a few too many to drink, got behind the wheel and killed someone. He was suspended for one season and one season only. At the very least he was very up front with his regret and refused to fight any charges against him and accept his punishment. Ok, but why did he feel like it was ok to get behind the wheel in the first place, better yet, why wasn't the NFL harsher on him?

Edwards should have known better, the two other players in the vehicle with him should have known better. But until the Goodell and the NFLPA pull their head's out of their backsides and really make an effort to change the culture that seemingly fosters this sort of behavior more and more incidents like this are going to happen. Hopefully change comes before another innocent life is lost.

Where does it end?

I made a big mistake today. I started looking around the various ticket exchange websites to see how much Patriots tickets might cost for later in the season. Not surprisingly they were expensive, over $90 on StubHub and around $70 on the NFL.com ticket exchange website.

But I wasn't all that surprised, NFL tickets are expensive because they are in high demand since there is only 8 home games every season.

My mistake came however when on a whim I decided to check out how much Giants tickets are. The answer, over $150 per ticket. Enter rage.

Of all the good things about the NFL the unreasonably high ticket prices are the biggest thing to hate about the NFL. No care or concern is given to the fans when team's set their prices, especially when a new stadium is being opened.

The NFL is a multi-billion dollar business and yet we, the fans, have to suffer. As ticket prices go up the true, blue-collar fans. The ones for whom the game should be played, are pushed out of stadiums and forced to watch games at homes. Even long-time season-ticket holders are shown not a shred of loyalty as they are forced into forking over tens of thousands of dollars just for the right to possibly purchase tickets (yes I'm talking about PSL's).

Owners will sit there and say that tickets need to be priced as high because demand is high. Or that they need the ticket prices to be high to fund the team's operations. But even an untrained monkey would be smart enough to see through the BS and realize that these utter morons are simply used to living a certain way and need money to fund their mansions, helicopters and expensive parties. Why else would they cater almost solely to the wealthy. Meanwhile we, the real fans, are left out in the cold.

We're also told that if we don't pay to go to games, spending upwards of $400 alone on tickets (for a family of four), and the stadium does not sell out we won't even be able to watch our hometown boys on TV because of the NFL's antiquated and unfair blackout policy. Yes — you read right — if a stadium is not sold out within 72 hours of a game the game gets blacked out in the local TV market. That happened seven times last year and early projections see it happening around 28 times this year...a 400 percent increase.

And now the owners are considering locking out the players next season if no new collective bargaining agreement is reached proving once again just how out of touch those arrogant jack asses really are. I suppose there is one good thing to come out of a lock out or strike though — at least fans won't completely break their bank trying to go to take their family to a game.

The little guy ain't so little anymore

All Hail Division I-AA!
All Hail the FCS!
The tyranny of Division I-A is over!

Ok, so maybe its not. But after the "little guys," from James Madison University, a small school in mid-Virginia, upset supposed national title contender Virginia Tech this past weekend it's clear that it doesn't always matter how big your football program is or how much money you have; at the end of the day football is football, there are winners and losers and sometimes the loser is going to be the "better team."

I've always felt that Division I-AA teams were always looked on with a sort of casual indifference by the experts, too good for Division II but not good enough to be classed with the so-called elite. But more and more it's proven that the I-AA teams can be just as good as the I-A teams if not better.

Maybe it's a question of the lower level teams want it more, they have nothing to lose while the bigger teams treat the contest as a cupcake game. It's a tried and true method of the I-A teams, schedule lower level games to bolster you're own records while granting the "little guy," with some prime-national exposure, or embarrassment. Bottom line, they don't take the game seriously.

But they should and some are taking notice. Last week the Big East extended an offer to my alma mater, the defending FCS Champion Villanova Wildcats, to move up to the next level and join the football side of the conference (most other Nova sports including basketball are already part of the Big East). Villanova probably won't join as it'll require too much change to the athletic landscape on campus but at least the big boys are starting to realize that there's a lot of talent and excitement to be had at I-AA.

Odds are though most I-A teams will continue to schedule games against the lower level assuming it'll be an easy win and while most times that's true, I'll still advise those teams to not be so quick to assume an easy victory.

What I will do is guarantee that team's like Michigan (after an epic loss to Appalachian State) and now Virginia Tech will never make that mistake again.

Questionable motives

As a Red Sox fan I've tried not to question the decisions of the team's front office, namely general manager Theo Epstein, all that often. Sure he's made some bad calls (trading Bronson Arroyo for Willy Mo Pena, signing Daisuke Matsuzaka etc.) but he's also made some great decisions, World Series winning decisions (acquiring Curt Schilling, trading Nomar etc.).

