Sports Today

This weekend we had another major league baseball player reach the 500 save plateau when Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera joined the elite club with all time saves leader Trevor Hoffman (571) to become the only two that have reached that milestone.
I beg to ask, is it really such an unbelievable landmark with the way the game of baseball is now played?
Relief pitchers in today’s era including Lee Smith (478) and John Franco (424) have no earthy idea of what the real ‘Firemen’ of days gone had to endure to record a save.
With how baseball has become so compartmentalized, with short relievers, setup men and the so-called closers, Rivera, Hoffman, Franco and Smith for the most part will never endure the fires Tug McGraw, Bruce Sutter, Goose Gossage or Rollie Fingers (just to name a few) had to extinguish.
I can remember watching games in the 70’s or 80’s where McGraw, Sutter, Gossage or Fingers would enter the contest as early as the 8th inning and sometimes in the 7th depending of the severity of the fire on the field.
Nowadays, whether it’s Francisco Rodriguez (Mets), Troy Percival (Rays) or Rivera, the closer generally will not enter the game until he needs to record the last three outs to pick up the save.
If he does enter the game in the 8th inning to get one out, announcers go crazy that the closer is called on for a four-out save – as seen on Sunday night when Rivera did just that against the Mets to notch his 500th.
Another misdeed noticed - even if the setup man entered the game in the 8th and recorded each out without a misstep, 29 of 30 managers will bring in the closer for the final inning even with a three-run lead in some cases….And this still goes down as a save for the closer.
The closers or firemen I remember were not called into the game to start an inning they were called in to end the inning or the game.
Typically McGraw, Sutter, Gossage or Fingers entered the game with runners on base, sometimes the bases loaded with no outs and protecting a one-run lead.
Sure they failed sometimes, but when they put out the fire they really earned a save.

The untimely deaths of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson got me thinking about the decades they covered in my life, much of my early years of the 60’s, 70’s, and my early twenty’s in the 80’s.
We’ve all heard of the ‘old wives tale’ that death comes in three’s, I’ve never really bought into that but I must say it was right on this time with McMahon’s demise coming first, followed by Fawcett and Jackson, better known as the King of Pop several hours after the beauty queen of 70’s stardom.
McMahon and Jackson brought me through my early years in the mid to late 60’s and of course it had me thinking about sports which was a major part of my early life and still is.
The most memorable thing to me about McMahon was him as the sidekick to Johnny Carson, not that I watched Carson that much but my parents did, and who could ever forget his memorable voice crooning of “Heeeeeeeere’s Johnny,” to open the show.
Jackson also hit the big time in the late 60’s more specifically 1969 with his brothers and their early hits like, I’ll Be There, I Want You Back and The Love You Save.
I remember 1969 so well because that was the year of the Miracle Mets who came into that memorable season as huge underdogs but went on to win the World Series by beating the overwhelming favorite Baltimore Orioles.
What a year!
McMahon and Jackson were with us through the 70’s and then the beautiful Farrah Fawcett appeared on the scene in 1976 as Jill Munroe in Charlie’s Angels.
I must say I never missed an episode of her with Kate Jackson and Cheryl Ladd, I could not choose between her and Ladd as to who was better looking so I settled for both.
Those years of the mid-70’s cannot be forgotten sports wise either because those were the years the hated New York Yankees were holding off the Kansas City Royals and dominating baseball.
Of course you could not live in New York City and be a Mets and Yankee fan at the same time, so I loved the Mets and hated the Yankees.
Those were tough years!
The superstar trio was with us into the 80’s as Jackson shook the world with his Thriller album, McMahon was the host of Star Search which I watched, and Fawcett was in a ground breaking movie at the time called the Burning Bed.
The 80’s was better for me sports wise as well with the Mets beating the Boston Red Sox in another miracle finish that some could not believe Bill Buckner missed the infamous ground ball.
Sure, Jackson, McMahon and Fawcett went through their personal struggles in the 90’s and beyond until their deaths, however, this is how I will choose to remember the trio.
Those great sports moments when each was in the prime of their respective careers.

Can someone explain to me Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy’s rationale for burying Rafer Alston aka 'Skip to my Lou' on the bench during the Lakers four games to one NBA Finals victory?
The New York City street ball legend showed up in Game 3 to score 21 points and was the missing piece that helped the Magic win that game.
Who thought that would be the only one they’d win?
Okay, I understand Van Gundy had to figure out how to stop Kobe, I mean slow Kobe.
No one has effectively stopped Kobe all season, slow him down and force others to beat you and you may have a shot.
I’m not knocking Van Gundy and his coaching prowess, can anyone after Orlando won 59 regular season games before dispatching of the 76ers, Celtics and the Cavaliers with their King Lebron.
But one thing caught my attention, why did Alston spend so much time on the bench?
Not only was the 21 point performance big, but his play in the previous series’ especially against the veteran laden Celtics was just as huge.
Rafer played 36 minutes in the game 3 win, but then in the game 4 overtime loss, Alston sat on the bench for final two minutes of the 3rd quarter, 12 minutes of the 4th and four more minutes in overtime.
Don’t get me wrong, I believe Jameer Nelson is a very good point guard, but he missed more than half the season and only came back because the Magic made it to the finals.
Sure Nelson could have helped but just in spurts, his rust showed in every aspect of the game and Van Gundy stayed with him too long at critical junctures.
It had me wondering, was Nelson whining behind the scenes? Was van Gundy showing loyalty to Nelson and not the trade deadline acquisition (Alston)?
Or was I just pulling for Skip to my Lou because he’s from New York City?