Now however I'm left seriously questioning his decision to claim Johnny Damon off waivers. Remember this is the Johnny Damon who left Boston, and his godliness, behind for $12 million of slightly greener pastures in New York when the Sox were prepared to offer him a more than reasonable contract. More importantly this is the Johnny Damon who has struggled all year for Detroit.

Epstein's rationale — to prevent him from going to the Rays or back to the Yankees.

First, to educate those who may not know, after the July 31st non-waiver trading deadline, in order for players to be traded they must go on waivers for a period of 10 days. During that time any team may lay claim to them and it is then up to that players team to decide whether or not they want to trade them. Once that 10-day period elapses the team is free to trade that player to whomever they like. Often times, teams will claim players to prevent them from going to a rival as is the case with Damon.

But there in lies the danger, the Red Sox want nothing to do with Damon as a player, or at least they shouldn't. His skills are diminished and there is little he could likely contribute but because of the claim they could very well wind up saddled with him and his salary. Granted, Damon has a no-trade clause and he could block any trade himself, but what if he doesn't and he allows something to go through? Then the Sox are stuck with a washed up outfielder.

What really makes this move questionable and less than desirable is the fact that the Sox, though not mathematically eliminated are likely going to be on the outside looking in come playoff time. With so many injuries and a shaky pitching staff why would they want to risk trading younger talent for a guy who won't matter in the end? Better question, instead of trying to block a guy from going to a rival, why didn't the Red Sox try to acquire some talent before the deadline, another bat, more pitching, anything that could have made a difference?

Theo should have just kept his mouth shut and let this one go. It's not worth the risk.

"Stupid old men and their stupid old rules"

I don't know what it is but this has not been a good week for sports officials. Blown calls, bad calls, poor decisions this week has, unfortunately, had it all.

It started Sunday with the final round of the PGA Championship. On the 18th hole Dustin Johnson shanks his drive into the crowd on the right and finds his way into a seemingly innocuous patch of sand that had been trampled by the weekend crowds. He plays out the hole as one normally would making bogey and seemingly forcing a three-way playoff for the championship.

Oh but wait! As it turns out that seemingly innocuous patch of sand wasn't so innocuous, it was in fact a bunker, one of many so-called "waste bunkers" throughout the course. And, clearly not realizing that, Johnson grounded his club as he was taking his practice swings (essentially he put his club into the sand before swinging) which resulted, after about 15 minutes of review, in a two-stroke penalty taking him out of competition.

The PGA's official response was that postings had been made all throughout the week in the locker room that anything that was a bunker or a hazard prior to the start of the tournament was to remain so during the actual play regardless of any cosmetic changes caused by people and/or vehicles. Basically they attempted to cover their own backsides.

There are those that would argue that the officials should have waived that rule given the situation and the circumstances, end of the final major, final group, didn't really gain any advantage etc. There are others who say Dustin should have just known better or there are others, like my girlfriend, who accurately pointed out that he actually grounded his club twice and should have been penalized four strokes, while mumbling about stupid old men and their stupid old rules.

My problem with this situation boils down to two things, the first is that the PGA should have known this was a potential problem and simply deemed that all hazards outside the ropes, or outside the "field of play," were not to be seen as hazards and played normally. The other issue is the only reason why Dustin got penalized was because he was on television as the final group, had this happened to someone earlier in the day who finished in the middle of the pack nothing would have happened, why, because he wouldn't have been on TV.

That was one issue.

The other happened in last night's Yankee/Tigers game. In the bottom of the first Detroit's pitcher plunked Brett Gardner in retaliation for an excessively hard slide into second the day before. Fine, the players police themselves and that's the end of it. But no not really, the home plate umpire Eric Cooper comes out and issues a warning to both benches meaning that the next pitcher to hit a batter in the game is going to be thrown out, as is that pitcher's manager.

Before I go any further let me just say that there is no need to warn anybody. As I said, the players need to police themselves and that will be the end of it.

Things got worse later in the game though. After hitting two home runs Miguel Cabrera is up against the Yankees' Chad Gaudin. Gaudin, after a few pitches, plunks Cabrera on the back, fairly obviously on purpose. Cooper does nothing, Tigers manager Jim Leyland argues the entire rest of the inning, and rightfully so, and gets thrown out for his troubles. Next inning Enrique Gonzalez for the Tigers throws behind Derek Jeter, also clearly on purpose, and again Cooper does nothing.