I don’t know about you, but I’m already tired of the Brett Favre saga this time around. Actually I grew tired of his I’m retiring, oh no, I’m coming back act two years ago when he held the Green Bay Packers hostage with his flip-flop retirement story.
Here we go again.
I keep hearing in my head 80’s rock song by the Clash, “Should I stay or should I go.”
Currently, Favre is contemplating surgery on his throwing arm that some say affected his playing down the stretch.
Sure, Favre has had a legendary NFL career with the Packers, yes he is the holder of many career passing records, including the consecutive games started streak of 275 (including the playoffs).
No one can deny he has had a Hall of Fame career (although he won just one Super Bowl) that includes being a three-time MVP, but last season, after coming out of retirement and forcing the Packers to trade him to the NY Jets, he flopped down the stretch and missed the playoffs. Favre uncorked nine interceptions and just two touchdowns in the final five games of the season (the Jets went 1-4 in those games) and finished the season watching the playoffs from the outside.
Now the Jets are back at the same point they were pre-Favre, time to groom another QB, something they could have done last season - simply find out if Kellen Clemens was ready to play?
So here we are again, this time Favre did not hold the Jets hostage, he “did the right thing,” he asked the Jets to release him under the guise of retirement.
Many in the media smelled a rat!
The early release gave Favre time to see if there would be any takers if he “decided” to come out of that so-called retirement again.
Following the 2007 season when Favre first retired from the Packers, and then decided he wanted to play again, but was unwelcomed because the Pack had turned the QB reins over to Aaron Rodgers.
I believe head coach Mike McCarthy had grown tired of the legends ill-advised throws into double or possibly triple coverage and wasn't crying when Favre first announced his retirement intentions - he could not reel in him and could not get rid of him either.
So the jilted Favre forced his way out of Green Bay and tried his best to make his way to divisional opponent the Minnesota Vikings before settling on New York and the Jets.
Favre seems intent on sticking it to the Packers since they jilted him, but it was more his undoing than the Packers.
Green Bay needed to make preparations for the exit of Favre at some point, and any good organization will draft with that in mind.
His years were numbered and his play had started to decline, furthermore, he told them he was retiring, so they did what they needed to do to prepare.
Now the “jilted lover” is back again and it appears he will be playing in Minnesota this season if his right shoulder responds correctly or even if it doesn't in my opinion.
Vikings go ahead and make the same mistake the Jets made and sign the old warrior, and in the 2010 NFL Draft you’ll be picking a QB as well.
Should I stay or should I go.

Here we go again, steroids, banned substances and Manny Ramirez.
The affable baseball player, whose likeable nature has simply been given the moniker, "Manny being Manny" whenever he does something odd.
Over the last decade or more, Ramirez quickly became one of the most feared hitters in the game, not only could he blast one out of the park at anytime, his lifetime .300-plus average almost guaranteed he would get on base or struck fear into many opposing pitcher's and managers all the time.
Now his name has popped up in the banned substance category that seems to grow every month if not every week.
What is baseball going to do?
Manny was a big drawing card in Los Angeles, fans and teammates love his good nature, MLB love that he packs fans in, just as Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clemens and the list goes on.
Is 50 games enough of a ban?
Should it be a one-year ban or a lifetime banishment that would disuade athletes from taking a chance on using an illegal substance?
Just think at least four of the top ten all time career homerun leaders have been linked to steriods or banned substances.
That brings me to the fifth member of the top ten who has not been associated with the 'juicers' at least not yet!
Ken Griffey Jr., I did not want to think Junior was a juicer, but then again, A-Rod I didn't think so either.
In looking at Griffey's numbers and the injury plaqued career, he still has 613 homeruns with almost fewer than 1500 at-bats than Willie Mays.
Also take into account he has missed parts of seasons or whole one's altogether and we've found out steroids can break some parts of the body down quicker.
Now I'm not saying Griffey is a juicer but it just makes you wonder about all the players and these gaudy numbers.
I actually started thinking about pitching great Nolan Ryan who at 47 was still reaching above 90MPH with his fastball.
This is what happens as more names surface everyone becomes a suspect.
But does anyone care?