Ok, you shouldn't have warned the benches in the first place but once you did you had to uphold your own ruling. By not doing so you've not only made a mockery out of the rulebook your supposed to enforce, but you've also made a mockery of yourself and shown that you have no credibility and are an embarrassment.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, there needs to be accountability for officials who screw up. They need to be fined, suspended, put on probation, anything to make them actually do their jobs the right way and not be lazy.

Texas Two-Step

Who ever said chivalry is dead? A women identified only as Sarah apparently.

Sarah, along with boyfriend, known as Bo, found herself at Minute Maid Park for a Houston Astros game this past Monday on what seemed like a pleasant evening for a wonderful date at the ballpark.

Yet somehow she just knew that the night would take a turn for the worse. According to an interview on Astros.com, Sarah said that after arriving at their seats she turned to Bo and said, "Baby I just know we're going to get hit," referring of course to an errant foul ball, to which Bo naturally replied, "No I'll catch it."

Of course he would. As Sarah's un-luck would have it, in the fourth inning Chris Johnson ripped a foul ball right at Sarah and, rather than defend his lady-love, Bo proved he was not much of a beau and danced out of the way allowing the rocketing projectile an unimpeded path right into Sarah's arm. Bo's excuse, blame it on the lights. He claimed that he lost it in the lights! Sorry big guy but only professional outfielders can use that excuse when they make an embarrassing error.

To Sarah's credit, she escaped with only a bruise, a ball, and undoubtedly a sheepishly apologetic boyfriend. So boys, take note, if you take your girlfriend/fiance/wife to a game and a ball happens to rocket at her face, make the sacrifice, take one for the team if you will because a broken hand is much better than a broken heart.

Remember when

So admittedly after posting my last blog I was feeling a tad depressed and hoped that something would happen later that night in the sports world that would bring me out of my funk. And while I didn't happen to catch anything in an actual game I did find a certifiable treasure in the basement of my girlfriend's grandmother's house.

We had gone over for dinner and somehow during conversation the topic of golf came up. They all know I'm an avid golfer and I'm teaching my girlfriend to play and as it turns out they all golfed in the past as well. At one point my girlfriend's grandmother mentions that she, and her sister, probably still have their old clubs somewhere in the basement.

She added that they just weren't any clubs, they were old-style, wooden-shaft clubs that, as it turns out, were over 60-years-old. As soon as dinner was over I, barely able to contain my excitement, and my girlfriend trekked down to the cellar to see them. And it would be fair to say I was like a kid in a candy store. I had always wanted to hold an old style club and I was amazed at just how good of a condition they were in. It was a moment that completely brought me out of my earlier sports depression and I decided then and there that we would try to restore them as keepsakes and heirlooms.

Here are some pictures of our find.


An iron. Note the dots in the club head as opposed to today's style of grooves



A full shot of the iron. Amazingly the wood is in great condition and only needs some polish. The heads have a bit of rust on them but nothing major.



This is where the expression "Hitting it on the screws," was born. A metal plate was screwed into the wooden club head and making contact where the screws were placed meant you were hitting the ball with the sweet spot generating the most distance and accuracy.

The messy just gets messier

For all the good feelings that sports provide there are some days that just make you sit back, cringe, and question why are you even a sports fan.

Today has been one of those days.

Normally one of the first things I do after I get to the office in the morning is check out ESPN.com to check the scores and news from the overnight hours but on this particular morning my plate was full. So I take care of what I need to take care of and finally get to log onto the site and what am I graced with?

A giant image of an emotional Brett Favre walking off the field last season with the headline "The final goodbye...?" Yes apparently Captain Indecisive himself had decided to "retire," for a third time after reportedly texting friends throughout the league saying "this is it."

So here we go again, Brett dragging all the attention onto him with the will he or won't he actually retire after 19 seasons of professional football. Honestly I'm trying really hard not to care (which is hard because apparently ESPN is holding a Brett Favre "special" edition of SportsCenter at 3:30). It makes me sick to see this happen again and to see everyone just eating out of Favre's hand.

I've never cared if he wants to still play, he's still got the skills so that's fine, just don't do this again because it's getting old. I can only hope that if he does in fact come back he gets the same treatment the Saints gave him in the NFC Championship game next year.

Now normally a story like that alone would be enough to make my skin crawl But apparently ESPN is running a two-for-one special today. Once I got over my dry heaves from the Favre nonsense I saw this little nugget amongst the other headlines: "LeBron ad thanks Akron, but Cleveland absent."

It would seem that Mr. James took out a full-page ad in his hometown paper thanking his fans there for all the support but made no mention whatsoever about the city who treated him like a king for nearly a decade. True Cleveland fans, and owners, may have gone a bit overboard in vilifying LeBron. But I can understand the sentiment given the way in which James dragged the city through the mud during the whole free agency process including the disgusting display showcased by ESPN during "The Decision."

And no, James doesn't really owe the city anything but I would have hoped had the courage to be man enough to try and heal the rift he had a big hand in creating.

So yes, this truly is a day that makes me embarrassed to be a sports fan but I'll take a little solace in the fact that something exciting will probably happen during the rest of the day to soothe my fragile ego.

Oh Dickey your so fine...

If you read my last blog you'll see that I, by no stretch of the imagination, am even remotely close to being a fan of the New York Mets. Aside from a guy like a Mike Piazza the players on the team, the managers and the front office people have always just irked me — and they still do, especially today.

Yesterday, off the back of Wednesday's 8-7 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, the Mets salvaged the series finale winning 4-0 thanks to the efforts of R.A. Dickey, a 35-year-old knuckleballer in his first season with the Mets.

I'm not bothered that they won, partly because they can't lose every game but mostly because Dickey is a great story. Coming up to the majors initially with Texas as a part of the draft class of 1996, Dickey was a conventional pitcher with an unconventional problem; he was missing is ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow, more commonly known as his Tommy John ligament. According to Rangers physicians, Dickey shouldn't have been able to turn a door knob without pain much less pitch. Still Dickey took to the hill in 2004 for Texas and enjoyed modest success as a conventional pitcher but not enough to amount to a long career.

So, with the desire to compete still burning Dickey spent two years reinventing himself as a knuckler because there is no stress on the arm with that particular pitch. And eventually after kicking around several teams Dickey seems to have found a home in New York where he is now 7-4 with an ERA close to 2.00.

So with this feel-good story what do I have to be irked about? The answer is simply management's treatment of Dickey, particularly that of manager Jerry Manuel.
All season long Manuel has found a way in comments and interviews to backhand Dickey, even after wins Manuel finds something to fault him for. Mostly it seems because Manuel's arrogance won't let him accept that knuckleball pitcher could be consistently successful (despite the fact that, in his prime, Tim Wakefield was one of the better pitchers in baseball).

But it was yesterday's comments that really made my anger boil over. In commenting after the game Manuel said that he didn't realize that Dickey was such a competitor.

Are you kidding me?

The guy has been one of your best and most consistent pitchers all year. Forget Johan, forget Pelfrey, the Mets top guy has been Dickey. And you are just know realizing that he's a competitor? Wow Jerry way to backhand a guy. Furthermore, how could you not realize that if he weren't such a competitor he probably wouldn't even be there to pitch for you. You're the manager, you're supposed to know these things and see these things.

Hopefully though justice will be served and after this year Dickey will get a nice contract and Manuel will, fingers crossed, be fired.

My advice for Mets fans

While waiting at the drive through at Taco Bell for my lunch I tuned into WFAN and caught a little bit of Beningo and Roberts yacking about the abysmal state of the New York Mets and what, after the standard good start and then prompt collapse, must be done to salvage the season.

Beningo, the seeming voice of reason, appeared resigned to the Mets ultimate fate of yet again missing the playoffs despite the loud overtures earlier in the season that this was "the year."

Roberts, refusing to accept fate, launched into a tirade demanding the Mets "Do SOMETHING," to get back on track. He argued for the firing of manager Jerry Manuel, even though this recent collapse is not entirely his fault, to the firing of hitting coach Howard Johnson, a tactic the Phillies tried late last week before promptly scoring a quartet of consecutive wins.

He even suggested the Mets go after some of the big names that could potentially be on the move before the looming Trade Deadline.

The simple truth though is Mets fans really should just accept that this is a lost season. They aren't catching the Braves for the division and shouldn't come within a stone's throw of the Wild Card and here's why:

1) Yes teams who have fired their managers mid-season often get a spark and win games. But the teams that actually carry that the whole season are the teams that are extremely talented to begin with and only tailed off because of some sort of locker room issues with the manager. And honestly who are you going to get to come in and light a fire? Bob Melvin, sorry, that doesn't frighten me, Bobby Valentine? He's probably the only guy out there with the personality to reinvigorate the Mets but I find it funny that Mets fans want a guy back who they practically ran out of town the last time around.

2) The Mets can't and won't get any big name players in a trade. Sure they could try and they probably should just to save face. But who is going to wave a no-trade clause to come to the Mets? Certainly not a guy like Roy Oswalt who is likely to entertain serious offers from real contenders like the Phillies, the Cardinals, Dodgers and, yes, the Yankees. Beyond that, who are the Mets going to put up as trade bait? Their only players worth anything they desperately need and the rest of the guys are average at best and miserable at worst (see Oliver Perez).

3) THEY JUST AREN'T THAT GOOD! And nothing they do will fix that for this season. No one will question that a guy like Jason Bay has been a huge disappointment and is certainly having one of the worst seasons of his career. Jose Reyes has been playing well as has David Wright, Ike Davis and Angel Pagan. But the rest of the team with its Carlos Beltran's, though in his defense he is coming off an injury, and Louis Castillo's there really isn't much to get excited about. The starting pitching, Johan Santana aside has been surprisingly good but even that is starting to taper off and the bullpen is, well, laughable at the best of times.

No, what the Mets need to do, really do, is play out the season, fire Omar Minaya and the rest of his staff, get some new blood in and take a chance in the free-agent market while trying to dump some dead-weight salary. If that doesn't happen then the Mets will just continue to be what they've been the past few years, only the third best team in the division.

A few simple truths

How many of your have ever heard the expression "you can do anything you put your mind to?"

My guess is most of you.

Now, better question — how many of you actually believe that?

I'm going to say not many do.

It seems that in this society we are conditioned to believe we can do anything while we're young, only to have the same people that told us that turn around when we are older and say, "give it up, have a realistic dream."

It's a difficult blow to take for sure, and more than a difficult thing to hear but readers take heart — it doesn't have to be that way.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to interview a 28 year old assistant teaching professional at a local country club in Greenwich named Danny Balin.

Balin, a member of the Professional Golf Association, recently qualified, along with 20 other club pro's from across the nation, for the PGA Championship being held in mid-August at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin.

That in itself is not remarkable as it happens every year that club pro's get the chance to rub elbows with the superstars of the PGA Tour in "the season's final major." But what is remarkable is Balin chose not to take the easy path after college and decided to move away from his Maryland home to come up to the metropolitan area, long considered to be one of the premier regions to learn and play the game, to peruse his golfing dreams.

He knew that he wanted to be in the sports industry after college and wanted to make money as an athlete and saw that golf was a great option. He also knew that it wouldn't be easy, since he had only just seriously began playing the game, but he knew what he wanted and was willing to do anything to achieve it. When people told him to give up, that he didn't have the game to make it to the top, he only worked harder and is now reaping the rewards.

Balin has shown that no dream is worth giving up. Yes it takes a willingness to work and you have to be willing to sacrifice certain aspects of your life but the end result is more than worth it.

So the next time someone tells you to give up on a seemingly impossible dream, remember Danny Balin, a man who refused to listen to his critics, a man who was willing to work, and a man who, come August, will be performing at the pinnacle of his profession.

Thank God that's over

There are few worse days for a sports fan than the day after the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. It is, in fact, the only time of year when none of the four major professional sports are active.
Heck — even golf is in between tournaments.
So with little to watch, listen to, talk about, what is a sports fan to do?
The answer, surprisingly enough is to watch, listen to and talk about sports.
Name me one other occasion where we as sports fans can take our collective breath and try to make sense of the flurry of sports activity we've seen over the past few months. From champions crowned to perfect (and one not-so-perfect) games, to the loss of legends like Bob Sheppard and The Boss we rarely get the chance to take all the insanity and make sense of what we are seeing.
We also get the opportunity to explore things that we don't often have the time, or willingness to indulge in, like Minor League Baseball.
Sure most of those guys won't make it to the bigs but they still play great ball and the games are still entertaining. Just last night as I was driving home from my girlfriend's house I tuned into a Brooklyn Cyclones Single-A game. And it was fun to listen to the commentators talk about these young kids, fresh out of high school and college because, you just never know, some day you might hear those names again.
In the end though, I am, and I'm sure most sports fans are as well, glad the break is over because now the real excitement begins with the official start of the pennant race. Fans also can now truly begin to look forward to the start of NFL training camp and so many other great sporting events to come.
So sports fans, I hope you enjoyed your siesta because we're, thankfully, in for a wild ride the rest of the summer.